Completing Love

The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today invite contemplation of the beauty and truth in acting for completeness in our lives of love.

Completing our relationships

The text from the Acts of the Apostles outlines the response to Judas death by completing “the Twelve” by the choice of a successor, Saint Matthias.

* [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.1 

Psalm 113 is a hymn exhorting the congregation to praise God’s name.

* [Psalm 113] A hymn exhorting the congregation to praise God’s name, i.e., the way in which God is present in the world; the name is mentioned three times in Ps 113:1–3. The divine name is especially honored in the Temple (Ps 113:1) but its recognition is not limited by time (Ps 113:2) and space (Ps 113:3), for God is everywhere active (Ps 113:4–5) especially in rescuing the lowly faithful (Ps 113:7–9).2 

In the Gospel from John, Jesus description of his relationship as the Vine and the Branches leads to His sharing of our invitation from the Father to “friendship”.

* [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.3 

Eileen Burke-Sullivan notes that we are also asked to ponder that this Good News of Victory is for all the world and each one called has a “portion” or “share” of the work of spreading the message by lives of faithful attentiveness to Jesus.

Today’s Gospel reminds all of us that to be a true disciple (a lá Matthias) we are each called to “remain” in Jesus’ love – that is, both receiving God’s love through Jesus and returning our willed love to God through Jesus. (Love is recognized more in deeds than in words, we are reminded by a later disciple).  To remain in the original Greek usage, to be attentive to, or set up a tent with. In other words, we are to live with Jesus – all day, every day. We have been invited into this relationship – to live in and witness to love as he defines it by his behavior. 4 

Don Schwager quotes “Love your enemy and make a friend,” by Gregory the Great, 540-604 A.D.

"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)5 

The Word Among Us Meditation on Acts 1:15-17, 20-26 reminds us that God loves to fill in gaps, just as he did with St. Matthias. Whether it’s the gap between him and you, an empty place in your heart, or the distance between what you believe and how you behave, God delights in closing them all. You might say that’s what living life in the Spirit is all about.

God used Matthias to fill a clear gap among the apostles. Are there ways he wants to use you? Think about the “gaps” you notice in your church. Then see if the Holy Spirit is inviting you to do something.
“Father, thank you for the full life you want all your children to experience. Is there a gap you want me to help fill in?”6 

Friar Jude Winkler shares the conviction of Luke that the Church guided by the Holy Spirit calls Matthias to complete the twelve. The selection of Matthias resonates with the use of the Urim and Thummim by the Jewish high priest. Friar Jude links the Gospel text to the vertical and horizontal aspects of our relationship with God.

The Chabad.org website provides more detail about use of the Urim and Thummim.

When its services were needed, the Kohen Gadol would stand facing the Holy Ark with the questioner behind him. The individual desiring an answer would ask a simple yes-or-no question such as, “Shall we go to war?” The Kohen Gadol would meditate until he reached Divine inspiration. Then, certain letters on the breastplate (upon which the names of the twelve tribes were written) would appear to protrude38 or light up,39 producing an answer.40
The Urim and Thummim were lost after the destruction of the First Temple.41 According to another tradition, it was extant but ceased to work.42 7 

Cynthia Bourgeault shares Catholic priest Raimundo (or Raimon) Panikkar (1918–2010)’s conviction that Trinity is all about relationship.

Cosmotheandric is the term Panikkar invents to describe this dynamic relational ground. The word itself is the fusion of cosmos (world), theos (God), and andros (man) and suggests a continuous intercirculation among these three distinct planes of existence in a single motion of self-communicating love. The gist of this idea is already fully there in those profound images that cascade from Jesus’s mouth in the farewell discourses of John 13-17: “I am the vine, you are the branches; abide in me as I in you” (John 15:4); “As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us. . . . I in them and you in me, that they may be completely one” (John 17:21-23).8 

Our journey towards truth, beauty and goodness involves completing our relationship through the Spirit with God and and Creation in Christ.

References

1	(n.d.). Acts, chapter 1 - United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Retrieved May 14, 2019, from http://www.usccb.org/bible/acts/1
2	(n.d.). Psalms, chapter 113 - United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Retrieved May 14, 2019, from http://www.usccb.org/bible/psalms/113
3	(n.d.). John, chapter 15 - United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Retrieved May 14, 2019, from http://www.usccb.org/bible/john/15
4	(n.d.). Creighton U Daily Reflections - OnlineMinistries - Creighton University. Retrieved May 14, 2019, from http://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/daily.html
5	(n.d.). Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations. Retrieved May 14, 2019, from https://dailyscripture.servantsoftheword.org/
6	(2019, May 14). Saint Matthias, Apostle (Feast) - Mass Readings and Catholic Daily .... Retrieved May 14, 2019, from https://wau.org/meditations/2019/05/14/
7	(n.d.). The High Priest in Jewish Tradition - Jewish History - Chabad.org. Retrieved May 14, 2019, from https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/4195084/jewish/The-High-Priest-in-Jewish-Tradition.htm
8	(2019, May 14). Pure Relationality — Center for Action and Contemplation. Retrieved May 14, 2019, from https://cac.org/pure-relationality-2019-05-14/