Through our reading in the Acts of the
Apostles this morning, we know that Matthias was chosen to replace Judas as one
of the apostles. Matthias was chosen
before the descent of the Holy Spirit, but this choice was not made by Jesus,
but by the other 11 apostles. Tradition
has it that Matthias was sent to spread the Gospel in Ethiopia and that he died
a martyr. Tradition has it that the
remains of Matthias are located at the Abbey of St Matthias in Trier, Germany,
having been brought there by Helena, the mother of the Emperor Constantine. These remains were rediscovered there in the
13th century, at which time the abbey became a popular place of
pilgrimage.
We have been challenged by Pope Francis
and Pope Benedict to a new evangelization.
We hear this term “new evangelization” so often that some fear that it
would become a trite cliché or mere slogan.
As I understand it, though, through this new evangelization, we are to
try to build up our own faith and then evangelize our own corner of the world,
especially those of us who live in the traditionally Christian countries where
our faith is coming under attack by the secular elements of our society and
where a lot of people are no longer believers.
Paul and the apostles like St Matthias faced
many unknowns and many challenges as the preached the Gospel throughout the
world. We are faced with many challenges
as well as we bring the message of the Gospel to our modern society. May we be inspired to live in the spirit of
the Early Church and energetically witness to our world.
No comments:
Post a Comment