“Being docile to accept God’s ‘strange yet protective’ Will working in our lives!”
(Based on the Feast of St Mathias, the Apostle)
There goes a legend of the early Church…
Some pagans, once forced a holy person to drink a potion of poison, as part of persecutions against the faithful.
This holy person had been imprisoned.
He drank it, and not only did he himself remain unharmed…
… but he also healed others who had been blinded by the potion.
When he left the prison, the pagans searched for him in vain, for he had become invisible to them.
The holy person was St Mathias.
Today is the Feast of this Apostle, St Mathias.
He is the Apostle, chosen by lot, to go “into the place of the traitor Judas”.
The Acts of the Apostles describes:” that he may take his place in this ministry and apostleship, from which Judas by transgression fell.” (Acts 1:25)
St Mathias had one of the most unique privileges as well as one of the most awkward moments.
He had the unique privilege of being counted the Twelve Apostles of Jesus Christ.
He had the unique awkward moment of taking the position left blank by Judas, the betrayer.
It is usually hard to fill up empty spaces of vacancies and opportunities.
And it indeed gets too hard to fill up the vacancy of being counted among the exclusive Twelve Apostles.
This task gets too complicated especially if the vacancy was created as a shameful result of “betrayal” and “treachery”
St Mathias had to fill in the gap left by the “traitor” Judas Iscariot.
Yet, Divine Providence had it that St Mathias should replace Judas, to be “counted as one among the Twelve”.
Life sometimes is such…
We are asked to take up tasks that may seem highly uncomfortable
We are invited to draw up duties which may seem highly insulting
Are we willing to accept them, seeing God’s providential hand in them?
Are we ready to undertake them, knowing God’s Will is at work in that?
Let us trust in the mighty and assuring words of Jesus, “You did not choose me, but I chose you…” (Jn 15:16)
St Matthias stands in the place of the traitor Judas
But not as another traitor…
… but as one who knows the treachery of human hearts and the need for Heavenly Grace.
The Feast of St Mathias is a reminder of this naked and frightening, yet remarkable and bold truth:
There is a possibility of being a traitor in all of us
… like Judas
But there is also the glorious chance of being His faithful apostle
…like St Mathias.
There are elements of betraying God, within each of us…
… like Judas
But there are also graces of being passionately committed to the Lord…
… like St Mathias.
May St Mathias intercede and inspire us…
… to be docile to accept God’s ‘strange yet protective’ Will working in our lives
… to be bold to take up the challenge of filling up gaps caused by betrayal and uneasiness
… to be aware of God’s mighty Providence guiding every action of the Church and the world
Happy Feast of St Mathias, the Apostle
God Bless! Live Jesus!
Discovering the beauty of the Catholic Church through the Catechism:
ORIGINAL SIN – AN ESSENTIAL TRUTH OF THE FAITH
With the progress of Revelation, the reality of sin is also illuminated.
Although to some extent the People of God in the Old Testament had tried to understand the pathos of the human condition in the light of the history of the fall narrated in Genesis…
… they could not grasp this story’s ultimate meaning, which is revealed only in the light of the death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ.
We must know Christ as the source of grace in order to know Adam as the source of sin.
The Spirit-Paraclete, sent by the risen Christ, came to “convict the world concerning sin”…
… by revealing Him Who is its Redeemer.
The doctrine of original sin is, so to speak, the “reverse side” of the Good News that Jesus is the Saviour of all men, that all need salvation and that salvation is offered to all through Christ.
Reflection Capsules 