People often think the coldest places on planet earth are the north and south poles. Analogically, the heart of person could be the coldest place, for it is deep in the heart of a person, evil seeds are harboured and germinated, from which words and actions are the fruits.

My name is Daniel Polla, and I am originally from Indonesia. The Australia Province is my second mission assignment as a Divine Word Missionary. On 10 December 2023, Bishop Charles Gauci of Darwin Diocese placed me as the parish priest and Yanuarius Salu as the co-pastor of Daly River Parish - my first mission assignment in the Australia Province.

St Francis Xavier Parish in Daly River has five communities located at varying distances from the central parish. Some communities even take over two hours driving on rough roads to reach them.

The Te Awakairangi Parish in the Lower Hutt region of New Zealand’s Wellington Archdiocese is a large, culturally rich and diverse parish where the people are warm and welcoming and committed to a missionary outlook which is deeply grounded in the primacy of evangelisation.

Established in 2015, the parish is comprised of four churches and has been in the pastoral care of the Divine Word Missionaries since January 2024.

SVD students at Dorish Maru College in Melbourne, together with other new arrivals in the Province have expanded their understanding of life in Australia during a month-long Summer Acculturation Program.

The Program was held at beach-side St Leonards, near Geelong in Victoria, and aimed to give the participants, who come from a range of cultural backgrounds, a firm grounding in living and working in the multicultural society of Australia.

The second Jubilee Online Lecture hosted by the SVD Australia Province this month highlighted the need for authentic Christian witness and a commitment to go out to the peripheries of both Church and society in living out Christ’s mission.

The keynote presenter at the webinar was Fr Stanislaus Lazar SVD, with Fr Albano Da Costa SVD responding on the theme of ‘Witnessing to the Light: From Everywhere for Everyone – a Mission Perspective’.

The SVD Australia Province celebrated Word of God Sunday recently in a variety of different ways, honouring St Arnold Janssen’s devotion to the Word, as expressed in the naming of his missionary order The Society of the Divine Word.

Biblical Apostolate coordinator for the Province, Fr Elmer Ibarra SVD, said the Sunday of the Word of God was celebrated in Australia on February 9, the Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time.

As this edition of ‘In the Word’ goes out, we are preparing to enter the Season of Lent next week. Once again, it feels like were just enjoying the Christmas season, and here we are already preparing for Easter.

The Church’s liturgical seasons are a real gift to us, helping us to enter into and make present the key events in the life of Christ, which happened more than 2000 years ago, but still bring fresh meaning to our lives today.

There’s this story about the US Civil War when President Abraham Lincoln was being briefed by his generals on the state of the war.

As a Divine Word Missionary, it is my profound privilege to share the Good News of God wherever I am called, writes Fr Niran Veigas SVD. For nine years, I was blessed to proclaim the Gospel in Russia, answering the Lord’s invitation to be His instrument of love and hope. Following this, I embraced another calling—to serve the Aboriginal community in Australia.

For the past two years, I have had the honour of ministering to a remote Aboriginal community in the northernmost part of Australia. It has been a journey of grace and growth, where I feel truly blessed to bring the Good News of Christ to those who long for His presence. Witnessing their faith, resilience, and openness to the Gospel has deepened my own commitment to this sacred mission.

“Blessed are you who are poor…blessed are you who are hungry…blessed are you who are weeping…blessed are you when people hate you…Familiar words that we might have heard several times already.