SVD Jubilee book launch Jan 2025 250The Society of the Divine Word has this month celebrated the feast days of its two SVD saints, St Arnold Janssen and St Joseph Freinademetz, with the occasions taking on special significance during the SVD’s 150th Jubilee Year.

The Australian Province of the Society of the Divine Word celebrated the feast days with special Masses and social gatherings of confreres, SSpS Sisters, parishioners, lay partners and partners in mission, while in Rome the day was marked by the release of a new book, entitled ‘Treasures of the Past and Experiences of the Present’.

When you hear the words “Good News”, what first comes to your mind? Maybe for some, good news is winning the lotto. Maybe for others good news is your girlfriend accepting your proposal to get married.

Fr Asaeli Rass SVD profile pic 250Happy New Year to all and welcome to the first edition of ‘In the Word’ for 2025.

We are embarking on a big year, with the 150th anniversary in September of the SVD’s Foundation by St Arnold Janssen, under the theme of Witnessing to the Light, and the Jubilee of Hope being celebrated across the Universal Church.

I’m unashamed to say that I’m a “Mama’s Boy”. Whenever I needed something and I couldn’t get it from my dad, I always turned to my mum and without a doubt my dad would give in.

The Baptism of the Lord is not only about Jesus’ baptism, it is also about our baptism and the need for baptism in general and about Jesus being truly human even though He is truly God.

At a Christmas Mass for children one year, I passed the statue of the baby Jesus among the children asking them to touch and feel it, then tell me their feeling about the newly born baby Jesus.

The birthday of our Mother Mary, 8th September, also marked the Foundation Day of the Society of the Divine Word.

In 2024 it also marked the opening of the SVD Sesquicentenary Jubilee (the year of celebrations leading up to their 150th anniversary in 2025), with the theme “Witnessing to the Light: from Everywhere for Everyone”, writes Fr Peter Bang SVD.

I feel squeamish when I see those paintings of Jesus, with Mary and Joseph, which depict this trio as the ideal family!  In reality, no one in the Middle East, either now or 2000 years ago, would consider a mother+father+child as a family unit.

A Christmas quip goes: “Don’t get so preoccupied in what the world has to sell that you miss what God has to give."

Christmas 2024 Tiwi Islands Christmas Concert 250 brighterAdvent and Christmas have been celebrated in a variety of different ways across the SVD Australia Province, from multicultural carols to Christmas lights, concerts to shared meals and gifts – all with the common theme of highlighting Jesus as the reason for the season.

From the Indigenous communities in the Tiwi Islands, Central Australia, Daly River and Balgo to city suburbs in Australia and New Zealand and across to villages in Thailand and Myanmar, the Province has expressed a range of different cultural celebrations of Christmas.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF COUNTRY

In the spirit of reconciliation, the Society of the Divine Word, Australia Province, acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea, sky, and community.

We acknowledge their skin-groups, story-lines, traditions, religiosity and living cultures.

We pay respect to their elders, past, present, and emerging, and extend that respect to all indigenous peoples of New Zealand, Thailand, and Myanmar.

We are committed to building with them, a brighter future together.