Feast of St. Matthias, Apostle
John 15:9-17
Jesus said to his disciples: “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 might be in you and your joy might 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.”
Opening Prayer: God my Father, I delight in your commandments and thank you for your love. Grant me the grace to remain in your love. Teach us to love one another.
Encountering Christ:
- Joy: The joy of God is his people. “I have told you this so that my joy may be in you.” God delights in us. He watches us with great interest and cares for us with true affection. He speaks to us and listens carefully to what we tell him. Nothing pleases him more than seeing us happy. “For as a young man marries a virgin, your Builder shall marry you; And as a bridegroom rejoices in his bride so shall your God rejoice in you” (Isa 62:5). God feels even more gladness toward us than a man feels on the night of his wedding. What a thought! And God wants us to be joyful, too. “That your joy may be complete!” Our true and complete joy is in him.
- Friendship: “You are my friends if you do what I command you.” It is not always easy to be God’s friend, but we do have many great examples of saints who have preceded us in the faith. “By faith Abel offered to God a sacrifice greater than Cain’s […] By faith Noah, warned about what was not yet seen, with reverence built an ark for the salvation of his household […] By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance […] What more shall I say? I have not time to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets” (Heb 11:4-32). By faith, God’s friends kept his commandments. We are Jesus’ friends because he has shared everything with us, including his life and saving message. “I have called you friends, because I have told you everything I have heard from my Father.”
- Choice: Matthias was chosen by lot to join the ranks of the Apostles and be numbered among the Eleven. We are also chosen by Christ for a specific purpose. “It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit that will remain.” Being chosen and being desired by God is existential bedrock. We thrive when we are needed, admired, and—in a spousal relationship—desired. How sad to find a bride despised by her husband, or a child unwanted by their parents! With God we are set on rock. “No more shall you be called ‘Forsaken,’ nor your land called ‘Desolate,’ but you shall be called ‘My Delight is in her,’ and your land ‘Espoused.’ For the Lord delights in you, and your land shall be espoused… And you shall be called ‘Cared For,’ a ‘City Not Forsaken’” (Isa 62:4-12). God yearns for us. We are his joy, his friends, and his desire. He loves us with all the loving power of God himself. “As the Father loves me, so I also love you.” Love him.
Conversing with Christ: Lord Jesus, you are my light and my salvation. You are my best friend, the joy of my heart. Stay with me always. Give me the grace to keep your commandments, knowing that your joy is in me.
Resolution: Lord, today by your grace I will tell you that you are my best friend and promise you that we will remain best friends forever.
Fr Erik Burckel, LC was ordained to the priesthood in 2022. He writes articles and short stories for diverse purposes and publications, and can be reached at eburckel@legionaries.org.
