Jun 5: Called at Every Moment

Marinus van Reymerswaele: The Calling of Matthew
Museum voor Schone Kunsten, Ghent, 1536

Tenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Gospel: Mt 9:9-13

“Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have come to call not the righteous but sinners (NRSV, Mt 9:13).”

Father, your son Jesus, the Word made flesh, called Matthew the tax collector as he sat in his counting office. In fact, Lord, perhaps in ways not so obvious, through your Word, you called Matthew at every moment of his existence as you call every human being in every situation. That in large measure is what it means to be human: to be called forth, out of one’s present existence, to accept your gift of divine life in the Holy Spirit and always to grow in it.

No one is excluded. No one is beyond divine grace. The Word is present to all in every situation. His presence only seems at times to be absence because in our sinfulness we sometimes refuse to recognize him. That is why Jesus said, “I have come to call not the righteous but sinners,” because the sinner so often seems excluded from divine favor.

Help us, Father, in every situation, like Matthew in his counting office, to let go of everything we have become up until the moment, that with Matthew we may become truly something new, sharing every more fully in your divine life always offered us through your Word.

Through Christ our Lord. Amen.