How to be or become a follower of Jesus Christ in the world and in your situationIt seemed to me more and more evident and, despite the doubts, I have to admit that the experiences of my life have always convinced me of the truth of the New Testament stories, and still they do.
Despite this, even today, while reading the Pentecost Mass readings, from the depths of my psyche an evil prompter whispered to me a doubt of Faith, from that id where the impulses reside that my ego must strive to dominate.
Descent of the Holy Spirit on the Virgin Mary and the Apostles
Reason without faith is confused: How is this possible?
A roar and a strong wind, filling the whole house?
Tongues as of fire, dividing and putting on each one of them?
To speak and understand hitherto unknown languages?
Could it be that Saint Luke the Evangelist, the expert doctor, a practical and concrete person, told a fable, did imagine a fantastic story?
At this point I apologize for the repetition, but I have to put what I had written in a previous comment:
To pass the time, as I usually do in certain cases, I was recently reading a section of an interesting and useful book on the small screen of my iPhone.
Let me tell you that the author, Giuseppe Ricciotti (Click), priest of the Catholic Church should deserve, like Saint Jerome, the title of Doctor of the Church for the exhaustiveness of the exposition and the indication of the sources and origins that leave no room for doubt.
In particular, I was reading a passage from his book on the origins of the text I comment on today, taken from the Mass first reading of this morning.
Giuseppe Ricciotti proves without any doubt that the book of Acts is authentic and that it was written by Luke, a doctor by profession, the same author of the Gospel of the same name, beginning shortly after the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, and also that the writing of this text ends sharply in AD 70
The thought of the origins of this book and the organic body of Scriptures in which the coherence of everything proves its truth strengthens th Faith.
Here, the count of the facts, the miracles that Saint Peter performs, the descent of the holy spirit, and of the history of the spread of Christianity, should convince anyone that Jesus Christ lived in them and wants them to be the foundation and the head of his faithful.
To resolve and overcome the doubt that satan is always willing to instill, I realize that, in addition to reading the Gospel or some spiritual book, it is essential to overcome the risk of appearing fanatic or naive.
In addition to daily Gospel, Acts is also an ideal reading, but I would like to suggest that even some "scientific" works such as those of Abbot Ricciotti are, in my opinion, indispensable.
Among the spiritual readings I would like to suggest here a reading that has deeply involved me: This is the 'Decenary of the Holy Spirit' by Francisca Javiera del Valle.
HISTORY NOTE
Ricciotti, Giuseppe. (Rome, February 27, 1890 - Rome, January 22, 1964) - He was a Semitist and Biblical archaeologist, a profound student of Christianity and its origins.
Exemplary citizen and military chaplain, he won a gold medal for his military valor in World War I.
Abbot Giuseppe Ricciotti
From this dramatic experience his most significant work emerged and matured, as he himself recounts in the presentation: Life of Jesus Christ.
The text, published in 1941, subsequently had many other editions edited by himself.
Abbot of the Lateran canons was a student of the Old Testament and the origins of Christianity, professor of the history of Christianity at the University of Bari (since 1950).
Among his vast production, characterized by traditional Catholic positions, in addition to critical studies and versions of various biblical books, the Greek (Josephus, 1937) and Syriac versions stand out:
the History of Israel (2 vols., 1932-34); the Life of Christ (1941); the Apostle Paul (1949); the Acts of the Apostles (1951); and a monograph on Julian the Apostate (1956). He was editor of the Italian Encyclopedia.
Decenario al Espíritu Santo by
Francisca Javiera del Valle
Ed Ares - Milano
The poor seamstress Francisca (1856-1930) lived in the Castilian village of Carrión de los Condes, near Palencia, a dark existence spent in the sewing workshop that served the Jesuits of the Colegio del Sagrado Corazón.
She amazes by the the deep spirituality and subtlety of her works, and the strength that many theologians might envy, with which the reader is helped to know, to love and to pray the one God in each of her persons.
The book describes in ten "days"; an itinerary of prayer that is also an itinerary of holiness in all human situations.
It is a meditation on the life of the Holy Trinity and on our life in relation to it, of such depth and wisdom that it can only be explained with the gift and enlightenment that God grants to the souls that frequent him with intimacy: the gift of wisdom.
Acts of the Apostles 2,1-11.
When the time for Pentecost was fulfilled, they were all in one place together.
2And suddenly there came from the sky a noise like a strong driving wind, and it filled the entire house in which they were.
3Then there appeared to them tongues as of fire, which parted and came to rest on each one of them.
4And they were all filled with the holy Spirit and began to speak in different tongues, as the Spirit enabled them to proclaim.
5Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven staying in Jerusalem.
6At this sound, they gathered in a large crowd, but they were confused because each one heard them speaking in his own language.
7They were astounded, and in amazement they asked, "Are not all these people who are speaking Galileans?
8Then how does each of us hear them in his own native language? 9
We are Parthians, Medes, and Elamites, inhabitants of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia,
10Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the districts of Libya near Cyrene, as well as travelers from Rome,
11both Jews and converts to Judaism, Cretans and Arabs, yet we hear them speaking in our own tongues of the mighty acts of God."
