Dear Friends,

As we begin the season of Advent, I’m sure we are looking forward to many warm and congenial gatherings with colleagues, family and friends.

One of the pre-Christmas gatherings we always enjoy here at the SVD Marsfield community is the shared lunch with the staff and our SVD seniors. We are blessed to have the presence of these retired missionaries in our midst and it is always interesting to hear their stories from the past as well as their current plans and activities.

One of our seniors, Fr Dom Flores SVD, now aged in his 90s and who recently celebrated 65 years in religious vows, features in a new audio version of a book which relates stories from his missionary life. Titled ‘Sundays with Domingo’, the book is a dialogue between Fr Dom and a young friend of his, Pia Tenedero, and it is wonderful to listen to. I hope that through this audio book these stories that reflect his warm, gentle, faith-filled and often humorous take on his life as a missionary will be enjoyed by many. You can access the audio book below.

Sharing our stories is such an important part of mission. Indeed, the great commission that Jesus gave his disciples highlights the importance of sharing the story of the Gospel: “Go out to all the world and tell the Good News”.

This Advent, I pray that we might all have the opportunity to reflect on the story we share, the true story of how at Christmas, God became man and dwelt among us and how this changed the future of humanity. If we let it, it will change us too.

And may we, like Fr Dom, always be willing to embrace new ways of sharing our own faith stories, so that others might hear them, see them, and be touched and transformed by them.

I will be spending Advent and Christmas with my family in Fiji this year and I am looking forward to that very much. I pray that your Advent and mine will be a precious time for being with family and friends but also of Spirit-led preparation in the heart and soul for the great Christmas feast to come.

Yours in the Word,

Fr Asaeli Rass SVD,

Provincial.