From the responsorial psalm: “Incline your ear, O LORD; answer me, for I am afflicted and poor. Keep my life, for I am devoted to you; save your servant who trusts in you. You are my God. Teach me your way, O Lord, that I may walk in your truth.”
A reading from the holy Gospel according to Luke (5:27-32, today’s readings)
The Pharisees and their scribes complained to his disciples, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?” Jesus said to them in reply, “Those who are healthy do not need a physician, but the sick do. I have not come to call the righteous to repentance but sinners.”
While Matthew is at work at the customs post, Jesus sees him and calls him. He simply says, “Follow me.” Leaving everything behind, Matthew gets up and follows him. The suddenness of his following is contrasted with the reaction of the Pharisees, who attend a banquet Matthew gives for Jesus in his house. Their hesitancy in following Jesus takes the form of accusation: “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?” Rather than follow immediately as Matthew does, the Pharisees hold back as they rely on preconceived ideas of justice and mercy. Out of love, Jesus says to them that because we are sinners, we need to hear the call of the divine physician, who calls us each by name. Bearing the oppression of sin and the ruin it leaves in our path, we follow Jesus when we bring a contrite heart to him, who is “good and forgiving, abounding in kindness” to all who call upon him. To you, O Lord, we lift up our souls.
God, keep me in your truth today as you take me under your wing and guard my soul. Help me say yes to you and make clear to me the love of Jesus Christ your Son in his call to repentance. To say yes to you is to walk in your truth and participate in the mystery of your presence. Teach me to see how your love and mercy are alive in the Eucharist, the scriptures, the community of believers, the sacraments, prayer, and in the marginalized. Give me the grace to hear and respond to the call of Jesus to come to him, trusting only in him. As Saint John of God said, “We must not trust in ourselves, because we shall fall into sin a thousand times a day, but trust only in Jesus Christ.” Saint John of God, 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.