14^th May, Feast of Saint Matthias

The group of the Twelve were very important to Jesus. They symbolized the renewed twelve tribes of Israel. They were the core of a renewed people of God who would be a light to the nations. When the Twelve were reduced to eleven because of the betrayal and subsequent suicide of Judas Iscariot, the early church recognized that he would need to be replaced, so that the group of Twelve Jesus formed could live on. This group of the Twelve didn’t continue indefinitely. As the members of the Twelve died off over time, they weren’t replaced. However in the period immediately after the death and resurrection of Jesus, the early church knew it was important to reconstitute the Twelve by finding a replacement for Judas. Matthias, whose feast we celebrate today, was that replacement. Peter, the leader of the Twelve, took the initiative to find a replacement for Judas. Peter was clear that Judas’ replacement had to be someone who had been with Jesus from the time of his baptism until the moment of his ascension. He needed to have been a witness to the all that Jesus said and did during his public ministry. The community of believers narrowed the candidates down to two and then, in prayer, they asked the Lord to show them which of the two he had chosen. The choice of Matthias was the result of both human effort and the Lord’s guidance. When it comes to important decisions in our own lives, we need to engage in the human effort of discernment and we also need to come before the Lord in prayer, asking for his guidance. The members of the early church were confident that the Lord would guide and direct them if they came before him in prayer. We too can have the same confidence that the Lord will guide and direct us when we have some important decisions to make. In the gospel reading he says to his disciples, who represent us all, ‘I call you friends’. One of the ways the Lord befriends us is by helping us to take the right path, the path that corresponds to what he wants for us. We just need to approach him in that same spirit of trusting prayer that the members of the early church showed in the first reading.