From the responsorial psalm: “Not a word nor a discourse whose voice is not heard; Through all the earth their voice resounds, and to the ends of the world, their message. Their message goes out through all the earth.”
A reading from the holy Gospel according to Matthew (Mt 9:9-13)
As Jesus passed by, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the customs post. He said to him, “Follow me.” And he got up and followed him. While he was at table in his house, many tax collectors and sinners came and sat with Jesus and his disciples. The Pharisees saw this and said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” He heard this and said, “Those who are well do not need a physician, but the sick do. Go and learn the meaning of the words, I desire mercy, not sacrifice. I did not come to call the righteous but sinners.”
The immediacy of Matthew’s action corresponds to the gentle but compelling command of Jesus: “Follow me.” There is no hesitation in Matthew’s rising up to follow Jesus; in Jesus, there is no apparent forethought in choosing Matthew as one of the Twelve over anyone other person Jesus encountered. Perfectly obedient to the Father’s will through the Holy Spirit, Jesus commands and Matthew obeys. On observing the company Jesus keeps, the Pharisees criticize him for eating with tax collectors and sinners—those who failed to live up to the strict observance of the law and ritual sacrifice that the Pharisees upheld. But Jesus knows their hearts, and perfectly expresses the love of the Father when he says, “I desire mercy, not sacrifice.”
God, help me see my role today in hearing and responding to your call. Just as Jesus called Matthew and he got up and followed, give me an ear that listens out for you in the midst of the day’s noise. Heal me, Lord, of anything that would prevent me from knowing you are present and doing what you ask of me in the moment. In a particular way, if it is your will, give me the grace to be a means, as Saint Paul says, “of building up the Body of Christ until we all attain the unity of faith and knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the extent of the full stature of Christ.” Saint Matthew, pray for us!
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.