The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1915-02-20
Continued from Page 1.9
THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES.
Sc. Luke, the Author.

I'D companion Oh oLs raul LnSTe are
certain matters treated Of in this book
which point to a particular companion,
namely, st. Luke. The writer of Acts
was educated in some medical school,
In treating of diseases and cures, he
not only speaks always correctly, but
at times uses the very technical words,
which were used only in the medical
treatises of the time. On the other
hand, we have st. Paul designating st.
Luke as ''the most dear physician" and
telling us that the same st. Luke was
with him at the time this book is
brought to close. So much for the
proof of authorship.
1t is a matter of regret that ST..
Luke in his great humility almost
completely effaces himself. Time and
again he must have been able to do
apostolic work, to give timely assist
ance to st. Paul, to be medium of
communication between the Apostle
in chains and his friends at large. But
of all this he says not word. Be-
yond intimatfng that he was COM
panion of the APOSTLE, he has told us
only one thing Of himself but that one
thing is most important thing. He
says that he has diligently attained
to all things from the beginning"
luke I-3) and he gives us to infer
that this diligence was exercised in
gaining a. knowledge of the testimo-
MES both oral and in writing of the
eye witnesses Of the Redemption. His
admirable work is proof of the truth
of this statement.
Doctrine on the Holy Ghost.
If now we turn to the book in hand,
since the Holy Ghost and the work of
the Holy Ghost is its theme, it maybe
we'll to refresh our minds with the
Christian doctrine concerning the
Holy Spirit and to point out the stern
need there was of His help.
How little and how much we know
of the Holy Ghost! How little we
know! The august mystery of the
Blessed Trinity completely dazzles us.
In that sun of divine being faith
teaches us to distinguish Infinite In
telligence begetting Infinite Wisdom
and Infinite Love, that is, the Holy
Ghost. proceeding from them both.
That is about all. On the other hand,
how much we know, when we consider
the works appropriated to the Holy
Ghost with what it implies! Those
works we're syn1bolized by those ma
terial forms, in which the Holy
Ghost appeared to men. At the
TRANSPORTATION and Ascension the
Holy Ghost appeared, as if a bright
cloud; at Christ's baptism, as if a
dove; on Pentecost, as if tongues of
fire. The cloud rains down showers
upon the earth and the Holy Ghost
dwelling in the church causes the
church to pour forth showers of heav-
enly. doctrine. The harmless dove is
highly productive of it's kind, and the
Holy Ghost through the sacraments,
which holy Church administers to us,
begets and fosters spiritual children
l."partakers of the divine nature" Fin
ally the flames of fire are eager, con-
snming, ever bounding upward, and
the Holy Ghost through the teaching
of the church ever spurs us not to be
satisfied with, the natural, but in all
things to make the supernatural our
goal. We have a right to invoke this
typical sense of Scripture because,
says ST. Thomas, in Scripture things
speak. Now, more especially in the
beginning of the Christian era, owing
to the deplorable state of the world,
was this heavenly influx needed to an
extraordinary degree and was bestow-
ed just as fOreshadowed by this triple
similitude.
The Age Of the Apostles.
The world was then without God. In
its spiritual darkness it may be COM
pared to that barren desolatiOn, before
flora OF fauna appeared on the earth,
when "the spirit of God moved over
the waters" (Gen. LILY or it may be
compared to that barren field cumber-
ed with dry bones, which seemed to
emit the cry: Our bones are dried up,
and our hope is lost, and we are cut
off, (Ez. xxvii1I. In Judea, the
prophets had been stoned, the Baptist
had been beheaded, Jesus had been
crucifed, rationalism triumphant sat
in the Chair Of Moses, pernicious
leaven pervaded the would-be relig-
ious making them "whited sepulchers.'
There were few genuinely religious
In the Gentle world, the outlook was
even more disheartening. Tiberius
the mad emperor, reigned, and he was
to be followed by Caligula and a
| Nero, more insane STILL. Frivolous
babblers held the place of Plato and
Aristotle. Religion had vanished and
the temples had become the schools
of corruption, where lined souls, feeb
| ly struggling to be free, were engaged
the more. Plato had said emphatic
i ally, three centuries previously, that
unless a god were to descend from
Heaven, there was no hope for the
human race, and the general state Of
imam had come to a much worse pass
than it was in Plato's day. Now Goo
did descend from on high to make q
new life burgeon and bloom, to raise
up a living army, where once there
were only bones in decay, to create q
new world in the midst of the old
The Holy Ghost justified by the over
flowing merits of Christ's death an(
armed with Christ's doctrine and in
situations came among men, a gift
from the Redeemer, to enkindle fire
IL 4 IL