Opera Omnia

THIRD WEEK


The third volume (Third Week) was printed in the Pauline printing plant of Ostia (Rome) in May 1962, with the Imprimatur of Bishop Antonio Bergamaschi of San Marino-Montefeltro, dated 14 April 1962.

INSTRUCTION I
PUBLICATIONS: FIRST THE BIBLE
The Church's sources

In the order of publications, in accordance with the Constitutions, prime place goes to the Church's teaching, as found in the Acts of the Holy See, in the catechism, in approved books of theology and in liturgical books.
For its sources the Church draws first of all on Holy Scripture and secondly on the Church's Tradition (Art. 229).
As always the Church appeals to God's Revelation, contained in the holy books of the two Testaments, and to traditional teaching.

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Art. 147. The Priests should so order their lives as to be able to celebrate the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass daily and in a worthy manner. Among the other members, Superiors should encourage frequent and even daily Communion. It must be freely allowed to all those who are properly disposed.

Superiors should make it known very clearly to their subjects that they are generally pleased with their frequent reception of the Holy Eucharist, but they should never reprimand those who fail to approach the altar rail. On the contrary, they should make them understand that they gather therefrom a sign of liberty of action and of a God-fearing and delicate conscience.
Art. 148. If a Religious has, however, since the last confession, given grave scandal to the community or has committed an external mortal sin, the Superior can forbid the Religious to go to Holy Communion until he has gone again to Confession.
Art. 149. Priests should not neglect their preparation for the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass by means of devout prayers. Having completed the Sacrifice, they should return thanks to God for so great a gift.
Art. 150. The Priests must apply the Mass they celebrate according to the intention of their proper Superior, who has the faculty of allowing them to apply it, at least once a month, either for themselves or for their relatives, without receiving the stipend. If a Priest-member happens to journey to another house, he must apply the Mass according to the intention of the Superior of that particular house, unless he remains there for the benefit of the same house.
Art. 151. Sufficient time for preparation and thanksgiving for Mass and Communion should be allowed to all the members.

Inspired word

The Holy Bible is God's inspired word. Saint Paul writes to Timothy: But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings which are able to instruct you for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work (2 Tim 3:14-17).
There are 73 individual books in the Bible, of which 46 are in the Old Testament and 27 in the New Testament. They are usually divided, according to their subject matter, into historical, instructional and prophetic books.
In the Holy Books there is the human element and the divine element. If we consider the divine element, in other words, that the holy books were written under God's inspiration and entrusted to the Catholic Church then we need to interpret the Scriptures according to the genuine interpretation of the Church. No one can contradict the truly strict and unanimous judgement of the Fathers of the Church in matters regarding faith and morals; nor can we admit of an interpretation contrary to God's law in such a way as to suppose that the inspired author taught what was wrong, or contradicted himself or contradicted another inspired author. Nor can we admit of any contradiction between Scripture correctly understood and true science.

The Divine Teacher appealed often to Holy Scripture, confirming it and confirming his mission. An example: Read the scriptures, they speak of me and bear witness to me [cf. Jn 5:39]. He rebutted the devil, the tempter, with three assertions taken from the Bible: Non de solo pane vivit homo, sed in omni verbo quod procedit de ore Dei… Non tentabis Dominum Deum tuum… Dominum Deum tuum adorabis et illi soli servies.¹
To refute the Pharisees and scribes who accused him of making himself God, he answered by asking them: Explain for me the first verse of the psalm [109]: Dixit Dominus Domino meo: sede a dextris meis.²

The why and the how of reading the Bible

Apart from the reasons that hold good for everyone the Pauline has three special reasons for reading and venerating the Bible: 1) the Bible contains the message of salvation which we have to give to people. In other words, the truths, moral teaching and worship. It is thus the most pastoral book. 2) The Bible is the book on which the apostle-writer has to model himself. God created human beings; he knows how their heart works; therefore his words respond to the inner needs of the human heart; just like a woman who makes clothes for her child makes them to measure. 3) What count today, more so than in times past, are international associations for all kinds of undertakings. All the more so for the Church which is universal, and has reached the ends of the world. Since the Society of Saint Paul has an international mission

its task will be to bring the Bible, the word of God, wherever it goes.
When the Pauline can say, This is God's revealed word, his teaching has the greatest value.
The reading of the Bible is a sacramental.
We should venerate the Bible. We must regard it as God's letter to human beings, an invitation and sure guide for reaching his home in heaven.

OUTLINE-PROGRAM.
FOR DAILY READING OF THE WHOLE BIBLE.
IN ABOUT FOUR YEARS³
A) NEW TESTAMENT: Historical Books: Gospels (89 chapters); Acts of the Apostles (28 chapters); Instructional Books: Letters of Saint Paul (100 chapters); Catholic Letters (21 chapters); Prophetic Book: Revelation (22 chapters).
New Testament, 260 chapters in all.

B) OLD TESTAMENT: Historical Books: Pentateuch (187 chapters), Joshua, Judges, Ruth, Judith, Esther, Tobit, Kings, Chronicles, Maccabees, Ezra, Nehemiah.
503 chapters in all.
Instructional Books (305 chapters); Prophetic Books (257 chapters).
Old Testament, 1065 chapters in all.
Total chapters in the whole Bible: 1325.
Thus, in about four years, you can easily read the whole Bible, one chapter a day.

Because it is God's book it is very useful for piety. It is a help for spiritual reading, for meditation and for

prayer, not simply because it contains many prayer forms, such as the Psalms, but because it links us to God in a complete way with our mind, our feelings and our will. With our mind: the Bible sets out God's truths and thus we can think as God thinks; with our heart: it stirs up feelings of love for God and our neighbor, in accordance with the heart of Jesus; with our will: it roots our life in God's will; right up to achieving the highest perfection.

The International Catholic Bible Society

In the publishing apostolate, characteristic of our Institute, the book that we have to distribute in particular is the Bible: more than other books, before other books, always. Now, in view of a wider and more organized promotion, we have championed the International Catholic Bible Society.

STATUTE
OF THE CATHOLIC BIBLE SOCIETY
1. The (international) Catholic Bible Society is constituted within the Pious Society of Saint Paul, under the auspices of the Centre for the Preservation of the Faith within the Sacred Congregation of the Council.
2. It finds its inspiration in devotion to Jesus Master, Way, Truth and Life.
3. The aim of the Catholic Bible Society is the study, production, spread, and meditation of the Holy Bible, especially of the Gospel, so as to nourish the faith, morals and Christian piety.
4. The principal commitment of Members is prayer, so that the Word of God, written in the Bible, and

presented in accordance with the teaching of the Catholic Church, may reach everyone. To this end they will recite, at least in their morning prayers, the ejaculatory prayer: Jesus Master, Way, Truth and Life, have mercy on us.
5. As a movement the Catholic Bible Society:
a) Edits and produces publications of the whole or part of the Bible, especially of the Gospels and the Letters of Saint Paul. Such editions will be suited to the various conditions and degree of education of the readers, highlighting in the notes and commentary doctrine, morals and liturgical worship, and linking it up with the text. Helpful also, besides the press, are discs of the Gospel, films, radio and TV programs, biblical posters, filmstrips, and whatever technical progress puts at the service of God's word.
b) Promotes feasts, days, triduums, and Bible Weeks, in honor of Jesus Master in Parishes, Dioceses, Institutes and Associations; with specific conferences and sermons, and participation in the Sacraments; as well as door-to-door promotion of the Bible, solemn Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament and the blessing of the Gospel. Where possible, promote the ceremony of handing over the Gospel with appropriate solemnity.
c) Sees that the Bible is exposed in a place of honor in Churches, Families, Institutes, Schools and Associations.
d) Promotes a wider knowledge of the Bible everywhere, by means of Bible correspondence courses; Triduums and Weeks for educated people; various publications pertinent to the Bible, and so on.
e) Sees that the Members possess a Bible, or at least the Gospel, and that they read it; that groups are set up for the reading of the Gospel.
6. The Association is headed by a President, who is de jure⁴ the Superior General of the Pious Society of Saint Paul, or a delegate of his; with a council of four members of whom two are elected by mutual consent by the Superior General of the Pious Society of Saint Paul and by the Superior General of the Pious Society of the Daughters of Saint Paul; and two proposed by the Centre for the Preservation of the Faith and appointed by the President himself.
7. Dependent on the General Management are the National, Diocesan and Parish Centres. The National Centres are constituted under

the local Bishops Conference (except for Italy); the Diocesan under the Ordinary of the diocese; the Parish under the Parish Priest.
. . . . . . . . . . .
8. The obligations assumed do not bind under sin.
9. The priest members are able to celebrate, in accordance with liturgical law, the Mass to Jesus the Divine Master, granted to the Pious Society of Saint Paul.
10. Under the auspices and guidance of the Centre for the Preservation of the Faith, within the Sacred Congregation of the Council, by mutual consent, the Sisters Daughters of Saint Paul and the Pious Society of Saint Paul undertake the work of organization, editing, and the secretariat in accordance with their respective Constitutions and the Decree N. 14065, dated 19 March 1956, of the Congregation of Religious.
11. The particulars are set out in an apposite set of Rules.

PONTIFICAL BRIEF
OF ERECTION IN A PRIMARY UNION
JOHN PP. XXIII
AD PERPETUAM REI MEMORIAM
The rationale behind the Pious Society of Saint Paul is the spread and promotion of Catholic life and teaching by means of the press and other modern means of communication. To extend the apostolate of the press through the distribution of books, magazines and other similar publications the Society had already founded the Union of Cooperators. Among these a group was chosen which would dedicate itself in a particular way to the promotion of biblical undertakings.
The pious Union of Cooperators spread throughout various dioceses of Italy and other countries. In 1937 it transferred its main centre from Alba to Rome. It was here in the same year that the Statutes were officially approved by the then Cardinal Vicar of Rome.
Then, in recent times, the Pious Union, known as the

Catholic Bible Society, with the same purpose and governed by the same laws, was canonically erected in the Diocese of Ostia, Porto and Santa Rufina with a Decree of 16 March 1960, emanated by Our Venerable Brother Eugenio Tisserant, Cardinal of the Holy Roman Church and Bishop of these same dioceses. Likewise did other bishops in their respective dioceses. So that this Society could expand further and the members of the different Unions, constituted in the various dioceses, be more closely linked, Our beloved son James Alberione, Superior General of the Pious Society of Saint Paul, petitioned Us to confer on the above-mentioned Society the name and the right of a Primary Union. Happy to accept this request, corroborated by the recommendations of the Cardinal himself, Bishop of Ostia, Porto and Santa Rufina, and having consulted the Sacred Congregation of the Council, We, by virtue of this Brief, with our Apostolic Authority, definitively raise to the dignity of a Primary Union the Pious Union known as the Catholic Bible Society. We grant its present and future Superiors, in conformity with the Code of Canon Law, the faculty to legitimately aggregate each and all the Pious Unions that, having the same title and the same purpose, are already constituted or will be erected in the future in any part of the world, and to impart to them all the indulgences and spiritual favors already granted or to be granted by this Apostolic See to the same Primary Union. And this notwithstanding anything to the contrary.
We grant these things and make them known publicly. We decree that the present Brief is, and is to remain, perennially fixed, valid and effective. May it achieve and preserve its full and integral effects and be, now and in the future, fully beneficial to the above-named Primary Union. We declare lastly that this is how the matter is to be judged and defined so that from this moment any matter to the contrary which, knowingly or inadvertently, might be decided upon by whomever or with whatever authority, is invalid and of no worth.

Given at Saint Peter's in Rome, with the Fisherman's Seal, the fourteenth day of the month of October in the year 1960, the second of Our Pontificate.

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