FEAST OF ST. MATTHEW, APOSTLE, EVANGELIST
First Reading - Ephesians 4:1-13
Gospel - Matthew 9:9-13
Many times, the meaning of vocation is constrained to religious vocation or priestly vocation alone. However, the meaning of vocation is wide and it extends to every state of life as our vocation. The readings of today invite us to widen our understanding of vocation and discern the purpose of our vocation.
The gospel of today, in keeping with the feast, mentions about to call of Matthew, a tax collector. The call of Matthew attracts our curiosity due to certain aspects, viz. 1) The state of life of Matthew was not appealing to the people because of his profession as a tax collector and yet he was called by Jesus. Tax collectors were looked down upon by the fellow Jews and were categorised as public sinners. The profession was so hated because tax collectors worked for Romans who were the enemies of Jews; To make it worse, they extorted extra money from their own fellow Jews for their personal upkeep. 2) Matthew left his work and followed Jesus. The instant leaving of the job and following Jesus reveal faith of Matthew in Jesus. 'Leaving' and 'following' indicate that Matthew made an instant decision and chose Jesus giving up his past life; this was a renewed life for Matthew.
The first reading also captures the theme of vocation in a wider sense. The vocation is diversified into various choices. As Paul mentions that some are called to be apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers etc., but the goal of every vocation is to serve our fellow brothers and sisters and build the body of Christ. We are all one body of Christ by our faith in one God expressed in our Baptism. This body of Christ finds unison by our concerted work in unity. Hence, Paul exhorts the Christians to live their vocations according to the gift given to them by working together for the purpose of building up the body of Christ avoiding any division and disharmony.
Dear friends, we see different vocations in the Church; some are priests, nuns, catechists, doctors, nurses, teachers, preachers, engineers, builders, scientists and so on. They are the various gifts given to an individual person according to one's own capacity. The gifts to the individual persons have their purposes as Christians. They should build up the body of Christ, which means, they should excercise their gifts in order to exhibit their faith in Jesus by their lives according to the teachings of Jesus in their daily lives and their professions as well.
The gospel reading focuses on the readiness to change. There are occasions when we go wrong and live unbecoming lives. There is an inner voice calling us to conversion just as Jesus calls Matthew to a changed life. We are also invited everyday to a renewed life. God loves us as we are but not our sins, the invitation to Matthew was to follow him and he left everything (sinful past) and followed Jesus, similarly, we are invited to follow Christ everyday giving up our sins and follow him.
May God help us live our lives worthy of our vocations.
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