PUT  YOUR  NAME 

IN  THE  HAT

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily is, “Put Your Name In The Hat.”

Today is the feast of St. Matthias - the last of the apostles - unless you let Paul wear that hat as well.

For various reasons, I like this feast.

The first reason is that my dad had three sisters who entered the Sisters of Mercy in Portland, Maine. Two of them, I never met.  They died very early - in their early 20’s. The other, Sister Mary Patrick, whom I met and enjoyed,  lasted for over 50 years as a nun. Sister Matthias was one of the two sisters who died early. I got to her grave in Portland, Maine at least 2 times. So I always remember her on this day: May 14^th.

The second reason I like this feast is because of  how Matthias was chosen to be the 12^th Apostle - the one to take the place of Judas. He was chosen by lot.

The third reason is a new one.  Two years ago we got to Budapest in Hungary. Having looked at the tour books, a key church to see was St. Matthias Church [pictured right above this].  We got there and checked it out. We said our prayers there - following  the old tradition of making 3 prayers or 3 wishes or 3 intentions or 3 hopes whenever you enter any church, big or small, for the first time.

I learn more about a place after I’ve been there. That’s when I do my homework. I found out that St. Matthias’ church is actually named after Our Lady. So it's not named after St. Matthias, but King Matthias, who was married there twice. Here I was thinking it was St. Matthias the apostle - figuring, maybe they had his relics there or there was a legend or a tradition he made it to Hungary.  So I found out, after the fact, that it had been reconstructed or fixed up a bunch of times on that site. I noticed that when the Turks controlled the Budapest they turned it into a mosque. Later it became a church again. So the lesson was: what I think is true, often is not true. How many times in my life have I discovered the truth of that reality - but only with hindsight?

PUTTING ONE’S NAME IN THE HAT

Now let me get back to the 2^nd reason I like the Feast of St. Matthias. I hope I can provide at least one homily idea to chew upon. 

We know Judas had hung himself. Wouldn't it have been a great story of forgiveness if Judas didn’t - and  instead -  he came back and asked the group for forgiveness. Or the story could have been that the first person Jesus appeared to in his resurrection was Judas.

In today's First Reading the apostles and disciples are gathered together. They wanted 12 apostles - because that was Jesus’ plan - so they picked two possibles. Then they drew lots and Matthias was chosen. I looked up how this might have been done. I found a few possibles. Maybe they put the two names on pebbles or papyrus. Then the names were put in a hat or an urn. Then someone pulled a name out of the hat.

From the reading, it seems that it was as simple as that. I’m sure we’ve seen that same scene played out in parish raffles, kids parties, games to figure out who’s on what team or what have you.

CONCLUSION

In case nothing has grabbed you yet, let me provide three quick thoughts  to ponder and pray and think about coming out of this idea of putting your name or pulling your name out of a hat or pot or  bowl.

1) Sometimes being selected at random or out of a hat  can change our lives. So looking back on your life, what have been the things you were chosen for and your life was changed as a result? It could have been being named for a school board, a committee, a parish council, or you were made captain of a team. You name it.

2) We don’t get chosen if we don’t put our name in the hat - if we don't throw out hat in the ring. So we have to do something to be chosen for something in life. As the old saying about the Chinese laundry goes: "No ticki, no shirt." 

3) And this might be the biggest thing we can learn.  How have we dealt with those times in life when we have not been chosen? Our name was in the hat, but we were not selected.  The guy or gal we hoped would pick us said no or chose someone else. We didn’t get the job and we thought we had the best resume. The teacher chose someone we thought was the Teacher’s Pet or what have you. How did Joseph (called Barsabbas, also known as Justus) - the guy who wasn't chosen - but Matthais' name was - how did he deal with not being picked? What happened to him after that? How do we react to being picked - or we feel rejected - or not wanted?