Blantyre, 23 November, 2019 / 1:49 am (ACI Africa).
The Catholic Church in Malawi is set to launch the year of the Bible at the beginning of the Advent Season, Sunday, December 1, a pastoral initiative aimed at encouraging Catholics in the southeastern Africa country to intensely reflect on the word of God throughout the year 2019-2020, a Malawian Prelate told ACI Africa.
“As we begin a new calendar year in the Church, the Catholics in Malawi are going to launch the ‘Year of the Bible’ on the First Sunday of Advent to encourage our Christians to read the Bible,” Archbishop Thomas Luke Msusa of Malawi’s Blantyre Archdiocese told ACI Africa Thursday, November 21 in an interview.
He added, “Everyone in Malawi is preparing for this launch and each Diocese and Parish is getting ready with some plans. So, the whole year we will be celebrating the word of God.”
Explaining what prompted the initiative, the Malawian Prelate said, “We are normally being challenged by the Pentecostalism on the way they preach the Bible to the extent that most of the Catholics say that if you want to listen to the word of God, go to Pentecostal Church and if you want to celebrate the Sacraments, go to the Catholic Church.”
He continued, “We also realized that most of the young people feel that they do not have the power and the capacity to talk about the scriptures and they admire those from the Pentecostal Churches how they move door to door preaching about the scriptures. So generally, the Catholics feel they do not have the power of the Holy Spirit to understand the Bible.”
