PATRONAL FEASTIN HONOR OF ST. MATTHEW, 2025

San Mateo

From official of the Roman Empire to disciple of Christ, Apostle and Evangelist.

Among Jesus' disciples, several were fishermen. Surely some others had also dedicated themselves to agricultural tasks. And among them there would be members of other craft professions or other trades. But what is more surprising is that among those called by Jesus we find a tax collector or tax collector.

There were tax collectors who rented the collection to send the money from the provinces to the imperial coffers. There were other collectors who charged portage fees between one kingdom and another, between one tetrarchy and another, so they were frowned upon by the townspeople.

Capernaum must have had several offices in which various types of taxes were collected. One day Jesus approached one of these offices to call Matthew personally. He got up and followed him.

The Gospel that bears his name briefly tells us the scene of his vocation (Mt 9:9-13). He is called Matthew, an abbreviation of Mattenai and Mattanya, which means "gift or gift of God".  In parallel places, the accounts of Mark (Mk 2:13-17) and Luke (Lk 5:27-32) tell us of the vocation of a certain Levi, son of Alphaeus, who is undoubtedly the same person as the tradition of the Church has admitted.

In the biblical account of Matthew's vocation, we are particularly struck by three moments: the call, the banquet and the revelation of Jesus who came precisely to call sinners.

In the Gospel, according to St. Matthew, the mercy of God incarnate in Jesus stands out, as well as the fulfillment of the prophecies of the Old Testament in favor of the Jewish people and all nations

Fr. Claudio