Today is the feast of St.
Matthias. He was chosen by lot to replace Judas and to join the other eleven
apostles to be a witness to Jesus’ resurrection. You and I, also, have been chosen to be
witnesses to Jesus’ triumph over death. We were chosen, not by lot, but directly by
Jesus. He says to us in today’s Gospel: “It
was not you who chose me, but I who chose you and appointed you to go and bear
fruit that will remain…” (Jn 15:6).
Envision Jesus making
this choice! It is you and I He is choosing! It is you and I whom He is
appointing to assume the mission of bearing fruit that will never rotten, never
disintegrate, never die! What kind of
fruit does not ever deteriorate and turn to rot but blooms into eternal life?
The answer, obviously, is love. The same
Spirit whereby Jesus rose from the death is the same Spirit Who empowers us to love in the face of
hatred, to work for peace in the face of violence, to work toward forgiveness
and reconciliation in the face of injustices and hurts we endure in this life. “That’s
impossible,” you might argue. However, Jesus
returned to heaven, to His Father, in order to send to us the Holy Spirit. It
is the Spirit at work in us Who enables to do even greater things than Jesus
did during his short 33 years here on this earth. Jesus Himself makes that promise in John 14:
12-14: “In all truth I tell you, whoever believes in me will perform the same
works as I do myself, and will perform even greater works, because I am going to the Father….I shall ask
the Father and he will give you another Paraclete to be with you forever, the Spirit
of truth….[H]e is with you, he is in you” (Jn 14: 12-13, 15-17).
And you and I, from
conception , have been chosen to receive the Paraclete, to be a witness to the
Resurrection of Jesus, God’s only begotten Son, by the works we do—“even
greater works” than Jesus did here on earth! Do we believe this truth? Do we
believe Jesus? Or do our mediocre, apathetic lives proclaim our unbelief?
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