Fr Matthew Reese

After the death of Judas Iscariot, Peter said to the believers,

“For it is written in the book of Psalms, ‘Let his homestead become desolate, and let there be no one to live in it’; and ‘Let another take his position of overseer.’ So, one of the men who have accompanied us throughout the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, beginning from the baptism of John until the day when he was taken up from us—one of these must become a witness with us to his resurrection.” So they proposed two, Joseph called Barsabbas, who was also known as Justus, and Matthias. Then they prayed and said, “Lord, you know everyone’s heart. Show us which one of these two you have chosen to take the place in this ministry and apostleship from which Judas turned aside to go to his own place.” And they cast lots for them, and the lot fell on Matthias; and he was added to the eleven apostles.
—Acts 1:20–26

Dear Friends of Christ,

Today is the Feast of Saint Matthias, Apostle and Martyr, who took the place of Judas Iscariot and numbered among the twelve. 

Matthias’s feast is a “red letter day,” so named because in the old Kalendars of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, it would have been written in red ink—it is a major feast, a holy day of obligation. 

The Ferias—or “ordinary weekdays”—of Lent supersede all minor commemorations; there are many valiant men and women of the Church’s history whose observances fall in the spring, and are thus frequently omitted, because the great arc of the Lenten story takes precedence. 

But not so with Matthias. His commemoration interrupts all of the calendars—the noonday mass lectionary, the lectionary of Morning and Evening Prayer. This is an extraordinary statement about Matthias’s importance, especially since we know virtually nothing about him. Though many pious legends attend to him in early Christian writings, he appears in only a single passage of Scripture, the six verses above.

Matthias and the Eleven set out bravely into the world for the cause of Christ. They ministered, they preached, they healed, they inaugurated a great cloud of Christian witness which continues—to us—in this very day. And yet most of their works are lost to time. So it will surely be with us.

On days like today we are called to go and do likewise: to minister, to preach, to heal, not in hope of glory or remembrance, but in witness to Our Lord.

Yours in Christ,

—Fr Matthew