10 years of Bible Sunday

BY BR MIKE CHALMERS

Next week the Church in Southern Africa will mark annual Bible Week, followed by Bible Sunday on August 31. BR MIKE CHALMERS explains why these events are important.

Since 2004, the Catholic Church in Southern Africa has celebrated Bible Sunday on the last Sunday of every August and Bible Week a week before.

So this year on August 31, the Church will celebrate the importance and sanctity of the Bible in the lives of her faithful.

She is calling on all Catholics to celebrate the beauty and relevance of the Word of God and its transforming power.

This year is special because there are double celebrations: ten years marking the time the Church has celebrated Bible Sunday, and the celebration of the “Year of the Family”.

The theme for the tenth anniversary is: “Together let us make the Bible known”.

The Bible Week and Bible Sunday celebrations are endorsed by the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference (SACBC).

Quoting St John Paul II, the SACBC’s president, Archbishop Stephen Brislin called on all of us to put “the word of God as the first source of all Christian spirituality (because) it gives rise to a personal relationship with the living God”.

Pope Benedict XVI in his apostolic exhortation Verbum Domini (“The Word of the Lord”) wrote that “it is the Church’s inescapable duty to communicate joy, experienced in an encounter with the person of Christ, the Word of God, in our midst.

“There is no greater priority than this; to enable people of our time once more to encounter God, the God who speaks to us and shares his love so that we may have life in abundance.”

As a result, Pope Benedict said, our times demand “that we be bold, determined and deliberate in proclaiming God’s Word and professing our faith if we are to impact the whole nation for good”.

He therefore invited families “to bring the Scripture message to life in a way that makes us realise that God is present and at work in our everyday life”.

In his message, Archbishop Brislin said the SACBC “endorses the celebration of Bible Week and Bible Sunday and encourages parishes and families to do so in a fitting way”.

With increased materialism, individualism, socio-economic challenges, hurts and pains in our society—all of which have grossly affected the true essence of the family—it is only appropriate that the starting point of evangelisation is the family.

The Church “recommends a greater biblical apostolate as a means of letting the Bible inspire all pastoral work”, of which the family is part.

If families put the Word of God at the centre of everything they do, we will all contribute to building a bigger and stronger Christian community that operates on Christ’s values of love, joy and peace. “Seek Yahweh and you shall live” (Amos 5:6a).

Families are the nucleus from which society is moulded and developed. It is therefore important that they are inspired and guided by the Word of God.

We have no excuse: “See what love the Father has given us that we should be called children of God and that is what we are” (1 John 3:1).

 

Children carry the genetic imprints of their parents. As children of God, it is a privilege and an honour that we are born of the Father. We are therefore called to strive to be like our Father: loving, compassionate and merciful. This is possible if we follow in his footsteps.

“The Christian journey to Christ is based on the Word of God,” Pope Benedict wrote in Verbum Domini, and therefore requires that it becomes “the basis of all authentic Christian spirituality”.

As St John Paul II advises, it is necessary that we “make listening to the Bible a living encounter”, because it is at work in our lives every day.

If we look at the Bible as a study guide, it will remain so. If we look at it as a book to embellish our bookshelves, it will remain pages of paper with some ink on them covered in a layer of dust.

If we go to church on Sundays and allow our children to attend catechism only so that they are admitted into Catholic schools, then it becomes and remains an obligation.

But if we take the Bible as the Word of God, our approach and experience changes. We will go to it as our daily guide and source of inspiration.

The Lord will speak to us through his Word; we will get wisdom, counsel, experience joy and peace even in difficult times and times of need. We will experience the transforming power of the Word: our lives will have more meaning, become more fulfilling, and we will become better people.

St Paul in his letter to the Hebrews put it like this: “The word of God is living and effective (4:12). It has power “to build you up and give you your heritage among all those who are sanctified” (Acts 20:32).

The effect of this experience can only be contagious and will have a ripple effect, bringing more people to Christ by our words and deeds.  Imagine a family that starts their day with God’s guidance?

Imagine a community that puts the Word of God at the centre of everything they do? Imagine a nation that reads and lives the Word of God?

“Everyone who listens to these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who builds his house on rock” (Matthew 7:24).

Charity begins at home: A family that prays together stays together. “As for me and my family, we will serve the Lord” (Joshua 24:15).

The Word of God should not be taken as an ad hoc event starting and ending with Bible Week and Bible Sunday celebrations; it should be a lifestyle.

Bible Week and Bible Sunday gives us an opportunity to reflect back on the importance of the Bible in our lives. It gives us another opportunity to start afresh, questioning and allowing the Word of God to direct and shape our lives: “Seek first the kingdom of God” (Matthew 7:33).

We pray that families will have the saving knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ so that they can experience freedom and his abundant love.

Br Mike Chalmers is the director of the Catholic Bible Foundation.