By Theresa Carson

Catholics in Jamaica will start 2020 with a new spiritual resource. Divine Word Missionaries partnered with the Archdiocese of Kingston to publish the 2020 Bible Diary, a book of daily readings and reflections.

Delivered to parishes in the Archdiocese of Kingston and the Diocese of Montego Bay, the book will reach two-thirds of the island. An anonymous donor paid for printing the book in India while the Archdiocese of Kingston and the Diocese of Montego Bay covered freight shipping.

Divine Word Father Manuel Antao, a Divine Word Missionary at Cristo Rei parish in Mississauga, Ontario, coordinated the project. Before being assigned to Canada, Father Antao served as administrator at the Co-Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Basseterre, St. Kitts, in the Caribbean.

“Since the creation of the world, God’s invisible qualities, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made,” Father Antao said. “Through studying and meditating on the Word, our thinking and reasoning levels are sharpened. We become more insightful, as we are enabled to function with the special wisdom that comes only from the Lord.”

Divine Word Father Bernard Latus, pastor of Church of Reconciliation in Portmore, Jamaica, recruited writers from across the island of Jamaica for each of the 366 daily reflections. The writers included Father Latus, Divine Word Brother Bernie Spitzley, Divine Word Father Frank Power and Most Rev. Donald Reece, archbishop emeritus of Kingston.

For more information about the 2020 Bible Diary, write to chancery@kingstonarchdiocese.org.