PRESENTATION
As Divine Word missionaries, our life and mission are centered on the Word of God. The Word is the source of our vocation; 1 at the same time, it is our mission. It is the Word that called our Society into being, and moves and inspires us to join the Society. The same Word is the content of our mission. As members of the Society, we dedicate ourselves to proclaim this reconciling and loving Word. Our name is our vocation and our mission.
Saint John, in the prologue of his Gospel, proclaims that: “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (Jn 1:14). By becoming one with us and dwelling among us, the incarnated Word makes us his people; we are persons of the Word. The living of the Word among us enables us to dwell in him. We dwell in the Word, feel at home with the Word, but also realize the challenging and transforming character of the Word. One of the initiatives taken by a confrere to promote the Word carries the name: “Home in the Word”. This is a call to make ourselves available as instruments in the mission of God to transform the whole world into a home for the Word. In the Spirit of the Word, we are empowered and impelled to collaborate with others to make the whole world a better dwelling for all. Dwelling in the Word reminds us that we are on the journey to our final abode in the Lord himself with all others and with the entire creation.
Dwelling in the Word is a way to experience the Lord. Reading the Bible brings us to the stories of how God has manifested himself to human beings in the world and history. People experience and encounter God as the one whose passion is for the least, the lost and last ones, who calls for reconciliation and cries for shared responsibility for nature. Encountering this God makes us promoters of justice and peace, as well as the stewards of creation. Because the Word is shared with all, this experience with God is not to be kept for oneself but needs to be communicated with others. The Word spoken by God enables communication and creates communion. Inspired by this Word, we are driven to animate others to share the joint responsibility to work for God’s mission.
The second edition of Faithful to the Word is dedicated to the biblical apostolate as one of our characteristic dimensions. Confreres share their initiatives and commitment in different places and settings to promote the word of God. It is encouraging to see how confreres, in collaboration with our lay mission partners, are creative in finding ways that more and more people come to experience the transforming power of the word of God. The more significant challenge is how to make our communities dwelling places of the word of God, which must be given a central place and time, transforming these communities into “communities of the Word.”
These good practices, shared in this second edition of Faithful to the Word, demonstrate how the biblical apostolate can be organized and promoted. May this booklet be read in our houses and during district meetings to trigger discussions on how to improve the biblical apostolate in our context. These examples of practices can inspire us to continue to make our parishes, schools, retreat centers, and our communities dwelling places of God’s word.
We thank all those who have shared their practices and experiences in their quest to make this word of God alive and transformative in their ministries. Special thanks are given to Frs. Stanislaus T. Lazar and Marek Vanus, who are responsible for this publication. We thank also Fr. Pedro de Dios Martin for translating this booklet.
May we continue to be faithful to the Word and one with the people.
Fraternally in the Divine Word,
Fr. Paulus Budi Kleden, SVD and Leadership Team
1 In this booklet, “word of God” refers to the Bible and “Word of God” re-refers to the Logos – the second person of the Trinity, Jesus Christ.
