Coffee With God

Reflection: Matthew 9: 9-13

Today the Church celebrates the Feast of Saint Matthew, Apostle and Evangelist. He is venerated as the patron saint of accountants, money managers, bankers, book-keepers and finance officers. “The calling of Matthew reminds us that when Christ makes us his disciples, he does not look to our past but to the future,” Says Pope Francis. He says, he developed a special devotion to St. Matthew when he was 17 years old. The gaze of Jesus completely overtook the tax collector and sinner Matthew. It changed his life. It changed Jorge Bergoglio’s life. It changes our life. Reflecting on the call of Matthew, Pope said, “Jesus’ gaze always lifts us up. It never lets us down… It invites us to get up… to move forward. The gaze makes you feel that He loves you. This gives the courage to follow Him. And “Matthew got up and followed Him’.” Once, while speaking about his vocation, the pope referred to the famous painting of “The Calling of Saint Matthew” by Caravaggio, which is kept in the Church of Saint Louis of France in Rome. In the painting, Jesus’ finger points at Matthew, as if in an attempt to recreate the famous painting of the Creation of Adam by Michael Angelo, in the ceiling of Sistine Chapel. Matthew is holding on to his money-bag as if to say “No, not me! No, this money is mine.” Pope Francis says he sees himself in Matthew – a sinner on whom the Lord turned His gaze. He trusted in Christ’s infinite mercy and accepted His calling. It is important to preserve the memory of our origins: Our sinfulness, our unworthiness. We should always be aware of where we came from. Because, in spite of being unworthy, the Lord showed his mercy to forgive us our sins and chose us to be his disciples and apostle. God’s mercy seeks everyone, forgives everyone. The only thing he asks of you today is to say: ‘Yes Lord, help me’.” When Jesus called Matthew, he renounced everything to follow Him. Matthew celebrates this immensely joyous occasion with his friends to sit with Jesus. At that table, sat “the very worst of society. And Jesus with them”, says the Pope. Jesus invites us to sit with him at the table of the Eucharist, in which he purifies us by the power of his word and by the sacrament unites us ever more deeply to himself. Citing the prophet Hosea, he tells us that what God desires is “mercy, not sacrifice”, true conversion of heart and not merely some formal acts of religion such as repeating some prayers, and going to the church for fulfilling an obligation.