Today marks the Feast of St. Matthias. According to Acts 1,15-26, St. Peter stood up in the midst of the brothers and sisters who had gathered—about 120 of Jesus’ followers. Judas had betrayed his ministry, so it was necessary, Peter said, to fulfill the Scriptural recommendation that another should take his office. “Therefore, it is necessary that one of those who accompanied us the whole time the Lord Jesus came and went among us, beginning from the baptism of John until the day on which He was taken up from us, become with us a witness to His resurrection.” They prayed and drew lots; the choice fell upon Matthias, who was added to the Eleven.
St. Matthias was suited for apostleship by the experience of being with Jesus from His baptism to His Ascension. He must also have been suited personally, or he would not have been nominated for so great a responsibility. At the heart of the matter, though, is that Matthias gladly received a relationship with the Father offered him by Jesus and completed by the Holy Spirit. If the Apostles are the foundations of our faith by their witness, they must also be reminders, if only implicitly, that holiness is entirely a matter of God’s giving, and it is offered to all, in the everyday circumstances of life.
That very holiness is offered, again, to all of us and leads us to ponder the countless, anonymous believers (the 120 or so mentioned in Acts 1) who were the first in a long line of “hidden saints.” Imagine the millions of people over the centuries whose names we will never know who have followed in their footsteps. They labored in God’s vineyard in a wide variety of ways and brought other people to faith; some even sacrificed their lives for Jesus. As we honor St. Matthias, let us honor these men and women as well, one of whom lived in our midst here in North Portland for a good many years: James E. Wilson, Jr.
Jim Wilson was a convert to Catholicism, a wise man, a prayerful man, and a man who lived a saintly life. Today marks the first anniversary of Jim’s death and we miss him dearly. We properly honor him today as one of the “saints” who has walked among us. It would please Jim to no end to know that we also honor the many others who (still) wholeheartedly offer themselves in service to the Lord. May their witness inspire us to do the same, much as did the witness of our bother James E. Wilson, Jr.
Eternal rest grant unto Jim, O Lord. And let perpetual light shine upon him. May his soul and the souls of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen.
