Acts 1:15-17, 20-26, Psalm 113:1-8, John 15:9-17
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Acts 1:15-17, 20-26
Beloved, the first council takes place with Peter as the head and the spokesperson to whom all deferred according to Your will. It is not a dictatorship nor is it a democracy. Citing Scripture and seeing clearly the need to choose an apostle to take the place of the one who had betrayed You, it is he who decides that someone must be chosen and appointed to fill the place left vacant by Judas. The only conditions that the man chosen was to have is that he was to have been with You and with them from the time of John's baptism until Your ascension into heaven. So it was that lots were cast for the two that were proposed. They prayed for divine guidance and assistance in choosing the one that God desired. They drew lots and the choice fell on Matthias. He joined the apostolic ministry as one of the twelve and become a witness to Your resurrection.
The One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church acting with one heart and speaking with one voice through the ages is a powerfully impressive witness to the world.
My Beloved, only in You are there such delightful contradictions. I am certainly barren now as I have passed my child bearing years. My children are young adults now but I have the extraordinary blessing to become a joyful mother over again as a catechist. Each year You bless me with around 32 children to prepare for First Holy Communion. What a privilege! What trust You place in me! How good it is to be used in this way Lord to help further Your Kingdom on earth.
John 15:9-17
There are no degrees of love between the Father's love for the Beloved and the love of the Beloved for us. He invites us, He draws us, He longs for us to remain in His love, to rest in it. Nothing can so satisfy us than resting in the love of God. The one sure way to remain in God's love is to joyfully obey the commandments of love as the God of Love asks us to.
Everything that the Father revealed to the Son, He has made known to His own so that our joy may be complete despite all the sorrows we may experience. We are called to love as we have been loved - this is our mission. The Beloved Himself has demonstrated in deed that the greatest most authentic love is the kind that gives one's life for one's friend. We are no long servants but friends of the Beloved and children of the Father.
We ought never to forget that the God who chose us, who appointed us and who has entrusted us with His mission, also equips us and sends us into the world to bear everlasting fruit for His glory and to accomplish His will. The Father will grant us ANYTHING we ask in the Name of His Son.
The Church with Peter's successor as the visible head is a beacon of light, love and joy. It draws all nations into the bosom of the Beloved and we are part of this Church, this Light, this saving mission.
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