Universalis: Today

Wednesday 14 May 2008
Saint Matthias, Apostle
Feast

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Tomorrow: Thursday of week 6 of the year
or Saint Isidore the Farmer
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Come, let us worship the Lord, the King of apostles.

St Matthias, Apostle: He was not one of the Twelve; but after the treachery and death of Judas Iscariot, someone was needed to take his place. Two candidates were selected, and lots were drawn to see which of them should be made one of the Twelve: the choice fell on Matthias. Nothing is known for certain about his subsequent history.
Drawing lots to select a candidate for an office sounds strange to us, but it was a recognised Jewish custom: for example, the priest who was to enter the Temple sanctuary and burn incense there was not chosen by some rota but by lot. Random events, independent of any obvious natural or human cause, were seen as a direct expression of God’s will. Drawing lots was not a substitute for human decision – human beings had chosen Matthias as a candidate, human beings decided which priests were eligible on which days – but a way of putting the final choice into the hands of God.
When we attain some high or responsible position, we may be tempted to congratulate ourselves on being the best candidate for the job. We would do well to remember that we have got there because of the people we have met and the things we have found ourselves doing, and, more fundamentally, because of the gifts and talents that God has given us. These things are essentially random: like Matthias, we have been chosen by lot.
See the articles in Wikipedia and the Catholic Encyclopaedia.

Mid-morning reading (Terce)	2 Corinthians 5:19 - 20 ©
God has entrusted to us the news of reconciliation. So we are ambassadors for Christ; it is as though God were appealing through us, and the appeal that we make in Christ’s name is: be reconciled to God.

Noon reading (Sext)	Acts 5:12 - 14 ©
Many signs and wonders were worked among the people at the hands of the apostles and the numbers of men and women who came to believe in the Lord increased steadily.

Afternoon reading (None)	Acts 5:41 - 42 ©
The apostles left the presence of the Sanhedrin glad to have had the honour of suffering humiliation for the sake of the name. They preached every day both in the Temple and in private houses, and their proclamation of the Good News of Christ Jesus was never interrupted.

May 2008
Tue 13	Tuesday of week 6 of the year or Our Lady of Fátima
Wed 14	Saint Matthias, Apostle Feast
Thu 15	Thursday of week 6 of the year or Saint Isidore the Farmer
Fri 16
Sat 17
Sun 18	The Most Holy Trinity Solemnity
Mon 19	Monday of week 7 of the year
Tue 20	Tuesday of week 7 of the year or Saint Bernardine of Siena, priest

Calendar used: United States

Scripture readings taken from the Jerusalem Bible, published and copyright © 1966, 1967 and 1968 by Darton, Longman & Todd, Ltd and Doubleday, a division of Random House, Inc, and used by permission of the publishers. For on-line information about other Random House, Inc. books and authors, see the Internet web site at http://www.randomhouse.com.

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