🗓️ 24 Feb St. Matthias, apostle

Saint Matthias, glorious apostle of Our Lord Jesus Christ, was one of the seventy-two disciples who accompanied the Savior from the baptism of Saint John until the Ascension, being elevated to the supreme dignity of the apostolate by direct intervention of the Holy Spirit to fill the void left by the betrayal of Judas Iscariot. His election, detailed in the Acts of the Apostles, occurred in the Cenacle through the persevering prayer of the first Christian community and the casting of lots, evidencing that the divine vocation transcends human choices and rests solely in the sovereign will of God. Known for his profound fervor and unwavering rectitude, historical tradition points out that he dedicated his life to the tireless preaching of the Gospel primarily in Judea and, later, in the inhospitable lands of Cappadocia, Ethiopia, and Egypt, where he endured innumerable fatigues and persecutions for the love of Christ. Renowned for his insistence on the need for the mortification of the flesh for the subjection of sensual desires to the spirit and for the pursuit of interior purification, he sealed his unconditional fidelity with the shedding of his own blood, reaching the palm of martyrdom by stoning and beheading around the year 80. His precious relics were translated thanks to the zeal of Saint Helena, being venerated today both in Rome, in the Basilica of Saint Mary Major, and in the famous Abbey of Saint Matthias in Trier, Germany, perpetuating through the centuries the uninterrupted devotion to this pillar of the early Church.

🎵 Introit (Ps 138, 17 | ib., 1-2)

Mihi autem nimis honoráti sunt amíci tui, Deus: nimis confortátus est principátus eórum. Ps. Dómine, probásti me et cognovísti me: tu cognovísti sessiónem meam et resurrectiónem meam.

I hold Your friends in great esteem, O God; their power has been greatly strengthened. Ps. Lord, You probe me and You know me; You know my death and my resurrection. 

📜 Epistle (Acts 1, 15-26)

In diébus illis exsúrgens Petrus in médio fratrum, dixit (erat autem turba hóminum simul, fere centum vigínti): Viri fratres, opórtet impléri Scriptúram, quam prædíxit Spíritus Sanctus per os David de Iuda, qui fuit dux eórum, qui comprehendérunt Jesum: qui connumerátus erat in nobis, et sortítus est sortem ministérii huius. Et hic quidem possédit agrum de mercéde iniquitátis, et suspénsus crépuit médius: et diffúsa sunt ómnia víscera eius. Et notum factum est ómnibus habitántibus Ierúsalem, ita ut appellarétur ager ille, lingua eórum, Hacéldama, hoc est ager sánguinis. Scriptum est enim in libro Psalmórum: Fiat commorátio eórum desérta, et non sit, qui inhábitet in ea: et episcopátum eius accípiat alter. Opórtet ergo ex his viris, qui nobíscum sunt congregáti in omni témpore, quo intrávit et exívit inter nos Dóminus Iesus, incípiens a baptísmate Ioánnis usque in diem, qua assúmptus est a nobis, testem resurrectiónis eius nobíscum fíeri unum ex istis. Et statuérunt duos, Ioseph qui vocabátur Bársabas, qui cognominátus est Iustus, et Matthíam. Et orántes dixérunt: Tu, Dómine, qui corda nosti ómnium, osténde, quem elégeris ex his duóbus unum, accípere locum ministérii huius et apostolátus, de quo prævaricátus est Iudas, ut abíret in locum suum. Et dedérunt sortes eis, et cécidit sors super Matthíam, et annumerátus est cum úndecim Apóstolis.

In those days, Peter stood up in the midst of the disciples, (the number of those who were gathered reached almost one hundred and twenty people) and said: My brothers, the word of the Scripture had to be fulfilled which the Holy Spirit spoke through the mouth of David concerning Judas, who put himself at the head of those who arrested Jesus, and was one of us, having part in this apostolic ministry. This man, after having bought a field with the price of his crime, hanged himself, and bursting open in the middle, all his entrails spilled out. And this became so well known to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, that this field was called, in their language, Hakeldama, that is, field of blood. For it is written in the book of Psalms: Let his habitation become desolate and let there be no one to inhabit it; let another receive his ministry. Therefore it is necessary that of these men who have been in our company all the time that the Lord Jesus lived among us, from the baptism of John, until the day He ascended into heaven, one of them become a witness with us of His resurrection. Then they presented two: Joseph, called Barsabbas, who was surnamed the Just, and Matthias. And praying, they said: You, Lord, know the hearts of all; show us which of these two You have chosen to take the place in this apostolic ministry from which Judas turned away, to go to his own place. Then they cast lots over them and the lot fell to Matthias, who was then counted with the eleven Apostles.

📖 Gospel (Mt 11, 25-30)

In illo témpore: Respóndens Iesus, dixit: Confíteor tibi, Pater, Dómine coeli et terræ, quia abscondísti hæc a sapiéntibus et prudéntibus, et revelásti ea párvulis. Ita, Pater: quóniam sic fuit plácitum ante te. Omnia mihi trádita sunt a Patre meo. Et nemo novit Fílium nisi Pater: neque Patrem quis novit nisi Fílius, et cui volúerit Fílius reveláre. Veníte ad me, omnes, qui laborátis et oneráti estis, et ego refíciam vos. Tóllite iugum meum super vos, et díscite a me, quia mitis sum et húmilis corde: et inveniétis réquiem animábus vestris. Iugum enim meum suáve est et onus meum leve.

At that time, Jesus answered: I praise You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and revealed them to the little ones. Yes, Father, for such was Your good pleasure. All things have been granted to me by my Father. And no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son wishes to reveal Him. Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you; learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden light.

🕊️ The mystery of divine election and the sweet yoke of the apostolate

The Introit of the liturgy exalts the supreme honor reserved for the friends of God, whose spiritual power is sublimely consolidated when understood in the light of the revelation of the Gospel to the little ones. The assumption of Saint Matthias to the summit of the apostolic hierarchy did not result from secular wisdom or human presumption, but from the meekness and docility of a disciple who emptied himself to receive the formidable yoke of the Savior. The ineffable wisdom of the Father deliberately hides the treasures of grace from the proud who trust in their own carnal prudence, revealing them in fullness to those who embrace the way of voluntary humiliation and detachment, intrinsic characteristics of true spiritual childhood (Saint Augustine, Sermon 67). The apostolic burden imposed on Matthias, culminating in the shedding of his blood, did not become a crushing weight, for the yoke of Christ transmutes the harshness of the cross into sweetness through the infusion of charity, which vivifies the soul in persecutions and grants it interior rest, reflecting the magisterial teaching that divine grace enables human nature to transcend its own limits in the fulfillment of its vocation.

This same divine friendship celebrated in the Introit reveals its grave and demanding character in the Epistle, which portrays the frightening tragedy of the fall of Judas and the grandiose restoration operated by the election of Saint Matthias. The providence that governs the Church acts with purifying justice, warning that the highest ministry turns into absolute ruin when the elect abandons the Lord to serve iniquity and greed. The recourse to lots, mediated by the fervent supplication of the primitive community, unveils the total submission of the Apostles to the searching design of the Holy Spirit, demonstrating that the succession in the pastoring of souls is a prerogative of Christ, who purges His vine of withered branches to graft living and faithful shoots (Saint John Chrysostom, Homilies on the Acts of the Apostles, Homily 3). The testimony of the resurrection required of Matthias implied a holocaustic consecration, guided by constant vigilance and by the mortification taught by him, essential principles reaffirmed throughout the Catholic doctrinal edifice concerning the indefectibility of the Church and the holiness that must clothe the clergy.

The crowning of the glory of Saint Matthias lies exactly in the perfect harmony between the majesty of the apostolic call and the profound living of evangelical littleness. The liturgy demonstrates that the principality of the friends of God is not a domain of tyranny or worldly prestige, but a ministry of service and sacrifice, in which the soul chosen to repair the damages of infidelity does so by embracing the sweet yoke of meekness. By accepting his place in the college of the Twelve, the holy apostle not only filled a historical gap, but offered the Church an imperishable example that true greatness and the power that overcomes the world are born of unconditional obedience and a humble heart, finding in the cross not a burden of despair, but the key that opens the doors of the eternal rest promised by Christ.