HOMILY OF 7TH TUESDAY OF EASTER – YEAR B
HOMILY THEME: YOU ARE MY FRIENDS IF YOU DO WHAT I COMMAND YOU
BY: Fr Deotacious Chikontwe SMA
Acts 1:15-17,20-26, Psalm 112:1-8, John 15:9-17
INTRODUCTION
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today the Church celebrates the Feast of Saint Matthias the Apostle, one of the Twelve Apostles of the Lord, and the one who was not originally a member of the Twelve chosen by the Lord Himself to be among His chief disciples. There was a vacancy that arose due to the betrayal of Judas Iscariot.
ABOUT THE FIRST READING OF TODAY
According to this morning’s first reading, after Judas’ betrayal of Jesus and his subsequent suicide, the early church wanted to find a replacement for Judas so as to restore the group of the twelve to its full complement. A certain amount of human effort was put into finding such a person. First of all, Peter addressed the community of faith about the need to choose a replacement for Judas. Then the community had to discern who might be the best candidates and two suitable candidates were put forward. However, they wanted to ensure that their final choice corresponded with the Lord’s choice. As a result, they brought the fruits of their human efforts to prayer, and they asked the Lord, ‘Lord, show us which of these two you have chosen to take over this ministry’. It was only after that prayerful search of the Lord’s choice that they felt ready to nominate Matthias to replace Judas. The early church recognized that the person to replace Judas had to be the Lord’s choice.
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FROM OUR GOSPEL READING OF THE DAY
In this morning’s gospel reading, Jesus says to his disciples, ‘You did not choose me; no, I chose you’. The question, ‘What is the Lord’s choice?’ What does the Lord want?’ remains an important one for us today. We can easily fire ahead in a certain direction without asking that question. Asking that question inevitably brings us to prayer. In prayer we ask the Lord to guide and direct us in our choosing; we invite him to show us his choice. Jesus himself prayed this kind of prayer when, in the Garden of Gethsemane, he prayer, ‘Not my will but yours be done’. It is a type of prayer that he would encourage us all to enter into.
CONCLUSION
What Jesus says to his disciples there, he says to all of us, ‘I chose you’. The Lord’s choice of us is prior to all else. Yes, we have to choose the Lord for ourselves, but our choice of the Lord is always in response to his choice of us. To express it in another way, the Lord is always seeking us out, and our seeking of him is a response to his seeking us. The Lord loves us first and our love of him is in response to his love of us. The Lord’s initiative towards us is there before our initiative towards him. In our dealings with each other, we may choose someone as a friend, but we cannot be sure that they will choose us. However, in our dealings with the Lord, we know that the Lord has already chosen us as a friend, ‘I call you friends’, he says to his disciples. He cannot be sure that we will choose him as he has chosen us, but he earnestly desires us to do so.
Happy Feast of Saint Matthias, May he intercede for us always.
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