It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you and appointed you to go to the ends of the world and bear fruit that will remain. The Church honors today the memory of St. Matthias, the apostle who was chosen to replace Judas Iscariot who had betrayed Jesus and then committed suicide because of guilt. Matthias was included in the group of the Apostles after the ascension of our Lord. It was the first “formal” act done by the group with Peter at the helm, and it was necessitated not only by the need to retain the number of apostles at twelve, but most importantly, to continue with the mission of preaching the good news. Having been part of the group that had accompanied Jesus and witnessed the mighty signs that God had worked through him (Jesus), Matthias was aware of what he was getting into. Tradition has it that he preached the faith in Palestine and later suffered martyrdom by being stoned. 
The Apostle Matthias’ path to being considered one of the twelve is certainly different from that of the other eleven. However, the conclusion of his story pretty much takes the same trajectory as that of the eleven. This is because he received the same call that the eleven had received. He was chosen because he had been with Jesus “from the very beginning.” He might not have been in the spotlight as the twelve who constantly kept the company of Jesus were, but he was no less a friend of Jesus as those who were in the spotlight were. By keeping the company of Jesus, he too had become a friend of Jesus with all the privileges and responsibilities that came with it. He understood that as a friend of Jesus, he had to make the interests of Jesus his very own. This was the only way of retaining his friendship with Jesus.  Matthias certainly did remain a friend of Jesus because he kept his word. Like Jesus, Matthias loved to the end. It was his love for his brothers and sisters that saw him suffer martyrdom.