DAILY REFLECTION

In the Gospel of this day of the Last Supper, Jesus establishes a triple relationship. The source of everything is the Father. The Father loves Jesus and Jesus loves the Father. Jesus, in turn, loves the disciples and chooses them as friends, reveals to them the will of the Father and sends them to bear fruit. He expects the disciples, in turn, to love Jesus and abide in his love, keeping his commandments, just as Jesus abides in love for the Father, fulfilling his will. Also Jesus charges them to draw another conclusion in their lives: to love one another.

All this will lead you to full joy, the joy that springs from love and fidelity. Good page to read on the Feast of Saint Matthias, chosen in a special way to be included in the group of the Apostles of Jesus.

Reflection

The story of Saint Matthias helps us understand the vocation of «apostles» that we all have in a broad sense: witnesses of Christ in today’s world.

The qualities that were requested for Matias are also asked of us, in a way, of us: we do not claim the status of apostles and envoys, but we are «chosen», «sent» by Christ, as we have recalled in the Gospel. ; We too wish «to be counted among your chosen ones» and to enter one day to take part «in the light and in the inheritance of your saints».

We do not act as snipers, each on his own, but rather. We belong to the Church and we act in coordination with its leaders and the other collaborators, as Matias became part of the group of Twelve; somehow, we must experience «living together» with Jesus: we have not seen and heard him directly, but we do believe in him and have discovered him as the reason for our lives, and we are «his friends»; and from there derives the fact that we are asked to be «witnesses of his resurrection» for others, with what this implies of energy, hope, joy and dynamic life.

Fr. Antony Majeesh George Kallely, OFM.