Word Sunday 2025: This is how it is celebrated in Latin America

This Sunday, January 26, dioceses around the world will celebrate the VI edition of the Sunday of the Word of God, an initiative with which Pope Francis, as explained by the Vatican Dicastery for Evangelization“wants to make people understand how important reference to the Word of God is in the daily life of the Church and our communities.”

The Pope teaches that the divine word is not enclosed in a book, “but always remains alive and becomes a concrete and tangible sign.” Various countries in Latin America will join this celebration, which this year has as its motto a verse from Psalm 119: I hope in your Word (Ps 119:74).

“It is a cry of hope: man, in the moment of anguish, tribulation, senselessness, cries out to God and places all his hope in Him,” indicates the dicastery.

This dicastery has presented a liturgical subsidy, “as a help offered to parish communities and to all who gather for the celebration of the Holy Sunday Eucharist, so that this Sunday is lived intensely.” Can be downloaded in Spanish in this link.

Argentina

The National Department of Animation and Biblical Pastoral and the Episcopal Commission for Catechesis, Animation and Biblical Pastoral of the Argentine Episcopal Conference (DENAPBI-CEA) has called for a Massthis Sunday at the Nuestra Señora del Rosario Cathedral Basilica, in the city of Rosario.

It will be presided over by Mons. Ernesto Fernández, Auxiliary Bishop of Rosario and advisor to the DENAPBI-CEA. The Eucharistic celebration will begin at 10:30 am (local time) and will be broadcast live on the official DENAPBI-CEA website and on its YouTube channel.

Colombia

The Catholic Church in Colombia has invited all the faithful “to turn our gaze toward the Word of God as a source of comfort and guidance” in the face of the deterioration of public order in much of the country and the “serious humanitarian crisis that is being experienced in Catatumbo.”

The Colombian Episcopate asked its parishioners to participate in the January 26 Masses throughout the country, and highlighted an initiative of the Archdiocese of Bogotá—through its archdiocesan coordination of Biblical Animation of Evangelization—which consists of an audiovisual special preparation for Saturday, January 25, carried out in collaboration with the Cristovisión channel.

The special will be broadcast on television and on the archdiocese’s social networks. Activities include Lectio Divina, praying the Holy Rosary, a discussion about the Jubilee and the Word of God, and a formative talk about the centrality of the Word of God in the life of the believer.

In addition, coinciding with the Sunday of the Word of God, the National Day of Prayer for Catatumbo and for peace in Colombia will also be held, convened by the country’s bishops. The local Church has prepared a liturgical subsidy for this day.

Mexico

The Bishop of Tehuacán, Bishop Gonzalo Calzada, explained that Word Sunday allows Christians to “remember and reinforce Jesus’ invitation to listen to and guard his Word, to be able to offer the world a testimony of hope that allows us to go further.” beyond the difficulties we are experiencing at the present moment.”

Mons. Calzada, who is also responsible for the Episcopal Dimension for Biblical Animation of Pastoral Care, He asked that this Sunday’s celebration make the entire Mexican people grow “assiduous and religious familiarity with the Holy Scripture,” to put it into practice in their daily lives.

Paraguay

The National Coordination of Biblical Animation of the Pastoral Care of the Episcopate of Paraguay, offers all the faithful “some simple subsidies” inspired by those offered by the Vatican, to “celebrate this Sunday in the most distant dioceses, parishes, chapels and communities in the country,” according to Friar Édgar Toledo, executive secretary of the coordination.

The subsidies include a liturgical script for the Mass, a Lectio Divina from Psalm 119, a guide to enthroning the Word of God in community or family, and a guide to Biblical Worship.

Venezuela

The National Coordination of Biblical and Pastoral Animation of the Venezuelan Episcopal Conference (CEV), represented by Father Antonio Arocha, invites the faithful to join this celebration of the universal Church next Sunday. Through a video, The priest highlighted the importance of this day and called for downloading the subsidy presented by the Vatican, “to give emphasis to the Word of God, which must always be the center of our lives.”