Saint Matthew, Apostle, Evangelist — Feast
First Reading
Ephesians 4:1–7,11–13
I, the prisoner in the Lord, implore you to lead a life worthy of your vocation. Bear with one another charitably, in complete selflessness, gentleness and patience. Do all you can to preserve the unity of the Spirit by the peace that binds you together. There is one Body, one Spirit, just as you were all called into one and the same hope when you were called. There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one God who is Father of all, over all, through all and within all.
Each one of us, however, has been given his own share of grace, given as Christ allotted it. To some, his gift was that they should be apostles; to some, prophets; to some, evangelists; to some, pastors and teachers; so that the saints together make a unity in the work of service, building up the body of Christ. In this way we are all to come to unity in our faith and in our knowledge of the Son of God, until we become the perfect Man, fully mature with the fullness of Christ himself.
Responsorial Psalm
Psalm 18(19):2–5
Their message goes out through all the earth.
The heavens proclaim the glory of God,
and the firmament shows forth the work of his hands.
Day unto day takes up the story
and night unto night makes known the message.
Their message goes out through all the earth.
No speech, no word, no voice is heard
yet their span extends through all the earth,
their words to the utmost bounds of the world.
Their message goes out through all the earth.
Gospel Acclamation
Alleluia, alleluia!
You are God: we praise you. You are the Lord: we acclaim you;
the white-robed army of martyrs praise you.
Alleluia!
Gospel
Matthew 9:9–13
As Jesus was walking on, he saw a man named Matthew sitting by the customs house, and he said to him, ‘Follow me.’ And he got up and followed him.
While he was at dinner in the house it happened that a number of tax collectors and sinners came to sit at the table with Jesus and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, ‘Why does your master eat with tax collectors and sinners?’ When he heard this he replied, ‘It is not the healthy who need the doctor, but the sick. Go and learn the meaning of the words: What I want is mercy, not sacrifice. And indeed I did not come to call the virtuous, but sinners.’
Reflection
Matthew’s vocation begins with two words: “Follow me.” Jesus does not wait for Matthew to improve his reputation, settle his past or prove himself worthy. He sees him at the customs house—the very place associated with his compromised life—and calls him from there. Matthew responds not with an explanation but with movement: he gets up and follows.
Christ’s mercy does not pretend that sin is harmless. His image of the doctor makes that clear: there is an illness requiring healing. Yet a doctor approaches the sick to restore them, not to humiliate them for being unwell. Jesus therefore shares a table with those whom respectable society has dismissed. His presence among sinners reveals a mercy that enters damaged lives and opens the possibility of change.
The Catechism describes Christ as the physician of our souls and bodies, whose compassion remains active in the sacramental life of the Church (CCC 1421). This helps us understand why mercy and conversion belong together. Jesus welcomes Matthew as he is, but his call does not leave Matthew where he is. Mercy raises him from the customs house and gives his life an entirely new direction.
Paul’s teaching reveals what follows that call. Every Christian receives grace, but not for private possession or personal prestige. Apostles, evangelists, pastors and teachers are given to the Church so that the whole Body of Christ may be built up. Differences of vocation do not divide the Church when each gift is exercised with humility, patience and love. The Church is one because her many members receive their life from the one Lord, profess one faith and share one baptism (CCC 813–815).
Matthew’s personal calling therefore becomes a mission for others. The former tax collector becomes an apostle and evangelist. The man once associated with taking becomes a servant entrusted with giving the Gospel to the world. His life embodies Paul’s teaching that grace is allotted differently to each person for the common work of building up Christ’s Body.
The psalm widens that mission until it reaches “the utmost bounds of the world”. Creation silently proclaims God’s glory, while the apostles announce in human words what God has accomplished in Christ. Matthew’s Gospel continues that proclamation. The voice of one man who answered Christ beside the customs house has carried the message of mercy across nations and centuries.
This feast also asks us how we look at people whose failures are publicly known. The Pharisees see categories: tax collectors, sinners and respectable people. Jesus sees persons who need mercy and can still answer his call. Christian maturity begins when we stop treating another person’s past as the final truth about them. Since every vocation begins in grace, no one can boast of being called, and no one should be considered beyond calling.
To lead a life worthy of our vocation is not to pretend that we have never needed healing. It is to allow the mercy we have received to shape how we serve, speak and welcome others. Like Matthew, we are called away from whatever confines us and into the shared work of building up the Body of Christ.
One line to carry today:
Christ does not call us because our lives are already in order; his call begins to put them in order.
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