This Sunday, we celebrate Divine Mercy Sunday, a day that reminds us of the incredible love and forgiveness of God.

To borrow a story from my friend, Fr Bel San Luis, there was a man who was visiting a seminary. He saw a poster with a phrase in big letters, “Christ is the answer”. Puzzled he wrote at the bottom of the poster, “What is the question?”

In this Sunday's Palm Sunday Liturgy, the people and priests process into church carrying blessed palm branches and singing blissful songs in praise of the Lord who saves us from the bondages of our sins.

With the arrival of the Fifth Sunday of Lent, our Lenten journey is almost over. The concept of Lent as a journey, rather than a time of denial, has been frequently suggested and promoted by Pope Francis.

A ministry of presence, accompaniment, dialogue, cultural exchange and mutual respect underpins parish life at St Francis Xavier Parish in the remote Daly River region of the Northern Territory.

Daly River, or Nauiyu, is situated 230km south of Darwin and 250km north-west of Katherine. The parish takes in a number of Aboriginal communities at Adelaide River, Emu Point, Nemarluk, Merrepen, and Woodyculpadiya, with visits to some of those communities being a four-hour round-trip on rough roads.

The SVD Australia Province is embarking on a period of communal discernment in the lead-up to the Provincial and Council elections for the next triennium.

The discernment process aims to infuse the Provincial Elections with Pope Francis’s vision for a synodal Church in which the Spirit-led participation of all is valued and necessary.

A recent meeting of the Aotearoa New Zealand Mixed Commission of Bishops and Religious Leaders focused on synodality, its tradition within Pacific cultures, and its possibilities as a means of listening to the voices of the marginalised and caring for our common home.

Australian Provincial Fr Asaeli Rass SVD, co-facilitated the meeting which was held from February 18-19 in Auckland, sharing some of the insights he gained from being a small group facilitator at the first assembly of the Synod on Synodality in Rome.

The SVD Australia Province celebrated joyfully recently when Shouzheng Peter Wang SVD professed his perpetual vows as a Divine Word Missionary and was ordained to the diaconate.

As Peter made his final profession, in the presence of his family who had travelled from China, along with confreres and friends, he was joined by SVD seminarians from Melbourne’s Dorish Maru College who renewed their temporary vows.

We are over halfway in our Lenten journey now, this precious season of reflection and preparation before we once again enter into the passion, death and resurrection of Our Lord during Holy Week and Easter.

In this Jubilee Year, Pope Francis entitled his Lenten Message, “Let Us Journey Together in Hope” and no doubt this prayer sustained him during his recent serious health crisis, as millions around the world joined their Lenten prayer journey to his sufferings.

A few years ago a friend of mine,  a fellow priest,  shared this story with me: He and his brother were the joint heirs to their father’s estate. Several months before their father died, he called his son, the priest, saying he wanted to talk about something very important.