• Login
    View Item 
    •   CDR Home
    • Mission and Ministry
    • Daily Reflections Archive
    • View Item
    •   CDR Home
    • Mission and Ministry
    • Daily Reflections Archive
    • View Item
    JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.

    Reflection for Saturday, May 14, 2011: St. Matthias, Apostle.

    View/Open
    051411.html (7.987Kb)
    Author
    Burke-Sullivan, Eileen
    Date
    2011-05-14
    Office/Affiliation
    College of Arts and Sciences; Theology

    Reading 1
    Acts 1:15-17, 20-26

    Psalm
    Psalms 113:1-2, 3-4, 5-6, 7-8

    Gospel
    John 15:9-17

    Lectionary Number
    564. Year I, Easter.

    Metadata
    Show full item record
    Browse: Previous Reflection * Next Reflection

    Reflection:

    To see the original html page, click the file link on the left.

    During the Easter Season certain feasts are on the calendar because they call us to celebrate our roots in the period of the Acts of the Apostles. Today's feast of St. Matthias is one of those. Usually a saint's feast is placed on their death day (the day they presumably entered eternal life), but we know next to nothing about Matthias' life or death. Luke tells us that Peter identified the "credentials" for being an Apostle involved having been with the followers of Jesus from the beginning, serving as an eye witness to the Resurrection - so among those to whom Jesus appeared during his days following Easter - and having been chosen by Jesus. So they pick two candidates and let Jesus (now Ascended to the Father) choose. They enact this by prayer and by drawing lots.

    What is more important than how he was chosen is that we know from Luke's witness about Matthias in the book of Acts is that he was a friend of Jesus "from the beginning until this very day." So he was one of those one hundred and twenty men and women in the upper room upon whom the Holy Spirit descended. Today's Gospel invites us to ponder that relationship more closely. What does it mean for Jesus to call us friend? It means he loves us with the same love that the Father loves Him. He loves us with life-giving, redeeming love. He cares for us absolutely.

    But how do we know if we are one of His friends? The criteria Jesus establishes according to John's witness in today's Gospel, is whether we keep Jesus' commandments - just as He kept the Father's commandments. But what are Jesus' commandments? They are scattered throughout the Gospels, but they are clear and we have been reminded of them over the last few weeks: to forgive anyone who offends us, at least 490 (or so) times a day; to eat the bread broken in Jesus' memory and to share His cup poured out for the redemption of the world; to serve one another in the manner of the lowliest household slave willing even to kneel and wash the other's feet; to proclaim the good news of God's love for us and bring to Baptism those who are given the Spirit of faith; to take up the cross daily and follow Jesus to the death of our own plans, dreams and certainties in order to fulfill the Father's will; to give bread to the hungry and drink to the thirsty whoever they may be, to forgive our enemies and do good to those who harm us; to address God as Abba and to trust as a small child utterly trusts a good parent. Above all, to love one another with the same intensity as Jesus loves each one of us.

    He promised to send the Spirit to make this friendship flourish in us; the Spirit of Truth and the Spirit of Love - we are not left alone in fear of our enemies or the violence of the world. We don't even have to judge anyone else's goodness - we can leave that to God. Why is it so hard to be a friend of Jesus when it fulfills our deepest longings, when it brings the perfection of joy? Because in the end the condition for such friendship for each of us is the same condition that Jesus met: laying down my life for those I love - and even for those I didn't know that I love - and taking it up again in God's time and God's place, not my own. Ignatius said it so well: "Take Lord, receive . . . my entire will." I don't know about you, but giving over all that control just isn't easy for me, even for such a glorious reward as intimacy with Jesus.

    St. Matthias, help us to follow the path of friendship with Jesus. Amen.
    Link
    Go to the Daily Reflection web site

    Persistant link to this record
    http://hdl.handle.net/10504/50298
    Context
    View the Weekly Guide for Daily Prayer (Archived Version)

    Browse
    Previous Reflection * Next Reflection

    Collections
    • Daily Reflections Archive

    DSpace software copyright © 2002-2015  DuraSpace
    Contact Us | Send Feedback
    Theme by 
    @mire NV
     

     

    Browse

    All of the CDRCommunities & CollectionsBy Issue DateAuthorsTitlesSubjectsThis CollectionBy Issue DateAuthorsTitlesSubjects

    My Account

    LoginRegister

    Statistics

    Most Popular ItemsStatistics by CountryMost Popular Authors

    DSpace software copyright © 2002-2015  DuraSpace
    Contact Us | Send Feedback
    Theme by 
    @mire NV