Conversion stories are powerful. To hear of a great sinner, turning his life over to God, always moves us and resonates with us. In conversion stories, we humbly acknowledge how our lives would have been different had God not been searching us out, we recognize in them the movement of grace that stirs in our own lives and changes them forever, we get a sense of that two-fold yearning: man’s yearning for God, and God’s yearning for man.
St. Matthew was trapped in a cycle of sin. The tax collector extorted his own kind, cheating the people he collected from. For this reason, tax-collectors like Matthew were despised, and grouped together by their contemporaries in the same breath as the murderers, assassins, thieves, robbers, criminals, and prostitutes. No good Jew would even marry someone who had a tax-collector in their extended family!
But while sitting at a custom’s post, Matthew saw a man who would not only change his life, but the history of the world, forever. He followed the Christ, and invited him into his home.
Matthew, of course, would be chosen by the Lord as one of the Twelve, and would carry the Gospel after the Lord’s death and resurrection throughout Persia and as far as Ethiopia, where he was martyred on order of the king.
Matthew responded, not to the orders of a military leader, but to the invitation of the Savior. The Lord desired for Matthew so-much-more-than the old sinful life, as he does for all of us. Jesus called Matthew from sins which alienated him from God and his neighbor, to the new communion of the Church, and to a life of freedom and grace.
The liberation and happiness the Lord brought to Matthew’s life is available to us if we but trust the Lord, and leave behind selfishness, fear, and ego-centrism.
Jesus dined in the homes of tax collectors and sinners in order to satisfy their deepest hungers—to reveal to them the truth for which they longed in their deepest being. As the Lord feeds us at the Eucharistic table today, may we recognize in Him our hearts deepest longings, and trust him as he sends us out on the mission of spreading the Gospel according to our own ability, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.
- - - - - - - -
That all Christians may have the courage to confess their sins and to courageously follow the Lord’s call to spread the Gospel.
For all those trapped in cycles of sin or addiction, that they may heed the Lord’s invitation to mercy and freedom.
For Pope Francis’ prayer intention for the month of September: “That our parishes, animated by a missionary spirit, may be places where faith is communicated and charity is seen.”
That the love of Christ, the divine physician, may bring healing to the sick and comfort to all the suffering.
For the deceased members of our families, friends, and parish, and all the poor souls in purgatory, for deceased priests and religious, and for those who have fought and died for our freedom.
O God, you know that our life in this present age is subject to suffering and need, hear the prayers of those who cry to you and receive the prayers of those who believe in you. Through Christ our Lord.
No comments:
Post a Comment