It was a joyous time in Japan recently when two young men took their final vows as Divine Word Missionaries.

Joseph Hy SVD and Keiji Arata SVD both spent some time in the AUS Province during their formation, an experience they say had a big impact on their understanding of missionary life.

The two men took their final vows in the chapel of the Divine Word Missionaries’ seminary in Nagoya, central Japan on March 9 and were ordained to the Diaconate on March 17. Fr Anthony Le Duc SVD, from the Thai District of the AUS Province was among those who attended the vows ceremony.

Joseph, who joined the SVD at age 16 and undertook his senior high school studies with the SVD before joining the Novitiate, says his time in the AUS Province as part of the Overseas Training Program played a big role in his formation as a missionary.

“I want to say thank you to all the people who supported me during the time I was in the Australia Province (and Papua New Guinea) doing my OTP from 2014 to 2016,” he says.

“It was very meaningful for me. It helped me understand the true meaning of doing God’s will and His mission in service of disadvantaged people.”

Joseph says he had watched a lot of his senior seminary confreres take their final vows and undergo ordination to the Diaconate before him and he would often wonder what they were thinking about during the Litany of the Saints, when they were lying prostrate in front of the altar.

“It was a big question in my heart, but I didn’t ask anyone, because I knew it would be my turn in the future and then I would find out what I would be thinking,” he says.

“So when the day came and it was my turn for final vows and ordination as Deacon, I was laying down on the floor when people were singing and praying the Litany of the Saints for me and I found that actually, I couldn’t think anything during the long time of praying.

“All I was aware of was that my hands were numb from keeping my body in the same position for so long.

“Finally I understood that if God gives me so many blessings – the blessings which make me strong enough to live final vows and to be a Deacon, I am to be a hand of God to be of service to people, to be the legs of God to carry his cross everywhere, and to be his mouth to speak his Good News – I also should give God’s blessing to people.

“Maybe I noticed that my hands were numb because during that time of people praying for me, I should also be praying for them, not just keeping the experience to myself.”

Keiji, who joined the Society when he was just 12 years old, when he entered the minor seminary in Nagoya, also came to the AUS Province as an OTP student in 2014 and says he is continually praying for the Mission in Australia.

He says the main thing he felt on the day he took his final vows and when he became a Deacon, was gratitude.

“I was grateful that a lot of people who supported me and my vocation journey up to this point attended the ceremonies. It was great to share this happy event with them.”

Keiji says he will go where he is needed as a missionary, but has a special heart for vocations promotion work.

“I want to work for vocation animation, and try to contribute to making a better vocation program for future missionaries,” he says.

“Our minor seminary has now closed down so it will be a new challenge for us to think about new ways of promoting vocations.”