The proposal of the journalist and writer Costanza Miriano is one not to be taken lightly. Indeed, reading the Bible smacks of a complex commitment, especially in the secularized world in which we live. A real challenge, that of Costanza Miriano, with the discovery of a text that contains all the answers , which contains the story of each of us and which can guide us in the difficult journey of life.

The Bible is to be leafed through, consumed, absorbed, listened to, incorporated. In short, to be taken seriously as suggested in the volume " The book that reads us " (Sonzogno, 2022, pp. 160, also e-book).

The biblical pages preserve characters, events and parables that even today - indeed, especially today - could be used as a compass to guide us among the thousand difficulties of everyday life, to dispel our doubts and to entrust us to those who know how to take care of us.

The Bible is then really to be read, as confirmed by Costanza Miriano:

«To the question why read the biblical text I could give answers à la page, such as saying that it contains cultural archetypes that cannot be ignored, which is also true, but in reality I read it because a lot of people with a more functioning brain of mine, like Saint Thomas and Saint Augustine, and many others, for two thousand years, an uninterrupted chain of friends who have risked their lives, have said that it is the word of God. And if God wants to tell me something, I am interested to figure out what. Then maybe I do as I please, but in the meantime I want to understand what he's telling me. Incidentally, whenever I do as I please, I give a cartload».

Why, as the title says, is the Bible a book that reads to us?

“The Bible is the story of a people who see God intervene in their history. It's not an intellectual fact, it's just a fact. God comes and speaks, somehow makes himself understood. He intervenes with Joseph, with Susanna, Esther, he intervenes in ways that I have seen repeated - because the Bible is God's grammar, it tells us how he speaks - in the lives of friends, which I tell. For example, the story of a people who are in bad shape, mix bricks with mud and are slaves of the pharaoh, therefore, agree to leave to get better, in my opinion it also says something about our lives».

How should the Bible be “used” in your opinion?

“The important thing is to start. Read it, in any way. From ignorant, biblical scholars, atheists or believers it doesn't matter. You don't need to know anything before starting, it's not a book for adepts. The important thing is not to leave it dusty on the shelf holding other books by people who have died, or will die. We're talking about living people here, you and me."

What did this book give you?

«Keys to understanding that have changed everything for me, in certain turning points and, I hope, a different look at my life. Every time I trusted, I did something because she was telling me, that is Him, I have never regretted it. The word faith in Hebrew has to do with the word rock. Having a rock to cling to if needed is wonderful. It makes you live life in another way."

How is the Bible particularly relevant in this historical moment?

“The entire Bible is an attempt by God to make us change our minds about him. We have the idea of someone who stands there at the window to check if we behave, and if not, punishes us. The Word instead tells us in every way that God is Father. That already if we stopped on this there would be a lot to think about. Father! But a father who is on a scale of one to a million with our limited paternity: he loves us infinitely. The one who made the waterfalls, the atoms, the glaciers, made me too, and in baptism he adopted me. I am the King's daughter! And the King treats his children to the best, leaves them an inheritance, makes them eat with him, keeps them as the apple of his eye. The Bible is full of this God. And the commandments are not some sadistic rules that he put into it because he is a psychopath who made us wrong and enjoys seeing us suffer. The commandments in reverse are our instruction booklet. We work that way, and if we don't follow them we 'break' like a badly used washing machine. Here, this thing, the instructions of happiness, makes the Bible very current. The world has definitively freed itself from God, but it doesn't seem happier at all, on the contrary".

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