Feast of Saint Matthew, Apostle and evangelist - Year A

Hi, this is Father Nick Smith, pastor of St. Patrick's in Perry.

Today, the church celebrates the feast of St. Matthew, the apostle and gospel writer of that gospel that bears his name.

Matthew, perhaps more than many of the disciples, knew the mercy of Jesus, knew the mercy of just his single glance.

Matthew was called from a disreputable career in tax collecting to follow Jesus.

Jesus saw in him something worth redeeming and actually wanted his skill set, wanted his temperament, wanted his personality among the band of his 12 closest apostles.

The Lord sees much deeper than you and I do, even inside our own souls.

We want to know for ourselves the gaze of the Lord into our own souls, where He finds something, someone, redeemable and worthy of His gifts.

We too have been called, like Matthew, to follow the Lord with our whole heart, mind, soul, and strength in our particular vocation in our corner of the world.

We are the ones who are in need of the physician.

We are the sick whom the Lord has come in search of and to heal as the divine physician.

Let us have the humility and awareness to accept the cure that the divine physician is offering us.

Let us follow him with our whole lives.

And may St. Matthew pray for us today and always.

May God bless you and let us continue praying for each other.