SAINT MATTHEW, APOSTLE AND EVANGELIST (FEAST)

. . . the one hope of your call; one Lord, one faith.

Can you picture the apostle Paul writing about hope—from a prison cell—to the Christians in Ephesus? According to Paul, their one hope lay in the fact that God had revealed himself to be the “Father of all,” opening up the gift of faith, belonging, and salvation to every kind of person (Ephesians 4:6).

Jesus demonstrated this kind of openness when he invited the tax collector Matthew to join his most intimate circle of friends. He could see that Matthew and his associates engaged in corruption and suffered from their misplaced priorities and the weight of many sins. But that didn’t stop Jesus from eating with them or from inviting them to follow him in a new way of life. He gave them a clear opportunity to move beyond their past and to join his family of faith.

Before Jesus came to earth, many people believed that God showed favor only to the righteous. People who were considered sinners or who suffered from physical illnesses were said to be under God’s judgment. There were sharp divisions between those who were thought to be “worthy,” “clean,” and “chosen” and those who were outside the scope of God’s mercy.

When he chose Matthew, Jesus erased all such lines. It’s hard to imagine what a relief that must have been—not just for Matthew, but for everyone else who had previously fallen outside the lines. No wonder Matthew became such an effective evangelist! Having received mercy, he could share that message of mercy with the rest of the world firsthand. Mercy for all! One Lord and one faith! An invitation for the unrighteous as much as the righteous! That is our Catholic faith. That is our hope.

Many times, our struggle to live at peace with ourselves and other people stems from a lost sense of God’s mercy. Every day, he invites us to forgive and to be forgiven. As we recover our understanding of this high calling, we can be newly empowered to build up the body of Christ.

“Father, let the wideness of your mercy unite us to the people around us.”

Psalm 19:2-5
Matthew 9:9-13