Reflection
Feast of Saint Matthias, Apostle
Saint Matthias, the Apostle who replaced Judas, had to feel uncomfortable for many reasons. Did people look at his face and think, “Oh isn’t that the guy who replaced Judas”? Yes, we are told Matthias had followed Jesus from the days of John the Baptist, had even met John the Baptist, and hung around all the way to Pentecost. But there is no record of what he did for a living. Did he fish? Did he even know how to fish? Of course, he must have been helpful during Jesus’ life, or why make him an Apostle at all? Wasn’t this promotion from disciple to apostle like going on tour with Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr and be booked to replace John Lennon on a “return tour”? Wow, what a challenge! What responsibility!
We believers might be like Saint Matthias. We missed the Last Supper. Nobody will let us write paragraphs for a revised edition of the New Testament. Yes, that might sound silly, but what do we get to do that’s great?
What we get to do is bring the values, justice, and peace of heaven into the present world. We all know this as building the Kingdom of God as close as we can discern God’s concept of that kingdom, right?
We get to try to deliver unconditional love, mercy, and humility in everyday life. We aspire to address the needs of the marginalized. We want to help heal broken relationships, whether they are between individuals, groups, or even nations. We teach Gospel-values to invite others into spiritual communities.
And nobody doubts it’s hard to sacrifice oneself and endure a long road to build integrity. Living in in a wealthy country makes it especially hard to aspire to be “poor in spirit.” It isn’t always easy to be a “good seed” instead of a “weed.” And trying to serve others as we serve ourselves takes a lot of practice before finding the joy in doing so.
Undoubtedly, Saint Matthias learned Christian core basics from direct contact with Jesus and probably never ceased watching how the original apostles operated over time. As the new apostle, as the special invitee, one imagines he evangelized humbly, energetically, and effectively for the people of his time. And for sure the descendants of those people continue today to build the kingdom of God.
