St. Matthew

By Fr. Conor Donnelly

(Proofread)

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

My Lord and my God, I firmly believe that you are here, that you see me, that you hear me. I adore you with profound reverence. I ask your pardon for my sins and grace to make this time of prayer fruitful. My Immaculate Mother, Saint Joseph, my father and lord, my guardian angel, intercede for me.

“As Jesus was walking on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax office. He said to him, ‘Follow me.’ And he got up and followed him” (Matt. 9:9).

Today is the feast of St. Matthew the Apostle.

He was born in Capernaum. He was working as a tax collector when Our Lord called him. He called him in his ordinary place of work. This is very relevant for each one of us.

He is recognized as the author of the first Gospel, originally written in Aramaic, but soon translated into Greek. He was later martyred in Persia.

We could think this morning, in our prayer, of all the times when we have read aspects of the Gospel of St. Matthew, or heard them read in the Mass or other liturgical services—the impact of that Gospel on our lives, things we have learned from it, the legacy of St. Matthew. He left something great that has lasted down through the centuries, as have all of the apostles.

It can help us in formulating our ideals of the legacy we want to live in this world. It can remind us of the greatness and the importance of corresponding to our Christian vocation, of leading the life that God has wanted for us.

We are told that Jesus was walking on from there and He saw a man named Matthew. Why did Our Lord notice Matthew?

One reason could be that Matthew was in the place where he was supposed to be. How important it is that we are in the place that we’re supposed to be.

And he was doing what he was supposed to be doing. He was working in the tax collector's office. He was working.

He wasn't down the road playing some other game, or he wasn't on the telephone to somebody, or he wasn't doing a crossword puzzle, or distracted with a thousand other things rather than the job at hand. He was focused on what he was doing.

So, we get the impression from the story that Matthew was very professional. He was a good worker. He was concentrating.

He was intensely dedicated to the work that he was doing, whole heart and mind. In modern parlance we might say he was trying to sanctify his work.

All of us have to learn how to work. It's something we're not born knowing. We have to learn how to be punctual. We have to learn how to put order into our work.

We have to learn how to do the things that are most important first. We have to learn how to solve problems.

We have to learn how to stick at the job until it's finished in spite of tiredness or stress or complications.

We have to learn how to be a team player, to work with other people, to talk kindly to them and gently, to do everything that helps to get the job done, because that's why we're there.

God has given us this particular role today, this particular channel in which to use our talents.

As Our Lord walked on from there, He saw Matthew, and possibly He saw all these other aspects of this life and person of Matthew; also, the potential that he had, because Christ was looking for apostles, looking for people to build His Church. Then He sees this gem.

He addresses him in those very dynamic words, “Follow me.” Our Lord says the same thing to us each day in our work, in our life. He invites us to follow Him.

“And he got up and followed him.” Matthew's response was immediate.

We're told this story in the Gospel of St. Matthew, which follows the story of the cure of the paralytic in Capernaum.

A day or so after the miracle, Our Lord sets out for the seashore accompanied by a great crowd. The place he's coming from is a small seaport that borders the land of Perea on the other side of Jordan. On the way, He passes by this stall or booth for collecting taxes.

Matthew was a publican in Herod's service. Although he's not a court official, he had purchased the right to collect taxes.

This particular profession is not highly esteemed. In fact, it's scorned by many. But it's an attractive post due to its potential for acquiring wealth.

We get the impression that a tax collector seems to have enjoyed a certain social status. Matthew was able to throw a great feast for Jesus in his house. “There was a large collection of tax collectors and others sitting at the table with him” (Luke 5:29).

Then Our Lord invites him to become a disciple of His. Matthew's response is quick and generous.

Lord, help my response to you and everything that you ask of me—to be quick and to be generous.

Our Lord likes us to be quick, on the ball, reactive, ready to do things, dynamic, and also generous.

Matthew gives himself completely. He leaves what he's attached to, what he's doing, a secure way of earning a living with all of its potential benefits, and many, many other things.

“He got up and followed Him.” He left all those things. Detachment.

Lord, help me to be ready to leave whatever it is that I may be attached to, to do whatever it is that you're asking of me—available, generous, total.

Matthew might have met Our Lord on other occasions. He might have been looking forward to this momentous occasion. So, when it comes, he doesn't hesitate. He follows Christ at the first indication.

We can only surmise what was going on there in the mind and heart of Matthew. Only God really knows why He chose Matthew. And only Matthew could tell us what he saw in that divine invitation to leave his place of work so immediately and follow Him.

St. John Chrysostom says, “We see by the prompt and complete obedience of Matthew, who left all his worldly possessions in an instant, that the Lord had called him at just the right moment” (John Chrysostom, Homilies on the Gospel of Matthew).

We're told in Scripture that we have been chosen out before the foundation of the world (cf. Eph. 1:4). God has His plan.

But just at the right moment in our life, Our Lord speaks to us in different ways. He blows the whistle and says, Now, go. Change your life.

The time and the place that Our Lord selects to ask us for our complete dedication are very much foreseen by Divine Providence, and therefore are the most opportune. This is the best moment, this is the best way, this is the best place.

Sometimes God calls people in their youth. Then, in that case, for such a person, that's the best time to respond.

For some people, God may call them in their adulthood. He might make use of colleagues at work, family ties, or other social dealings to reveal His purposes.

God chooses us in different ways, different circumstances. He uses different people as His instruments. But always He's the one behind, managing the whole enterprise.

Our Lord gives us then the great grace to see the vocation that He's giving us, and He gives us the grace to respond quickly.

In the Old Testament we're told those words, “Here I am because you have called me” (1 Sam. 3:5).

Our Lord calls us to this great apostolic enterprise to see souls, to give ourselves to God in the middle of the world. To serve the Church by serving souls. To be a guide for other souls.

There's a story told about a farmer who had a horse that went blind. In other situations, a horse like that might be put down, but he decided to keep this horse. He put him in a field with another horse who had a younger, smaller horse who had a bell around his neck.

If you observe these two horses, you'd see that the horse with the bell around his neck occasionally looks around to check on the blind horse, that it's okay, that it's following him.

Its movement makes the bell ring, so the blind horse knows where the other horse is. The younger horse with the bell acts as like a sort of a guide to assure the blind horse that he's okay, that he's in the right place.

When the horse with the bell returns to the shelter of the barn each evening, occasionally it looks back to make sure that the blind horse is following it.

Like the owner of these horses, God doesn't throw us away just because we're not perfect, or because we have challenges or problems, or we're full of miseries.

He watches over us like a good loving Father. He even brings other people into our lives to help us when we are in need.

He wants us to listen to those little insinuations of the Holy Spirit or the little bell ringings in our ear—the word that He speaks to us deep in our soul and in our heart, possibly in moments of prayer like this, or maybe in moments when somebody at work says something to us, or something we read in spiritual reading, or something we suddenly see one day, when an idea becomes clearer.

It's all because Divine Providence has been guiding us, helping us. Sometimes we are the blind horse being guided by the little ringing bell of those whom God places in our lives.

At other times, we are the guide horse to help other people to find the way.

Good friends are like that. You may not always see them, but you know they are always there.

The vocation of Matthew and of all apostles is to be a good friend. We find that the first thing he did when he was called by Our Lord was to organize this dinner party, because the greatest thing in his whole life has happened. He has found Christ—Christ, who is the light

The most logical thing to do was to tell all his friends, to bring them in contact with this great treasure in his life who is Christ.

Also, the most logical reaction that we may have in seeing that God is asking something of us, or to realize the treasure that we have found, is also to want to bring Christ to the lives of many other people, so that they can respond, and respond quickly, to be open to the plans of God and to be faithful to the end.

If a person says “No” to God when He is asking, maybe with the idea of saying “Yes” at some time later, a time perceived to be more suitable, it might happen that other occasion never shows up.

It is now that God is calling us. There is a certain urgency of that call. The Lord may not knock a second time at the door of our heart.

“Here I am, because you have called me.” Now is the moment to give myself.

In the book Mary of Nazareth, the author Federico Suarez says, “All resistance to grace hardens the heart.”

Jesus, may I never resist your grace. May I never resist the calls of the bridegroom, and then to realize that God wants to marry us. We are all called to the eternal wedding feast. The bridegroom comes to seek his bride.

St. Augustine describes very clearly the urgency with which we should try to respond to the gift that God gives us when He passes close to us along the road of life. He says, “I fear Jesus may pass by and not come back” (St. Augustine, Sermon 88).

There is a danger. A danger that we miss the moment. We let it pass us by.

Our Lord draws very near to each one of us—irrespective of our age or circumstances—and His gaze meets our gaze in a unique way.

We are told at one point in Scripture that “Jesus looked upon him and loved him” (Mark 10:21)—the rich young man. Christ looks upon us and loves us. He invites us to follow Him closely.

In the majority of cases, He leaves us right bang smack in the middle of society where He has called us, in the midst of our workplace or of our family.

“He chose us out before the foundation of the world in order that we might be holy in His presence” (Eph. 1:4).

St. Josemaría in The Forge says, “To be holy is not easy, but it isn't difficult either. To be holy is to be a good Christian, to resemble Christ. The more closely a person resembles Christ, the more Christian he is; the more he belongs to Christ, the holier he is. —And what means do we have? The same means the early faithful had, when they saw Jesus directly or caught a glimpse of him in the accounts the Apostles and the Evangelists gave of him” (Josemaría Escrivá, The Forge, Point 10).

Our Lord speaks to us through the Gospels. It’s very important that we have a regular habit of reading a few words of the Gospel every day so that we get to know Our Lord who comes to us through those words, through those pages.

The Holy Spirit is there. The words of the Gospel speak deep in our soul. It's there we get to know the words and the actions of Jesus that we’re meant to follow so that we can put on the Lord Jesus Christ, so that we come to resemble Christ, belong to Him, to be more holy and so that other people can see Christ in us. That's partly what it means to be an apostle.

That calling brings great joy in our life. Matthew was full of joy. To celebrate his vocation and give thanks for it, he organizes a great banquet. He invites all his friends. And we're told, “Many publicans and sinners were there at the table with Jesus and his disciples” (Matt. 9:10).

An interesting point. That phrase could have been left out: “publicans and sinners.” If we were to think, who do I know who are sinners? Who's in my list of sinners? We might have to say that I'm at the top of the list. We might find it difficult to identify among our friends who are the sinners.

Matthew must have had a lot of colorful friends, and that phrase could have been left out. It’s sort of identifying some of these colorful friends of Matthew’s.

“Now, while he was at the table in the house, it happened that a number of tax collectors and sinners came to sit at the table with Jesus and his disciples” (Matt. 9:10).

Imagine if you were to go and invite your friends who are sinners to come and meet Jesus Christ. What sort of answers would you get?

You might be told, Not today, thank you. Or, I'm a little busy. Or, I've got to go to look after my farm or take care of my business. All sorts of excuses.

Matthew would have heard all of these excuses. But still those people came. Matthew must have been very good at convincing people, at selling Jesus Christ in a very attractive way, helping people to understand this is the greatest moment of your life. The greatest opportunity.

And this was one of the ways that he showed his gratitude for his vocation.

We savor the gift. We show Our Lord with our deeds that we love our vocation, that we are grateful for it by using it well. We see that this is a tremendous gift for which it's always necessary to be grateful and to show that gratitude in deeds.

Lord, thank you for all the callings that you've given me in my life. Born into this family, went to this school, knew these friends. Studied these particular subjects. Brought me here to this center.

Thank you for all the wonderful gifts you've given to me. Help me to see that all this has a purpose. You've been grooming me, preparing me for the mission, for the role I have to play.

If we were only to consider the renunciation every invitation to follow God entails, sadness could well ensue as in the case of the rich young man who did not want to leave his wealth (cf. Luke 18:18-25).

He didn’t appreciate fully the gift. He thought of it all as renunciation but didn't see all the good things that were coming.

He thought only about what he would be giving up. He did not comprehend the marvel of living with God and being His instrument for accomplishing great things in the world.

We're told in the Furrow, “Perhaps yesterday, you were one of those people whose ideals have gone sour, who were defrauded in their human ambitions. Today, now that God has entered into your life—thank you, my God! —you laugh and sing and carry your smile, your love and happiness wherever you go” (J. Escrivá, Furrow, Point 81).

The smile in our face is a sign to others that our heart is at home, that we're happy in the things we're doing, that our heart is in the things of God. So, we have a smile, we have love, we have happiness wherever we go. We carry that joy of our vocation with us.

The life of a person called to follow Christ, as we all have been, can't be like that of the older brother in the parable of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15:25-32).

He remains faithfully on his father's farm. He works well. He doesn't spend beyond his father's means. There are many good aspects to his being.

But he lacks joy. He lacks charity with his younger brother, who has just repented. He's the living image of the just man who doesn't fully understand that to enjoy God's presence and friendship is itself a continual celebration.

Serving God is a reward in its own right, since to serve the Lord is to reign with Him. Our Lord wants us to work in His service with gladness, not begrudgingly, for “God loves a cheerful giver” (2 Cor. 9:7). “Serve the Lord with gladness” (Ps. 100:2).

There are always plenty of reasons to rejoice, to give thanks, to be happy when we're dedicated to Our Lord, and when we respond positively to His call.

Our vocation and our response to it brings a great joy, not just renunciation.

Matthew was called to be a special witness of the life and death of Christ. If you think how down through the centuries the words of St. Matthew's Gospel have influenced billions of souls, billions of hearts, many of whom have dedicated themselves joyfully to serving God in the world...

Matthew listens very carefully to the words of the Master and contemplates his mission. He's very intimate with Our Lord in the Last Supper. He’s present there in the Institution of the Eucharist. He personally hears Our Lord's proclamation of the Greatest Commandment.

A little later he's going to savor the joy of the Resurrection. Before the Ascension, he is among those who accept the command, “Go you, therefore, teach all nations, bring the good news to the utmost parts of the earth” (Matt. 28:19).

Matthew accepts that enterprise and that command, that assignment, takes it very seriously, writes things down, dedicates himself in a special way to forming the Jews who have converted to the Christian faith.

That's why very often in his Gospel he refers to the Old Testament. “This happened to fulfil what was spoken by the Prophet Isaiah” (Matt. 8:17). All the time he's helping these converted Jews to realize that Christ is the fulfilment of the Old Testament promises.

Together with Our Lady, he received the gift of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost. While writing his Gospel he must have relished all those memories, all the times that he spent with Jesus, that close contact.

He must have been more and more grateful for that calling, that his life at the side of Christ has been so worthwhile.

He must have also realized how different it could have been if he had remained passively at that tax collector's booth, if he had not responded promptly and generously. What a catastrophe! What a failure!

We know that our life is precious if we live it in union with Christ, if we correspond to all the graces that He gives us more faithfully with each passing day. It's a wonderful dream to have.

We know that if we respond in this way, then we'll be effective witnesses of Our Lord. If we respond with that promptitude and joy, we'll be effective in the world, we'll lead decent lives, we'll have something to show for it, we'll blaze a trail, we'll leave a legacy, something like St. Matthew and the other apostles, something wonderful.

There are no greater ideals we could have.

Our vocation in following Christ is essentially apostolic. Immediately Matthew thinks of his friends and acquaintances. St. Jerome comments in an amusing way that it was quite a gathering of sinners.

We're interested in everybody. And Christ is there, mixing with all of these people. Through His example He teaches us to be open to all souls.

“Out of a hundred souls, we're interested in a hundred” (J. Escrivá, Friends of God, Point 9). We should try and win them for the faith.

When people comment about Our Lord being present there, wondering why “He eats and drinks with publicans and sinners,” Our Lord has a very good reply: “It's not the healthy who need a physician, it's those who are sick” (Luke 5:30-31).

Pope St. Paul VI in his Encyclical Ecclesiam suam says, “The dialogue concerning salvation is open to everyone, without distinction. Similarly, our own conversations,” he said, “should be potentially universal and capable of embracing all.”

Our Lord doesn't want us to remain indifferent to anybody. The greater a person's need, the more should be our own apostolic effort to use the human and the supernatural means to help spread the vision of faith.

Every feast of an apostle invites us to look again at our apostolate, our list of souls, the people God is bringing us in contact with, people who may be on the periphery of our lives, but who somehow are there for an apostolic purpose.

Lord, help me to look at the quality of my social dealings.

“You are right,” says St. Josemaría in The Way. “‘The peak’—you wrote me—‘dominates the country for miles around, and yet there is not a single plain to be seen: just one mountain after another. At times the landscape seems to level out, but then the mist rises and reveals another range that has been hidden.’

“So it is, so it must be with the horizon of your apostolate: the world has to be crossed. But there are no roads made for you. You yourselves will make the way through the mountains, beating it out by your own footsteps” (cf. J. Escrivá, The Way, Point 928).

In society where God has placed us, in this particular place, in this particular time, God wants us to make the pathway, to make the inroads, “drowning evil in an abundance of good” (J. Escrivá, Furrow, Point 864), knowing that God's grace is with us.

Mary, Queen of Apostles, may you help us to set out along that pathway with that same dynamism, faith, and enthusiasm that St. Matthew must have set out and seen the greater horizon that was there in front of him.

I thank you, my God, for the good resolutions, affections, and inspirations that you have communicated to me during this meditation. I ask your help to put them into practice. My Immaculate Mother, Saint Joseph, my father and lord, my guardian angel, intercede for me.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

PKN