Radio Canção Nova (New Song) received many letters directed to Father Jonas of the Bible. They confused Abib with Bible. Much, of course, through close ties that Monsignor Jonas Abib has with the word of God. His apostolate helped in greatly popularizing the sacred book; taking it from shelves to rooms.
Some with the bible in their hand were long taken as the believers. The Charismatic Renewal helped changed this reality, through their retreats, prayers groups that included the central presence of the bible. The first that I saw one with a zipper was with Father Jonas. My father bought a similar one to his for me and a little girl.
The preachings of Fr. Jonas Abib always are based in the bible passages. It was characteristic of him also to have a meditation verse by verse. How many teachings, how many revelations. Thus we came to love it through reading. It was not treated as a distant difficult book. But as texts that spoke directly with us. They were a principle proposal of the book launched by the founder of Canção Nova (New Song) to teach us to read the bible “A Bíblia Foi Escrita Para Você”[The Bible Was Written for You] (Today: “A Bíblia No Meu Dia-a-Dia” [The Bible in my Day to Day]).
The month of September, in the Catholic Church here in Brazil we dedicate to the Word of God. We should reflect on its presence in our lives, in our houses. Has it been a mere ornament gathering dust in our cabinets? Or has it been present in our life to the point of being part of our identity. We need more than ever, Father Jonas of the Bible, Maria of the Bible, Osvaldo of the Bible, Canção Nova of the Bible: in our blood, in our veins, the liberating Word of God.
Osvaldo Luz
Osvaldo Luz is a journalist for Canção Nova (New Song)
translated from Portuguese