Bengaluru: The Resurrection Church parish of Indiranagar, under aegis of the Commission for the Bible of the Bengaluru Archdiocese, began an unique online Bible-Reading Marathon over Zoom on Monday (September 26) at 8.45 am. Forty-eight readers are reading the 73 books of the Bible. Every half an hour the reader changes and the reading is continuous, uninterrupted until the end of reading of the entire Bible. In order to technically assist the readers, there are 12 admins giving instructions as and when required. All the admins are from various parishes of the archdiocese of Bengaluru. The event is telecast live on the YouTube channel of the archdiocese of Bengaluru on all days. Click below to listen to the marathon.
It is a proclamation of the Bible and not a mere reading and hence, it is a devotion and a delightful breaking of the Word of God. The event, which began Monday, will go on until October 1st or till the last verse of the last book is completed.
Inaugurating this unique event, the Archbishop of Bangalore, Most Rev Dr Peter Machado, exhorted all by to make use of this wonderful opportunity. “People from all walks of life are being connected by the thread of reading the Bible. In that sense, Bible makes us relatives,” he said.
Drawing an analogy, the prelate related an event from the Gospel of Mark about the disciples complaining to Jesus over someone outside of the group doing good work. “Jesus chose people randomly. Reading the Bible has three dimensions. First is the reading aspect where it brings about a transformation. Secondly, Bible is also read for the sake of others who may be positively affected. Imagine the amount of spiritual impression it can mean. Thirdly, Bible is not only to be read but proclaimed!” he added.
The archbishop also mentioned that some small miracles too have been happening in people’s lives and these Bible-reading marathons have played a huge role in their lives. More so, the Archbishop said, “the children are masters and they teach us many things. Help them benefit to from the fruit of reading the Bible too”. He added. The archbishop blessed not only those who are participating in the reading but also those who are working behind this initiative such as technicians, admins, etc.
Sr. Virginia Rajakumari of Sisters of St Anne, Bangalore (SAB) thanked the archbishop and spoke about the testimonies of many people who have participated in this unique initiative of reading the Word of God. She encouraged all to take part and benefit from this wonderful initiative. Sr. Virginia holds a Licentiate in Biblical Theology from St Peter’s Pontifical Institute, Bangalore and a Master of Advanced Studies in Theology and Religion as well as a Doctorate in Biblical Theology from the Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium. She teaches Scripture at various theological and religious institutes in the country.
The initiative is the brainchild of Preeni and Jose family, who are settled in Dubai. It all began when Jose lost his job due to the Covid-19 situation and he took up to reading the Bible. Earlier, due to paucity of time, he did could not find time to read the Bible although he very much wanted to. After reading the Bible, he was inspired by an idea to begin a Bible-reading marathon. Soon, he gathered online his family and relatives from around the world and encouraged them to participate in the initiative. The result was magical. By the time they completed reading the Bible continuously after six days, they began experiencing miracles in their lives. Not only did he get another job, but others too experienced healings, hurt feelings disappeared, family ties and bond grew stronger. Soon the word spread about this novel initiative. Testimonies poured in and transformations were seen in the people. Motivated by this, they purchased two Zoom licences and dedicated to the spread of the Word of God. Moreover, the initiative being an online participation, the readers can participate from all across the globe.
The Archdiocese of Bangalore has been conducting these marathon readings every week, for the past 4-5 months. Each week is a different language including Kannada, English, Tamil, Konkani and Malayalam. Plan are afoot to conduct the sessions in Hindi for the migrant population. In July this year, the Federation of Konkani Catholic Association organised a first-of-its-kind online Bible-reading marathon in Konkani.
Nowadays, families across the country too have picked up the idea and conducting their own Bible-reading marathons in various parts of the country. The Bible marathon is also being conducted in other languages. It is creating a record of sorts – a marathon of marathons.
Speaking of marathons. Interestingly, the history of Marathon – the world’s oldest running challenge finds mention in the Bible. In the beginning of the Book of Samuel (1 Samuel 4:12) it is written, “Then a man of Benjamin ran from the battle line the same day, and came to Shiloh with his clothes torn”. The “man of Benjamin” runs from Eben Ezer to Ancient Shiloh (modern day Rosh Ha’ayin) to tell of the end of the war between the Israelites and the Philistines. The runner’s mission is to inform Eli, the priest of Israel, of the defeat in the war, the death of his sons and the capture of the Ark of the Covenant.
Many centuries later, after the six-day war, the founder of the Maccabiah games in Israel, Yosef Yekutieli, set out to measure the length of the course from Rosh Ha’ayin to Shiloh, in the Benjamin region. He was amazed to find that the length of this historic path precisely matched that of the modern marathon – 42 km (the official length of the Olympic running contest, determined in 1908 at the London Olympics).