[00:00] In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Today we honor the liturgy, St. Matthew, Apostle and Evangelist, and something beautiful to reflect upon today is we see that Jesus does not wait until we're holy, until we're saints, to call us. He calls us at every moment or wherever we are in our life.

[00:30] And we see the call of St. Matthew is very special because Matthew was, by the Jewish people, considered a sinner, an outcast, because he was a traitor to the Jewish people, to be a tax collector for the Roman Empire. And so he was despised and disliked greatly by the Jews for having to be in the service of the Romans. And yet Jesus calls Matthew. He calls Matthew to follow Him. And we see that Matthew does not wait in his response.

[01:05] When Jesus called him, he got up and followed Him. It was not so much what he was leaving behind because Matthew was wealthy. He was of good means because of his work as a tax collector. But he discovered something greater to him, something more important. He discovered Jesus. And that call of Jesus drew him immediately to Him, to leave everything and to follow Him. And so the gospel today on the Feast of St. Matthew reminds us Jesus calls us to follow

[01:38] Him. And are we going to be responding like St. Matthew to get up and follow Jesus, that Jesus calls each of us to follow Him, to follow Him. The call of Matthew also shows us Matthew's response in his call. He does not wait to share his newly discovered love and faith in Jesus with others. In fact, he throws, he has a meal at his house and he invites other tax collectors and sinners

[02:12] to the meal. That Matthew already wants to share his new discovery of Jesus with others, and he invites others to come to meet Jesus, to encounter Jesus. And we see how the grace of God begins to transform Matthew, a transformation that would take all his life, but nonetheless a transformation that would lead him to share his love and faith in Jesus with others. And so Jesus sees, hears a response at this dinner.

[02:49] "Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?" It's showing that Jesus' response is that those who are well do not need a physician, but the sick. "I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners." And these words are to inspire all of us that no matter what our sins, no matter how we failed, Jesus continues to call us to Him, to call us to follow Him. And that we use those means He gives us, especially through the sacrament of confession and our

[03:24] daily life is striving to be renewed in our commitment to Christ, to follow Him. And so the gospel today just reminds me that I should never despair or give up because of my sins, because Christ does not give up on me and He calls me each day to be renewed, to follow Him, to be transformed, to certainly go to confession, to pray, to make resolutions and to persevere in following Him. The grace of God transformed St. Matthew and St. Matthew, of course, became a great saint

[03:56] and he is an evangelist. Of course, the gospel of St. Matthew and also he gave his life for Christ. There are different views of where he actually died. The majority believe it was in Ethiopia or the region of that region of Africa, of Ethiopia. Others believe he may have died in Iran or modern day Persia, Iran, near the Caspian Sea. But nonetheless, they all share that he died by the sword, that he was killed by the sword.

[04:32] So we can ask St. Matthew today to pray for us, that we too may follow Jesus, that we may leave behind whatever it is that we're clinging to, that we may leave it behind and get up and follow Jesus as St. Matthew did, and that we may, like St. Matthew, be eager to share our love and our faith in Jesus with others. In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.