SECOND SECTION.
THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES.
Chapter LXXXIV.
THE ELECTION OF MATTHIAS.— DESCENT OF THE HOLY GHOST.
[Acts 1, 12 to 2, 47.]
RETURNING from Mount Olivet on the day of the Ascension, the apostles repaired to the upper chamber, or supperroom, of the house in which they usually assembled. There they remained in prayer [1] for ten days, with Mary, the Mother of Jesus, several other holy women, and a great number of disciples, the number of persons being about one hundred and twenty.
During those ten days[2] of prayer, Peter, rising up, said it was necessary, according to the scripture which the Holy Ghost spoke before by the mouth of David concerning Judas (Ps. 68, 26 and 108, 8), that a new apostle should be chosen in his stead, one of those “who had companied with us all the time[3] that the Lord Jesus came in and went out among us from the baptism of John until the day wherein He was taken up from us.” Two[4] of the disciples were then proposed: Joseph, called Barsabas,
- ↑ In prayer. All exciting in their hearts the same desire for the Holy Ghost, and the same confidence that the promise of His Coming would be fulfilled.
- ↑ Ten days. Between our Lord’s Ascension and the Day of Pentecost.
- ↑ All the time. In other words, one who had known our Lord and been with Him during His public life, for he had to be, equally with the other apostles, a witness to the words and actions of our Lord, and especially to His Resurrection.
- ↑ Two. Who, in the opinion of all present, had the necessary qualifications for the apostleship. However, as the call to be an apostle could only proceed from our Lord Himself, they prayed to Him to decide by lot and show them which of the two He had chosen.
