We love because He first loved us. (1 John 4:19) We may think that we had chosen Jesus, but in reality Jesus chose us and even commissioned us to bear fruit with a trust that we will indeed bear much fruit. Yes it is the Lord our God who is the first to love and to be merciful and we may never fully grasp the extent of His love for us in our lifetime.Still if we declare that we love Him then we must do our best to revere, honour and glorify Him by our lives through our love and actions for Him and for one another. We must be reverent in our approach in appointing leaders through prayer and discernment guided by the Holy Spirit afterall the leaders we appoint will be shepherds after our own. Every leader chosen in a sense must be prepared to lay down His life for the ones under His care.Whether or not we are called to be leaders ourselves, the priority for each and everyone of us is to love! Love one another as Jesus loves us. AmenSt Matthias pray for us….
First reading
Acts 1:15-17,20-26 ·
‘Let someone else take his office’One day Peter stood up to speak to the brothers – there were about a hundred and twenty persons in the congregation: ‘Brothers, the passage of scripture had to be fulfilled in which the Holy Spirit, speaking through David, foretells the fate of Judas, who offered himself as a guide to the men who arrested Jesus – after having been one of our number and actually sharing this ministry of ours. Now in the Book of Psalms it says:Let his camp be reduced to ruin,
Let there be no one to live in it.And again:Let someone else take his office.‘We must therefore choose someone who has been with us the whole time that the Lord Jesus was travelling round with us, someone who was with us right from the time when John was baptising until the day when he was taken up from us – and he can act with us as a witness to his resurrection.’
Having nominated two candidates, Joseph known as Barsabbas, whose surname was Justus, and Matthias, they prayed, ‘Lord, you can read everyone’s heart; show us therefore which of these two you have chosen to take over this ministry and apostolate, which Judas abandoned to go to his proper place.’ They then drew lots for them, and as the lot fell to Matthias, he was listed as one of the twelve apostles.
Gospel
John 15:9-17
You are my friends if you do what I command youJesus said to his disciples:‘As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you.
Remain in my love.
If you keep my commandments you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and remain in his love.
I have told you this so that my own joy may be in you and your joy be complete.
This is my commandment: love one another, as I have loved you.
A man can have no greater love than to lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends, if you do what I command you.
I shall not call you servants any more,
because a servant does not know his master’s business; I call you friends, because I have made known to you everything I have learnt from my Father.
You did not choose me: no, I chose you; and I commissioned you to go out and to bear fruit, fruit that will last; and then the Father will give you
anything you ask him in my name.
What I command you is to love one another.’
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