Monday, May 14, 2018

Feast of Saint Matthias, apostle

(Acts 1:15-17.20-26; John 15:9-17)

In the entire Bible Matthias is mentioned only in today’s passage from Acts.  The man himself evidently did not do anything of unique importance.  It is his office as an apostle that makes his selection a primary concern in the Christian community.

Most probably Jesus chose twelve apostles to give his movement continuity with Israel.  He recognized in the nation more than divine selection.  He saw it holding critical tenets of God’s self-revelation.  Israel knew, long before Jesus, that God loves unconditionally.  It also knew that God calls each human being to more perfectly reflect the divine image.  The role of Jesus’ apostles was to proclaim that God’s love and His promise is fulfilled in Jesus.  The community reiterates the continuity by maintaining a body of twelve primary witnesses to Jesus.  However, with the death of the original apostles, it did not see the need to name others.

The apostles handed on a system of belief which the Church still preserves.  For this reason in part the Church is recognized as apostolic.  The belief system unites our local church or diocese with all the others within the Roman Catholic Church.  It also unites, at least in the same faith, the Roman Church with Catholic and Orthodox Churches around the world. 

Homilette for Monday, May 14, 2007

Feast of St. Matthias, May 14

(Acts 1)

It is not so important that Matthias is chosen to be an apostle but to be one of the Twelve. Apostles are plentiful in the Early Church. Paul becomes known as “the Apostle” because of his zeal to go out and preach the gospel. But the Twelve is an exclusive club with strong symbolic meaning.

Jesus evidently wants to have a core group of disciples who would become the main proponents of his teaching. His choice of twelve is no accident but represents the number of tribes of ancient Israel. Jesus sees his teaching as a reconstitution of the Jewish faith. For good reason then the Church calls itself as the New Israel.

Of course, being the New Israel means our assuming significant responsibility. Israel is the people whom God has chosen to be, as one Bible translation puts it, “peculiarly his own.” We are to stand out in society as Florence Nightingales of care, George Washingtons of honesty, and Dominic Guzmans of self-control. In his apostolic journey to Brazil, Pope Benedict is exhorting the bishops to teach the people in these ways.