Today we remember Saint Matthias, the 13th Apostle, the 13th Bishop, or the first replacement to the original twelve. After Judas killed himself after betraying Jesus, the remaining eleven apostles needed to rebuild the group to the original 12. The 11 Bishops met, prayed, and the Holy Spirit guided them to pick Matthias. This tradition has continued for 2000 years, as Bishops continue a long, steady line of succession. Popes, who are the Bishops of Rome, continue that same succession, but with a lot more votes than eleven.
Game as Teaching Tool
One of the oldest Religious Education teaching tricks in the book regarding Apostolic Succession is the use of dominoes. Dominoes are tiles that are about one inch wide, two inches tall and a quarter inch thick. They have one side with no markings, and the other side has two panels that contain between 1 and 6 dots. There is probably some variation on that basic design.
The traditional dominoes game is to lay the dominoes face up on a table, and match the dot patterns with other dominoes, and use up all your dominoes. However, another version stands the dominoes on edge, so they are two-inch-tall game pieces. If you line up and space the dominoes properly, one can be tipped over to bump into the next domino, and then the next and the next and the next fall.
In religious education class, the first domino or first Bishop would be Peter if we are talking about Popes. The next domino would be Linus, then Anacletus, and so on. As Peter is tipped over, he runs in to Linus, who runs into Anacletus. An enthusiastic teacher would have about 260 dominoes lined up, with the current, or last domino being Francis.
Dominoes of Faith
The first domino was placed by Jesus, as Peter was the first Pope. The momentum carrying the tipping action is the Holy Spirit. That first push towards getting a new Pope was Peter’s martyrdom.
In the laity, there are also dominoes in play. As a religious education teacher for many years, I often see grandparents, or more specifically grandmothers, being active dominoes. “Grandma” teaches her children, who may or may not listen. But when it comes to the grandchildren, Grandma is often there, making sure the dominos of faith are still in line. Grandma wants to oversee three dominos…herself, her child, and the grandchild.
There is one serious caveat in the falling domino game/domino analogy that needs to be taken seriously. What happens if there are a few missing dominos, and the domino in place does not reach the next domino, to continue the momentum to the next believer or Bishop? That is a very scary thought, but one we wrestle with daily. The Bible says that the Church will never fail, but we certainly have gone through cycles where we need change, and things got or get dicey. I think we are in dicey times now and need to strengthen our dominoes and check their alignment.
Pray for Vocations
As a faith in action project today, please pray for vocations, as these people must be solid dominoes in the future, whether they be Bishops or Priests or Consecrated or Nuns. Also pray for our families, so that we are good examples of knowing and living the faith, so that our friends and family can continue this beautiful and theologically sound religion we call Catholicism. There are many fallen away Catholics amongst us, which are missing dominos. Let us get them stood up tall, so we can keep the faith momentum moving.
As a closing thought, please put Mr. Sylvanus Amaobi Sr, and his family and friends on your prayer list. He is the father of Father Sylvanus, our Day 15 GVM writer, and he died this week.
