21 September 2011: Feast -- St Matthew

Also called Levi, a publican (tax collector for the Romans). The Jews hated his profession. Nevertheless, our Lord called him from his booth at work. His vocation reminds us that sanctity is not reserved for privileged persons. All states in life, all professions, all noble tasks may be sanctified, as the Church teaches. Tradition unanimously acknowledges him as author of the First Gospel, written in Aramaic, the language our Lord spoke; and translated into Greek afterwards. (Fr James Socias, ‘et al’ [Eds], “Daily Roman Missal”, 1989, p1647)

St Matthew, Apostle and Evangelist
The sacred liturgy has presented for our meditation on this day the figure of this “sage scribe” who was so marvellously able to live and teach the Lord’s words. Drawn by the Master’s call to follow him, Matthew immediately “got up and followed him” (Mt 9:9).
From then on there was a radical alteration of his life, of his way of thinking and working. He made himself a disciple of Jesus and announced that Gospel which he had written, in which the Christian is presented above all as a ‘follower’ of Christ, one conscious of the duties coming to him from his acceptance of the Gospel. And he performs them with courage, even to heroism, because following after Jesus prevails over every other duty.
You will recall Jesus’ words: “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ will enter the kingdom of Heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father ...” (Mt 7:21)
At this moment of taking on spiritual and social commitments, may the Lord help us to put the teachings of the Gospel into practice and courageously give testimony of our faith in the midst of the contemporary society to which we belong, through the intercession of his Mother and of St Matthew, who consecrated the whole of his life to the cause of the Christian faith.
Ref: Cf Prayers and Devotions from Pope John Paul II, pp333-4

Jesus preaches again in the Temple
Jesus appeared a second time in the temple on the last and most solemn day of the feast. The Jews had by then drank of the fountain of Siloe, and sprinkled the altar with its water to obtain a fruitful harvest.
Jesus availed of this practice and began to teach the people by an allusion to the ceremony of the day: “Jesus stood and cried, saying, ‘If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me; and let him who believes in me drink’ ...” (Jn 7:37-8)
That is to say, ‘If anyone thirsts for truth and holiness, which give supernatural life and vigor to the soul, let him come to me’. Let him believe and hope in me, the Source of life; and he will be satisfied. “... the water I will give will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” (Jn 4:14)
The chief priests and leaders had posted a band of men in the temple to arrest Jesus should he preach again. But the words of Jesus so impressed them that “no one laid hands on him.
The officers, therefore, went back to the chief priests who asked them, ‘Why did you not bring him?’ The officers replied, ‘No one ever spoke like this man’.” (Jn 7:44-6) Jesus knew men were waiting to seize and throw him into prison. However, obeying the call of love and duty, he still entered the temple. But ‘... no man laid hands on him because his hour has not yet come’: the day when he ‘wished’ to be sacrificed by his enemies.
We learn here that evil will never prevail against us except ‘at the time’ and ‘in the way’ God permits. Still, we must be prudent and observe wise precautions. Jesus did not go to Jerusalem until the third day of the feast and did not show himself publicly except in the temple.
The chief priests and Scribes, vexed at their failure, met in the evening to plan the arrest of Jesus. One, however, Nicodemus, the same who came to Jesus by night, said, “Does our law condemn a man without first hearing him and knowing the facts?” (Jn 7:51)
To this appeal to the first principles of justice, the reply was, “Are you a Galilean? Look it up and see for yourself that no prophet is to come from Galilee. And they all went home.” (Jn 7:52-3)
We are indignant with these men blinded by their passions; but do we not follow their example when we suspect or condemn others without knowing or inquiring into the motives of their conduct?
Ref: Cf “Practical Meditations” by a Father of the Society of Jesus, 1964, pp595-7

The Church Appeals to the Divine Mercy
The Church proclaims the truth of God’s mercy, revealed in Christ crucified and risen again, and professes it in various ways. At no moment, and in no historical period, especially in an age so critical as ours, can the Church forget ‘prayer’. It is a cry to the mercy of God in the face of the manifold forms of evil which weigh upon mankind, and threaten it.
Let us raise our supplications; be guided by the faith, the hope, the charity, which Christ has engrafted in our hearts. This attitude is at the same time love for God.
Ref: Cf “Prayers and Devotions from Pope John Paul II”, 1984, p329

Mary, Mother of penitent sinners
A certain sinner once said to Mary, ‘Show thyself a Mother’; but she replied, ‘Show thyself a son’. Another invoked the divine Mother, as the Mother of mercy. She answered: ‘You sinners when you want my help call me Mother of mercy, and at the same time do not cease by your sins to make me a Mother of sorrows and anguish.’
God curses those who by their wicked life, and still more by their obstinacy in sin, afflict this tender Mother. For if a sinner, though he may not as yet have given up his sin, endeavors to do so, and for this purpose seeks the help of Mary, this good Mother will not fail to assist him, and make him recover the grace of God.
This is precisely what St Bridget heard one day from the lips of Jesus Christ, Who, speaking to His Mother, said, “Thou assistest him who endeavors to return to God, and thy consolations are never wanting to any one” (Revelations 1. 4, c. 19).
Ref: St Alphonsus Liguori, “The Blessed Virgin Mary”, 1982, pp41-2

• Our Lady of Pucha, in the kingdom of Valencia. This image was found in the year 1223, by means of seven stars which were seen shining on this spot, which made people dig into the earth where they found an image of the Blessed Virgin. — Bernard Gomes, Historia Hispan., lib. x. (“Catholic Gems or Treasures of the Church” Historical Calendar; www.bethlehemobserver.com)
• Our Lady of Pucha, Valencia (1223). (www/divinewill.org/feastsofourlady.html); (www.iskandar.com/ourlady/ourladyfeasts.html); (www.miraclehunter.com/marian_apparitions/calendar/index.html)
• Our Lady of Pucha. Valencia, Spain. (www.marylinks.org/Mary-Calendar.htm)
• Our Lady of Pucha (Valencia). (maryfest.htm / www.starharbor.com/santiago/m_feasts.html)