By Matters India Reporter

Panaji: The Daughters of Paul in Goa together with the Diocesan Commission for Biblical Apostolate will inaugurate the Biblical Year of the Pauline Family on November 26 with the theme “That the Word of the Lord may speed on.”

The opening Eucharist led by Archbishop Filippe Neri Ferrao of Goa will be televised live on CCRTV at 7 am.

Announcing the Pauline Biblical Year on January 26, the Major Superiors of the Pauline Family in Rome said the common objective of the celebration is “Walking with the Church, we renew ourselves through familiarity, study and prayerful reading of the Sacred Scriptures, in order to live the Word of God so that it reaches everyone, especially those on the existential and thought peripheries.”

The Pauline Family consists of five religious Congregations, four secular Institutes and one association of Pauline Cooperators.

The Religious Institutes are Society of St Paul, Daughters of St Paul, Pius Disciples of the Divine Master, Sisters of the Good Shepherd, Sisters of the Queen of the Apostles

Aggregated Institutes are Institute of Jesus the High priest for the Diocesan Priests, Institute of the Holy Family, Institute of St Gabriel the Archangel, Institute of Our Lady’s Annunciation and Association of Pauline Cooperators.

Among these two religious congregations—Daughters of St Paul and Pius Disciples of the Divine Master – serve the Archdiocese of Goa. A small team of Pauline cooperators are also being formed in line with Pauline Spirituality.

The first Pauline Bible year was held in 1960-1961, during the time of Blessed James Alberione, the founder of the Pauline Family.

On that Occasion, Pope John XXIII said, “To love sacred scripture is to know and to love Christ; in scripture is to be found the pure source of life. Drawing from this source people are spiritually cleansed, instructed I n the eternal verities, and advance on the Way to holiness. Wisdom’s treasure is hidden in this field.”

During that year among other programs 30,000 people subscribed to Bible courses offered by the International Catholic Bible Society (now Sobicain) run by the Pauline Family, 1356 Bible weeks were organized in various dioceses and distributed 1,290,000 copies of the Bible.

Blessed Alberione pointed out that ‘The secret for an ever-greater increase of the distribution of the Bible is in presenting God’s book in full adherence to the Church’s interpretation and in accordance with a pastoral spirit.”

For Alberione the aim of the Pauline Bible year was “To give the Bible. It is the center-piece of our Pauline Apostolate.”

The second Bible year was organized in 1991-1992 with the theme “Break the Bread of the Word”. On that occasion former Superior General of the Society of St Paul, late Fr Renato Perino of Society of St Paul said, “ It is to revive the meaning and purpose of our Service of the Word of God. ”

“The aim of the Bible Year is for a permanent return to this greatest of treasures which is the Word of God and which, with the Eucharist constitutes the two-fold life-giving source of Pauline Spirituality and of our apostolic life. And this intention is not to be simply circumstantial, a kind of commemoration, but something stable for the years that lie ahead,” Father Renato Perino had added.

The third Pauline Year will conclude November 26, the 50th dearth anniversary of Blessed Alberione.

The year long program envisaged by Pauline Bible Year Committee in Goa for the public include: Enter the treasure-trove of the Bible (on line Bible Quiz); Show case your Talents with scripture ( Televised Bible based Skits); Capture the Beauty of Biblical Virtues, reaching out like Jesus (Photography); Let the Word of God Move on (Free Bible distribution to the poor and needy); Live and Share the Word (Lectio Divina); The WORD and St Paul among families (Televised sharing of Family Witness); Tending God’s Garden-Living Laudato si (School, Terrace and Kitchen Gardening)