saint of the week

Saint of the Week  May 13

 

I think that my son is part fish.  He loves the water.  He passed his deep water test when he was only four years old.  Never in his life has he passed by a puddle without stepping in it.  During these pre Memorial Day scorching days of May we are often found down at the creek.  My daughter and I grimace if the icy water goes above our knees.  My son yells "Geronimo" and jumps right in, smiling.

It seemed only natural then, that my son should join a swim team.  Because of numerous learning disabilities playing a ball related sport is nearly impossible.  Yet, that is how society seems to evaluate our kids.  If they are athletes, they are in.  If they are not, they are out. Wanting my son to be in, I gently encouraged my him to join the team.  He was very hesitant to say the least, but one smile from the cute, teenaged, blonde, female coach and he was hooked.

All summer we rose early for chilly practices.  We went to every meet.

My son swam well, but not great.  The thing was though, he just smiled.  Every race we would cheer for our boy.  Every race he stroked his way down the pool grinning from ear to ear.  Everyone noticed and in turn, they grinned.

At the end of the season there are of course, championships.  Only the best are chosen.

My son had no idea what championships were.  As it turns out championships fall right in the heart of vacation season and our little swim team was hurting, so they turned to Jesse and asked him to swim.

Once I explained to him what championships were, he agreed.  After all the cute blonde would be coaching.

On race day, my little fish swam his heart out, grinning.  He was not their first choice.  He was not the fastest, but he was the only one who looked like they were having a good time.

Our saint of the week is Matthias.  If you listen, you will hear him named during the liturgy of the Eucharist.  Matthias was Judas' replacement.  In Acts, the entire selection dilemma is laid out for us.  The apostles felt that Judas' should be replaced in order to keep with the 12.  The whittled the choices down to 2 men and prayed hard.  Matthias was chosen.  He had been a follower of Jesus since the beginning, he saw it all.  Mostly though, Matthias was not afraid to talk about the resurrection of Christ.  He braved all odds, spread the gospel and built the church. 

 

Perhaps the Holy Spirit inspired the apostles to select Matthias, not because of who he was, but because of who he would become.  Not because of what he had done, but because of what he could and would do.

 

God sees us as we are, as we were and as we will be.  It doesn't matter if you are first string or the replacement, whether you use a pulpit or a pool; just preach the gospel in all that you do.