A story is told about two hermits discussing the Parable of the Prodigal Son. The younger said to the other: "There is something strange in this Gospel story.

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"It mentions all the members of the family: The father, the oldest and the youngest son. But why isn’t the mother mentioned?" And the older monk replied: "Perhaps, if the prodigal son had a mother, he wouldn’t have left home."

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What is a mother? A writer once said: "She takes on different faces, sings different tunes and performs different interpretations of love which she never keeps to herself. She comes and goes through the ages yet leaves indelible imprints on humanity. She is universal as love and her lessons are as lasting as the songs she sings."

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A mother is indispensable in God’s plan. And she knows that without her willingness to go through nine months of pregnancy, there wouldn’t be any inhabitant is this world. Indeed, she knows that without her cooperation there wouldn’t be inhabitants in heaven, and so her real glory is not limited to this world.

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Yes, all mothers are special before God. Why? Because even Jesus Himself deemed it worthy to be born of a woman. He was formed and loved by a mother who is our mother, too.

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Are Catholics overdoing their veneration of Mary? There can indeed be an exaggerated devotion to her. For instance, in church some devotees focus their prayers and attention only on the Blessed Mother without paying attention to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament.

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Notwithstanding, the special honor Catholics show to her comes no less from God who honored her first by choosing her from billions of women to be the Mother of His own Son.

Mary herself prophesied: "All ages to come shall call me blessed" (Lk. 1:48).

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While it’s a basic truth of Catholicism that there is only one God who alone is to be worshipped, that does not mean that we are forbidden to pay proper and sensible honor to creatures.

God explicitly commands us to honor our own father and mother. Is it then wrong to honor God’s Mother?

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SVD BIRTHDAY. For those who belong to the Society of the Divine Word (SVD) today is also the birthday of their Mother Congregation, marking its 133rd Foundation Anniversary.

The German founder Arnold Janssen, who was canonized saint on October 5, 2003, had a special devotion to the Blessed Mother, thus chose the inauguration of the congregation on her birthday in 1875.

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Today the international congregation has for its Superior General a Filipino, Fr. Antonio Pernia. The sister congregations of the SVD are: The Missionary Congregations of the Servants of the Holy Spirit (SSpS) and the Servants of the Holy Spirit of Perpetual Adoration (popularly known as "Pink Sisters") also headed by a Filipina, Sister Cecilia Hocbo.

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The SVD in the Philippines, which will celebrate its Centennial on August 15, 2009, launched its kick-off last August, 2008. The congregation traces its humble beginning in the far-flung San Isidro village in Abra pioneered by two German missionaries.

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Since then, the Philippine SVD spread rapidly. To date there are 137 Filipino SVD priests and brothers working in 40 countries making the religious congregation the biggest "exporter" of male missionaries.

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SVD priests and brothers in the Philippines are involved in various apostolates which include justice and peace, mass media, evangelization of indigenous Filipinos and administering parishes, schools, seminaries from Cagayan Valley to the Visayas and Mindanao, of which the latest mission-frontiers are Kalinga-Apayao, Palawan, Sibugay in Zamboanga, Ipil, Bukidnon.

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Readers are requested to pray for more missionary vocations to the SVD and its various apostolates.

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THE LIGHTER SIDE. Some are wondering what SVD means. Others even joke if it might mean "Spreading VD!"

SVD comes from the Latin name "Societas Verbi Divini"; in English "Society of the Divine Word."

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Many years ago, there was a rule in the SVD that priests and brothers were forbidden to smoke. So "SVD" meant "Smoke Ve Don’t"... "So Ve Drink." Ve because of the German accent for We.

Now SVDs are allowed to do both.

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Did you know that Jesus Christ is an SVD? Listen to this: "Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord SVD."