Wednesday, May 14, 2014

Saint Matthias, apostle - Feast

14th May A.D. 2014
SAINT MATTHIAS
Apostole, Feast


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]

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint John 15:9-17. 
As the Father loves me, so I also love you. Remain in my love.
If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and remain in his love.
I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and your joy may be complete.
This is my commandment: love one another as I love you.
No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends.
You are my friends if you do what I command you.
I no longer call you slaves, because a slave does not know what his master is doing. I have called you friends, because I have told you everything I have heard from my Father.
It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit that will remain, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name he may give you.
This I command you: love one another. 
Commentary by His Holiness Pope Francis
"It was  I who chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit that will remain"

Personal encounter with the saving love of Jesus: The primary reason for evangelizing is the love of Jesus which we have received, the experience of salvation which urges us to ever greater love of him. What kind of love would not feel the need to speak of the beloved, to point him out, to make him known? If we do not feel an intense desire to share this love, we need to pray insistently that he will once more touch our hearts. We need to implore his grace daily, asking him to open our cold hearts and shake up our lukewarm and superficial existence. 

Standing before him with open hearts, letting him look at us, we see that gaze of love which Nathaniel glimpsed on the day when Jesus said to him: “I saw you under the fig tree” (Jn 1,48). How good it is to stand before a crucifix, or on our knees before the Blessed Sacrament, and simply to be in his presence! How much good it does us when he once more touches our lives and impels us to share his new life! What then happens is that “we speak of what we have seen and heard” (1 Jn 1,3). 

The best incentive for sharing the Gospel comes from contemplating it with love, lingering over its pages and reading it with the heart. If we approach it in this way, its beauty will amaze and constantly excite us. But if this is to come about, we need to recover a contemplative spirit which can help us to realize ever anew that we have been entrusted with a treasure which makes us more human and helps us to lead a new life. There is nothing more precious which we can give to others.

The Mass will be celebrated by bishop c. Raphael Zimer at 
02:00 PM SLT in Saint Francis Cathedral

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