Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew 9, 9-13
As Jesus passed by,
he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the customs post.
He said to him, “Follow me.”
And he got up and followed him.
While he was at table in his house,
many tax collectors and sinners came
and sat with Jesus and his disciples.
The Pharisees saw this and said to his disciples,
“Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”
He heard this and said,
“Those who are well do not need a physician, but the sick do.
Go and learn the meaning of the words,
I desire mercy, not sacrifice.
I did not come to call the righteous but sinners.”
The sick need the doctor
1) He sees you. Sooner or later Jesus comes into your life. He sees you and invites you to walk along with Him. You contemplate the Lord but remember that He also contemplates you. It is so good to know that God sees you and also calls you by name! He invites you to play on his team. He does not see your Facebook or WhatsApp profile, and He does not draw conclusions from your status. He sees you and calls you because He loves you.
2) They sat with him. Jesus gets surrounded by those who are rejected by society and religion. Nowadays, there are also people who are rejected by religion and society. We keep on doing the same thing, we continue fighting for positions within the parish instead of visiting the sick or the homeless, instead of spending time with those who are judged and forgotten by society, to show them God’s love. We keep on fighting to see if the priest follows one political ideology or the other, instead of accompanying the priest who left his original ministry and is having a hard time finding a place in his new ministry. Today, Jesus continues reaching out to those brothers and sisters that we have condemned.
3) The Doctor. Jesus is the doctor who comes to heal us. He shows us that every sinner has a future and that every saint has a past. Today, God wants to heal you. You will obviously have to take medicine and follow a treatment. The medicine is God Himself and the treatment will be some drops of prayer every hour, a sacrament a day, and charity towards others.
Remember, something good is on the way!
God bless you, be with you and protect you in the name of the Father, of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
