Tuesday – St. Matthias, Apostle

Gospel – John 15:9-17

The Luck of the Draw

Magdala Chapel

There was a time when I was teaching World Religions where, instead of the students picking their partners for their major group project, I made the selections.  So I just threw all their names into a basket and randomly pulled them out.  I thought it would eliminate the pain of the kids having to choose which friends to pair up with and which friends not!  It was a horrible idea and I never tried it again.  Choosing by lots, by sheer chance, is not always the best option!

We celebrate today the Feast of St. Matthias, Apostle.  And here is what we know about Matthias – he was selected by lot to take Judas’ place as one of the Twelve.  That’s it; that’s all we know.  No background!  No info on his missionary work or even his death, nothing!  All we have is a roll of the dice! 

So was that all just a matter of chance?  Sheer blind luck?  Today’s Gospel tells us that was not the case. Jesus tells His Apostles “It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you”.  Luck had nothing to do with it!  It was divinely inspired.  God was at work as He always is.  We like to think our parents made this conscious decision to have us baptized.  Or we believe that we make this choice to receive the Sacraments.  But in reality, it wasn’t our choice at all.  It was our response!  The choice was God’s!  God chose us as His children out of love.  What we see as a personal choice is really a response to God’s call!

Consider too that, before the Apostles drew lots, they prayed!  They knew this would be important; they knew the choice would ultimately not be random.  They prayed for God’s assistance and inspiration.  They left nothing to chance!

God calls each and every one of us to follow Him, to follow His commandments, and to love one another.  What we have to discern is how to answer God’s call!  What is our response?

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