Chosen to lead in Love

The texts of the Roman Catholic Lectionary today on the Feast of Saint Matthias, Apostle, invite us to consider the role of the Holy Spirit in guiding our journey as friends of Jesus.

The passage from the Acts of the Apostles describes the replacement of Judas by Matthias as one of the Twelve.

* [1:26] The need to replace Judas was probably dictated by the symbolism of the number twelve, recalling the twelve tribes of Israel. This symbolism also indicates that for Luke (see Lk 22:30) the Christian church is a reconstituted Israel.

In the Gospel of John, Jesus using the image of the vine and the branches directs us to a Covenant in Love described by a New Commandment that will be evident in the lives of His friends.

* [15:13] For one’s friends: or: “those whom one loves.” In Jn 15:9–13a, the words for love are related to the Greek agapaō. In Jn 15:13b–15, the words for love are related to the Greek phileō. For John, the two roots seem synonymous and mean “to love”; cf. also Jn 21:15–17. The word philos is used here.

Larry Hopp asks if God really does indeed have a plan for each of us.

In today’s first reading from the book of Acts, Peter reminds us that “the Scriptures had to be fulfilled.”  That would certainly lead us to believe that luck really has nothing to do with how our lives unfold. God has had a plan from the moment of creation.  That plan is not just a general plan for the universe, but it is a plan for each one of us individually. The disciples turned to the one who “knows the hearts of all” in their selection of Matthias.  They simply put their faith in God and trusted in His plan – the plan for that specific decision as well as ALL the daily decisions as their lives continued to unfold. Those decisions were unfolding in a world that definitely did not seem right or just, a world uncannily mirroring our world today

Why a New Commandment? This is the question of Jack Mahoney SJ, Emeritus Professor of Moral and Social Theology in the University of London.

John in his gospel and his letters (as their author or their source) writes so repeatedly of the need for mutual love and unity among the disciples of Jesus, that it seems likely that these virtues were notably lacking in John’s Church, and that the Last Supper discourse is a plea from their risen Lord to remedy this sad situation. Finally, a very attractive interpretation links the ‘new’ commandment with the new covenant. As Raymond Brown observes, the evangelist shows that in speaking of love as the new commandment, ‘he is thinking of this Last Supper scene in covenant terms’.

Don Schwager quotes Gregory the Great, 540-604 A.D., on the theme of love your enemy and make a friend.

"The unique, the highest proof of love is this, to love the person who is against us. This is why Truth himself bore the suffering of the cross and yet bestowed his love on his persecutors, saying, 'Father, forgive them for they know not what they do' (Luke 23:34). Why should we wonder that his living disciples loved their enemies, when their dying master loved his? He expressed the depth of his love when he said, 'No one has greater love that this, than that he lay down his life for his friends' (John 15:13).' The Lord had come to die even for his enemies, and yet he said he would lay down his life for his friends to show us that when we are able to win over our enemies by loving them, even our persecutors are our friends." (excerpt from FORTY GOSPEL HOMILIES 27)

The Word Among Us Meditation on John 15:9-17 reminds us that Matthias was chosen “before the foundation of the world” (Ephesians 1:4). God had chosen Matthias before he was even conceived!

You can probably guess where we are going with this. God has chosen each of us in the same way. He has chosen you. He had you in mind before you were born. He knew what your gifts and talents, strengths and challenges would be, and he shaped a plan for you that would lead you to his heavenly throne. Every day, he continues to choose you with the same love that he had from the beginning.

The Post by Franciscan Media is a reflection on the holiness of Matthias.

Obviously, he was suited for apostleship by the experience of being with Jesus from his baptism to his ascension. He must also have been suited personally, or he would not have been nominated for so great a responsibility. Must we not remind ourselves that the fundamental holiness of Matthias was his receiving gladly the relationship with the Father offered him by Jesus and completed by the Holy Spirit? If the apostles are the foundations of our faith by their witness, they must also be reminders, if only implicitly, that holiness is entirely a matter of God’s giving, and it is offered to all, in the everyday circumstances of life. We receive, and even for this God supplies the power of freedom.

Friar Jude Winkler connects the choosing of Matthias to the practice the Jewish High Priest to give choice to God. The Last Supper discourse has amalgamated many of Jesus sayings. The “Love God and do what you will” advice of Augustine is supplemented by the Commandment that helps us live as He did as His friends not alienated by sin. (“Love God, and do what you will.” -Sermon on 1 John 7:8.).

Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, comments that being made in the image and likeness of the Creator isn’t about “getting it right” or rationally understanding God. Jesus taught us that being “perfect even as our heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:48) is more about loving than having correct beliefs or following the rules.

Each of us has our own unique imaginarium, an unconscious worldview constructed by our individual and group experiences, symbols, archetypes, and memories. For example, Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Catholics, and Protestants live in quite different imaginaria. God comes to us in images that we can trust and believe, that have the inherent power to open our hearts. Spirituality tries to move beyond words to evoke our imaginaria at the unconscious level, where real change must first happen.

From the selection of Matthias to our desire to try and envision a society wherein love is the characteristic of our relationships, limiting our considerations to the modern rationalism may be blocking our surrender to the truth, beauty and goodness inspired the Spirit.
References


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