Many of the faithful own a copy of the Bible but a Catholic prelate said not all have fully read it.
Archdiocese of Manila Apostolic Administrator Bishop Broderick Pabillo said many know portions of the Bible only.
"I challenge you, who among you can say that they have read the whole Bible?" he said in a Mass at the Sanctuario de San Jose, Greenhills, San Juan City for the observance of National Bible Sunday.
"Many of what we know of the Bible is a passage here, a story there, but we have not read the whole story from beginning to end," added Pabillo.
The prelate urged the faithful to read and draw inspiration from the Bible. "Almost all of us own a Bible. Let us read it," said Pabillo.
The prelate stressed it is not enough to just read the Bible. He said one must also understand it.
"We should take the Bible to heart for it to be our inspiration in our prayers and in life. We will not be misguided in our decisions if consider the will of God as told in the Bible," said Pabillo.
"We take the Bible seriously not because we want to become Bible scholars...but to be near Jesus," he added.
Pabillo cited the transformative power of the Word of God.
"We all long for the transformation of our beloved Philippines. We believe that this transformation will not be brought about by any change of the constitution or by any foreign direct investment," he said. "It will be transformed if we have transformed leaders and transformed citizens. It is the people that needs to be reformed, not the system," Pabillo added.
"Let us be enlightened by the Bible in order to have real transformation in our society...Hear the voice of Lord! Open the Bible and read it."
The Philippines has been celebrating National Bible Sunday every third Sunday of January since 1982.