Fw: St. Matthias 
Mass - Intro...
On Wednesday, 14 May 2014, 16:40, Fr. Nivard ...> wrote:
Magnificat, adapted 4 Wed (May 14): John 15:9-17
You did not choose me, no, I chose you
The first sign of true love is that the lover submits his will to that of the beloved.
First, if the loved one is poor, one strives to be poor.
Second, it makes one abandon all other friendships contrary to this love.
Third, one can keep nothing hidden from the other. This third action is the highest and completes the other two.
For in this mutual revelation of secrets, hearts are opened and bond more perfectly to one another.
The only thing necessary for us is God. God is love and who dwells in love dwells in God and God in her/him.
After Angela Foligno.
Father, you have chosen us in your Son. May we draw ever closer to you in the love of your son our Lord Jesus Christ.
St. Matthias, apostle - Feast
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| Not Matthias in Leonardo |
How does one qualify to be an apostle?
The first act of the apostles after the Ascension of Jesus was to find a replacement for Judas. With all the questions, doubts, and dangers facing them, they chose to focus their attention on finding a twelfth apostle. Why was this important? Twelve was a very important number to the Chosen People: twelve was the number of the twelve tribes of Israel. If the new Israel was to come from the disciples of Jesus, a twelfth apostle was needed.
But Jesus had chosen the original twelve. How could they know whom he would choose?
One hundred and twenty people were gathered for prayer and reflection in the upper room, when Peter stood up to propose the way to make the choice.
Peter had one criterion, that, like Andrew, James, John, and himself, the new apostle be someone who had been a disciple from the very beginning, from his baptism by John until the Ascension. The reason for this was simple, the new apostle would must become a witness to Jesus' resurrection. He must have followed Jesus before anyone knew him, stayed with him when he made enemies, and believed in him when he spoke of the cross and of eating his body -- teachings that had made others melt away.
Two men fit this description -- Matthias and Joseph called Barsabbas. They knew that both these men had been with them and with Jesus through his whole ministry. But which one had the heart to become a witnessto his resurrection. The apostles knew that only the Lord could know what was in the heart of each. They cast lots in order to discover God's will and Matthias was chosen. He was the twelfth apostle and the group was whole again as they waited for the coming of the Holy Spirit.
That's the first we hear of Matthias in Scripture, and the last. Legends like the Acts of Andrew and Matthias testify to Matthias' enthusiastic embrace of all that being an apostle meant including evangelization, persecution, and death in the service of the Lord.
How does one qualify to be an apostle?
Clement of Alexandria says that Matthias, like all the other apostles, was not chosen by Jesus for what he already was, but for what Jesus foresaw he would become. He was elected not because he was worthy but because he would become worthy. Jesus chooses all of us in the same way. What does Jesus want you to become?
In His Footsteps:
Have you ever felt like an afterthought, a latecomer? Or have you ever resented someone new who was added to your group? Try to see your community as not complete without the newcomer, whether you or someone else. Welcome any newcomers to your parish, work, or family community this week as someone chosen by God.
Prayer:St. Mathias. Funny Facts.
More about St. Matthias from Wikipedia
For other uses, see Saint Matthias (disambiguation).
Matthias (Hebrew transliteration: Mattityahu[2]; died c. 80), according to the Acts of the Apostles, was theapostle chosen by the remaining eleven apostles to replace Judas Iscariot following Judas' betrayal of Jesusand suicide.[3] His calling as an apostle is unique in that his appointment was not made personally by Jesus, who had already ascended to heaven, and, it was made before the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the early Church.
ST. MATTHIAS Apostle
After our blessed
Lord's Ascension his disciples met together, with Mary his mother and the
eleven apostles, in an upper room at Jerusalem.
The little company
numbered no more than one hundred and twenty souls. They were waiting for the
promised coining of the Holy Spirit, and they persevered in prayer. Meanwhile
there was a solemn act to be performed on the part of the Church, which could
not be postponed. The place of the fallen Judas must be filled up, that the
elect number of the apostles might be complete.
St. Peter, therefore,
as Vicar of Christ, arose to announce the divine decree. That which the Holy
Spirit had spoken by the mouth of David concerning Judas, he said, must be
fulfilled. Of him it had been written, "His bishopric let another
take." A choice, therefore, was to be made of one among those who had been
their companions from the beginning, who could bear witness to the Resurrection
of Jesus.
Two were named of equal
merit, Joseph called Barsabas, and Matthias. Then, after praying to God, who
knows the hearts of all men, to show which of these he had chosen, they cast
lots, and the lot fell upon Matthias, who was forthwith numbered with the
apostles.
It is recorded of the
Saint, thus wonderfully elected to so high a vocation, that he was above all
remarkable for his mortification of the flesh. It was thus that he made his
election sure.
Lives of the Saints, by Alban Butler,
Benziger Bros. ed. [1894]
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