Bible week celebration campaigns for unity among peoples

The Episcopal Commission for Biblical Apostolate (ECBA) of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines in tandem with Philippine Bible Society and other partner organizations is spearheading a week of biblical celebration in observance of National Bible Week, January 19-25.

Themed “May they be one” (Ps 133:1, Jn 17:21), the Bible week celebration enjoins all Filipinos “to read and study God’s word to promote spiritual, moral and social stability in the country.”

Fr. Oscar Alunday, SVD, CBCP-ECBA executive secretary, in a letter sent to the different dioceses, has urged diocesan biblical apostolates to celebrate bible week in the spirit of the Pauline jubilee year.

“In response to the Holy Father’s desire for a solemn celebration of the Jubilee Year, we shall have a daily continuous oral reading (COR) of the letters of St. Paul (Romans to Hebrews) during the Bible Week,” he said.

Among the various activities lined up for the different dioceses in line with the week-long celebration are bible enthronements in parishes, schools and offices, bible symposia and biblical workshops for bible studies, and bible sharing.

As Ecumenical week is also celebrated on Jan. 18-25, Alunday likewise recommended in his letter that prayer and work for Christian unity and communion be done during bible week.

“During the Bible Week, create occasions for prayer and work for Christian unity and communion,” he said. “May they be one (MTBO) is also our prayer as we work and join the five-year nationwide campaign (2009-2013),” he added.

The five-year bible campaign dubbed “May they be one” launched last September 30, 2008, aims to put a bible in the home of every Filipino family in a five-year period.

The bible crusade hopes to encourage Filipinos to read and live the Bible that could effect transformation in the country, touted to be one of the most corrupt in Asia.

The observance of National Bible week will culminate with a liturgical-ecumenical-biblical celebration led by Philippine bishops at the Araneta Coliseum on January 25 at 8 a.m.

Celebrated annually by the Church and other partner organizations, the National Bible Week is also empowered by Presidential Proclamations 44 and 1067 mandating government institutions to observe the yearly event.