Joyfully within By Beth DeCristofaro

 Joyfully within  By Beth DeCristofaro

Feast of Saint Matthias, Apostle

 

Therefore, it is necessary that one of the men who accompanied us the whole time the Lord Jesus came and went among us, beginning from the baptism of John until the day on which he was taken up from us,
become with us a witness to his resurrection.” … Then they gave lots to them, and the lot fell upon Matthias (Acts 1:21-22, 26)

 

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.” (John 15:16-17)

 

 

Piety

Free me up, brother Jesus, to be your chosen.  Free me from preoccupations to remain in you whether my moments are good, demanding, or monotonous.  I ask to know, love and serve you more each day.  May I always share with others the joy that is complete in you.

 

Study

How much time do we spend anticipating, hoping for, waiting upon being chosen?  Will we make the right team?  Will we get into the preferred college or job?  Will my true love be found?  I wonder what Matthias thought as he stood among his praying friends, open to the workings of the Holy Spirit.  He was present from the beginning, although we don’t hear the story of Jesus choosing him as Peter and the other 11 were chosen.  Including Judas.  Chosen doesn’t mean the end.  Chosen implies a beginning, a direction, potentially a life course.  The work begins with chosen, and Jesus intends for it to be joyous work.

 

Getting chosen is such a rush!  Unless you are the last one picked, of course.  Yet there is no first and last in God.  Each of us, created in God’s image, is uniquely selected.  Inside the trappings of humanity lies that most profound spark of God-self, never waiting but always existent, always vital, always animating us.  Jesus tells us how to reach it:  love one another.  Don’t love the ones we choose; love the ones Jesus chooses.  Are we ready for the radical freeing up when we don’t have to wait for choosing nor eliminate some from choosing? There is where the joy resides.  That is where God lives.

 

Action

As the company gathered to pick a successor for Judas, Peter describes Judas in devastating terms:  For it is written in the Book of Psalms:  Let his encampment become desolate, and may no one dwell in it. and: May another take his office.  No matter the suffering or the success, we will not be a desolate encampment if we take the time to remain in Jesus and do what he commands.

 

In those moments when you experience a divine nudge – perhaps while praying, perhaps while witnessing an immense waterfall or the face of a newborn – do you not feel that the look, the smell, the sounds of the universe has just shifted into a new saturated intensity of joy?  Pray today that you might be open to such moments but don’t wait!  Act today as if, indeed, the universe is more luminous because you were chosen to accompany Jesus, the light of the world.  Rejoice!

 

 

Illustration:  Kat Sigler, https://www.joyfulcolors.net/ with permission and Thanks.