Reflection for Tuesday

By


Fr. Aloysius Santiago sdb
Rector and Parish Priest
Don Bosco Shrine
Lingarajapuram, Bangalore

Feast of St. Matthew Apostle & Evangelist

Today's Word

Mathew 9:11-13

When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”

On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.  For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

Today's Reflection

The Call & the Response:

JESUS Went to the Tax-Collector’s Station to Invite Matthew to become a Disciple. Since Tax-Collectors Worked for a Foreign Power & Extorted More Tax Money from the People than They Owed, the Jewish People, especially the Pharisees, Hated & Despised the Tax Collectors as Traitors, considered Them Public Sinners, & Ostracized Them. But JESUS could See in Matthew a Person who Needed Divine Love & Grace. That is why, while Everyone Hated Matthew, JESUS was Ready to Offer Him Undeserved Love, Mercy & Forgiveness. Hence, Matthew Abandoned His Lucrative Job, because, for Him, CHRIST'S Invitation to Become JESUS' Follower, was a Promise of Salvation, Fellowship, Guidance, & Protection. Scandalous Partying with Sinners. It was altogether Natural for Matthew to Rejoice in His New Calling by Celebrating with His Friends who were also Outcasts. JESUS' Dining with All These Outcasts in the House of a “Traitor” Scandalized the Pharisees, for whom Ritual Purity & Table Fellowship were Important Religious Practices. But They Asked, Not JESUS but the Young Disciples, “Why does Your Master Eat with Tax Collectors & Sinners?”  JESUS, Coming to the Rescue of the Disciples, Cut In, & Answered the Question, in Terns of Healing: “Those who are Well Do Not Need a Physician; the Sick Do.”

Then JESUS Challenged the Pharisees, Quoting Hosea, “Go & Learn the Meaning of the Words, ‘I Desire Mercy, Not Sacrifice’” (Hosea 6:6).  

Finally, JESUS Clarified,

“I Did Not Come to Call the Righteous, but Sinners.”


Life Messages:

1) JESUS Calls U & Me for a Purpose: JESUS has Called Us through Our Baptism, Forgiven Us Our Sins, & Welcomed Us as Members of the Kingdom. In fact, JESUS Calls Us Daily through the WORD & through the CHURCH, 2b Disciples &, so, to Turn Away from All the Things that Distract Us & Draw Us Away from GOD.

2) Just as Matthew Did, We, too, are Expected to Proclaim CHRIST through Our Lives by Reaching Out to the Unwanted & the Marginalized in Society with CHRIST'S Love, Mercy, & Compassion.


Good Morning

GOD Bless Us All Today.

Happy Feast of St. Matthew to U.