During his prime, Muhammad Ali, the heavyweight-boxing champion of the 60s and the 70s proclaimed one day, “I am the greatest! I am the greatest!” When he said this nobody tried to refute it, for during his time, he was indeed the greatest.
Nearly 100 friends and benefactors gathered at the Society of the Divine Word (SVD) community in Bangkok on Sunday, September 15, to celebrate the Silver Jubilee of SVD’s presence in Thailand.
While the main celebration is scheduled to take place in Nong Bua Lamphu Province, northeastern Thailand, on September 28, the Bangkok community held a local event for those unable to make the 600 km journey to Nong Bua Lamphu.
SVD-ness. This sounds familiar to us, especially when we think of our identity which uniquely differentiates us from other religious congregations. As we have recently inaugurated the Jubilee Year of the 150th anniversary of our beloved SVD, we, SVDs are all invited to celebrate this special milestone with much more awareness of strengthening and deepening our core identity as SVD religious missionaries.
This reflection is centred on a few essential aspects of living out our SVD-ness in the light of the Jubilee theme “Witnessing to the Light, from Everywhere for Everyone”.
If I asked anybody if they love to experience pain, particularly physical pain, well I'd think you were a masochist if you would ever say yes. Well … believe it or not, pain is very necessary in life and, ironically, pain is life-saving.
After a five-week journey through Chapter 6 of John’s Gospel (Sundays 17 to 21 in Ordinary Time), we find ourselves on the first day of Spring taking up Mark’s account of the life and ministry of Jesus from where we left off at the 16th Sunday.A Reflection for the 22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time.
The ‘Our Lady of Peace and St Therese’ community in Wurrumiyanga (Bathurst Island) celebrated the 150th anniversary of the foundation of the Daughters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart (OLSH) congregation recently, writes Fr Niran Veigas SVD.
The Wurrumiyanga community gathered to thank God for the countless blessings bestowed upon them through the tireless service of the OLSH sisters, who have faithfully served the Tiwi Islands for over 112 years.
The Divine Word Missionary seminarians took a break from Dorish Maru College in Melbourne over winter and embarked on an epic pilgrimage to the spiritual heart of Australia – an experience which had a big impact on their hearts and their formation as missionary priests.
The pilgrimage took the students from Melbourne to Adelaide, Coober Pedy, Uluru, Alice Springs, Santa Teresa and Port Augusta. They were accompanied by Formator of Scholastics, Fr Linh Nguyen SVD and Vice-Rector of Dorish Maru College and OTP Director, Fr Yon Wiryono SVD.
The St Arnold Janssen Chapel and the surrounding grounds of the SVD Marsfield Community took on a vibrant and colourful character earlier this month with the celebration of Multicultural Sunday.
More than 400 people gathered for the popular event, which returned after four years disruption due to the COVID pandemic.
We are very close to the opening of celebrations for the 150th anniversary of the Society of the Divine Word.
In the Australia Province the opening of the anniversary year on the SVD Foundation Day, September 8, will take place on the same day that we witness the ordination to the priesthood of Deacon Cuong Quoc Dang SVD in Melbourne.
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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.