September 21, 2012

Feast of Saint Matthew, Apostle and evangelist


St. Matthew, Apostle and author of the first Gospel.  St. Matthew was a tax collector named "Levi" before Christ called him to ministry.  Read more.

Lectionary: 643

Reading from St. Paul's letter to the Ephesians

Eph 4:1-7, 11-13

In his usual poetic fashion, St. Paul calls us to love, unity and all the Christian virtues.

Brothers and sisters:I, a prisoner for the Lord,

He describes himself as captivated by Our Lord Jesus.

urge you to live in a manner worthy of the call you have received,

And calls us to live virtuously.

with all humility and gentleness, with patience,

To be humble, gentle and patient.

bearing with one another through love,

To love one another.

striving to preserve the unity of the Spiritthrough the bond of peace:

To preserve unity peacefully.

one Body and one Spirit,

To remain one body and one spirit in Christ.

as you were also called to the one hope of your call;

As we were called to the hope of salvation.

one Lord, 

Jesus Christ.

one faith,

The Faith of Jesus Christ, which is equivalent to the Religion of Jesus Christ which is passed down by  the institution known as the Catholic Church.

one baptism;

Sometimes people get confused because of the term "one Baptism" and yet the Church teaches Baptisms of the Holy Spirit, of desire, of blood of water and also the Sacrament of Baptism.  And I think there are a few other sorts of Baptisms which are sometimes mentioned.  There is one Baptism which underlies all of them.  The Baptism of the Holy Spirit.  Read more.

one God and Father of all,

God whose name is sometimes aliterated as Yahweh and sometimes as Jehovah.

who is over all and through all and in all.

He is God in whom we live, move and are:

Acts 17:28
King James Version (KJV)
²⁸ For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.

But grace was given to each of usaccording to the measure of Christ's gift.

The grace about which he is speaking, in my opinion, is faith.  Faith was given each of us in the measure which we wanted or desired.

Romans 12:3
King James Version (KJV)
³ For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.

And he gave some as Apostles, others as prophets,others as evangelists, others as pastors and teachers,to equip the holy ones for the work of ministry,for building up the Body of Christ,until we all attain to the unity of faithand knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood,to the extent of the full stature of Christ.

God gave us all faith and other gifts so that we might use those gifts to build up the body of Christ and maintain unity and knowledge of Jesus Christ to the fullest measure.

Responsorial Psalm
Ps 19:2-3, 4-5

Response. (5) Their message goes out through all the earth.

The heavens declare the glory of God;
and the firmament proclaims his handiwork.
Day pours out the word to day,
and night to night imparts knowledge.

R. Their message goes out through all the earth.

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.

R. Their message goes out through all the earth.

There is no excuse for those who claim they don't believe in God.  If we pay attention, nature itself is witness to the greatness of God.

A reading from the Holy Gospel according to St. 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.

I don't know if Matthew had ever seen Jesus.  But as soon as Jesus called him, he left everything behind and followed Him.

While he was at table in his house,many tax collectors and sinners cameand sat with Jesus and his disciples.

Then Jesus and His disciples went to eat at Matthew's house.  Other tax collectors and sinners came to eat with them.

The Pharisees saw this and said to his disciples,"Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?"

The Pharisees saw this and complained to Christ's disciples, "why does Jesus sit with tax collectors and sinners?"

A small note of explanation.  Tax collectors were considered thieves and therefore lumped with the sinners whenever anyone spoke of them.  Another tax collector who converted to Christ was Zacchaeus.  See what Zacchaeus says:

Luke 19:8
King James Version (KJV)
⁸ And Zacchaeus stood, and said unto the Lord: Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have taken any thing from any man by false accusation, I restore him fourfold.

He heard this and said,"Those who are well do not need a physician, but the sick do.

Now, Jesus heard what the Pharisees had asked the disciples and explained, "those who are healthy do not need a doctor.  Those who are ill do so."

Go and learn the meaning of the words,I desire mercy, not sacrifice.

Then Jesus quotes from the prophet Hosea 6:6.

I did not come to call the righteous but sinners."

And tells them that He came to call sinners to repentance:

Luke 5:32
King James Version (KJV)
³² I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.

Sincerely,

De Maria