Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 5, 27-32
Jesus saw a tax collector named Levi sitting at the customs post. He said to him, “Follow me.” And leaving everything behind, he got up and followed him. Then Levi gave a great banquet for him in his house, and a large crowd of tax collectors and others were at table with them. The Pharisees and their scribes complained to his disciples, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?” Jesus said to them in reply, “Those who are healthy do not need a physician, but the sick do. I have not come to call the righteous to repentance but sinners.”
A tax collector. Levi was someone labeled by society and judged by religious authorities as a public traitor. You may have experienced something similar— times when you felt unwelcome in the Church and isolated from those around you. Yet, it’s often in these moments of exclusion that your real self is revealed; it’s when you accept yourself fully, weaknesses and all. Levi was condemned both socially and religiously, but he responded to Jesus’s call. Those with hearts open to God always have the opportunity for a fresh start.
Follow me. Being a follower of Jesus isn’t an award for having a flawless past, a great résumé, nor is it a game where progress depends on every single choice. To follow Him is to trust and to surrender. What set Levi apart from the Pharisees was his willingness to accept who he was and the life he’d lived, while the Pharisees clung to a disguise and even used religion to hide their true selves. Our challenge is to shift from being merely “the publican” to becoming “Levi”—to stop pretending and be authentic. Remember, God calls the real person, not the character you’ve created.
They grumbled. People will always have something to say behind your back. Even if you are clear about where your heart is headed, there will be those who gossip about you. Don’t spend your energy worrying about those who won’t speak to you directly; if they can’t say it to your face, there’s usually a lie behind what they’re saying. Know that you are chosen by God, because “God doesn’t call the qualified; He qualifies those He calls.”
Don’t forget that something good is on the way! God bless you and protect you in the name of the Father, of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Father Luis, as we affectionately know him, is a Catholic Diocesan Priest, from Tucuman, Argentina. He was ordained Priest at the Cathedral of Tucuman on March 23, 2012. Father Luis graduated in Theology from the Catholic University of Argentina, Magister in Liturgy of the Argentine Society of Liturgy and is currently undergraduate in family guidance at the Austral University. Father Luis is Co-Founder and Director of Catholic Digital Missioners.
