20200921 OUR COMMON VOCATION
21 September, 2020, Monday, St Matthew, Apostle, Evangelist
Readings at Mass
Liturgical Colour: Red.
First reading |
Ephesians 4:1-7,11-13 © |
We are all to come to unity, fully mature in the knowledge of the Son of God
I, the prisoner in the Lord, implore you to lead a life worthy of your vocation. Bear with one another charitably, in complete selflessness, gentleness and patience. Do all you can to preserve the unity of the Spirit by the peace that binds you together. There is one Body, one Spirit, just as you were all called into one and the same hope when you were called. There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one God who is Father of all, over all, through all and within all.
Each one of us, however, has been given his own share of grace, given as Christ allotted it. To some, his gift was that they should be apostles; to some, prophets; to some, evangelists; to some, pastors and teachers; so that the saints together make a unity in the work of service, building up the body of Christ. In this way we are all to come to unity in our faith and in our knowledge of the Son of God, until we become the perfect Man, fully mature with the fullness of Christ himself.
Responsorial Psalm |
Psalm 18(19):2-5 © |
Their word goes forth through all the earth.
The heavens proclaim the glory of God,
and the firmament shows forth the work of his hands.
Day unto day takes up the story
and night unto night makes known the message.
Their word goes forth through all the earth.
No speech, no word, no voice is heard
yet their span extends through all the earth,
their words to the utmost bounds of the world.
Their word goes forth through all the earth.
Gospel Acclamation | cf.Te Deum |
Alleluia, alleluia!
We praise you, O God,
we acknowledge you to be the Lord.
The glorious company of the apostles praise you, O Lord.
Alleluia!
Gospel | Matthew 9:9-13 © |
It is not the healthy who need the doctor, but the sick
As Jesus was walking on, he saw a man named Matthew sitting by the customs house, and he said to him, ‘Follow me.’ And he got up and followed him.
While he was at dinner in the house it happened that a number of tax collectors and sinners came to sit at the table with Jesus and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, ‘Why does your master eat with tax collectors and sinners?’ When he heard this he replied, ‘It is not the healthy who need the doctor, but the sick. Go and learn the meaning of the words: What I want is mercy, not sacrifice. And indeed I did not come to call the virtuous, but sinners.’
OUR COMMON VOCATION
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [Ephesians 4:1-7, 11-13; Ps 19:2-5; Matthew 9:9-13]
What is the difference between a vocation and a career? A career puts the focus on the person, his ambition, his interests and his benefits. When a person is focused on building up his career, he is concerned primarily about himself, how he can use his talents in such a way that it will benefit him most of all. He will offer his services to whoever can use his talents and pay him better than others. If the salary is handsome and the benefits are attractive, he will offer his services. In a career, one can change jobs easily the moment someone offers us better opportunities. This does not mean that our work does not benefit the community. It does, but the focus is not primarily on what one can do for the community but what one can gain for oneself. In other words, “The hired hand, who is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and runs away – and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. The hired hand runs away because a hired hand does not care for the sheep.” (Jn 10:12f)
St Matthew, before his conversion, was concerned about his career. It was about making money. It did not matter to him whether he was serving his fellow citizens or serving the Romans. It did not bother him whether he was faithful to his religion and the laws or not. As a tax-collector, he was working for the most hated enemy of Israel, the Romans. Since his profits came from taxing the Jews, he was guilty of bribery, over-charging and corruption. Because he had to deal with merchants who were Gentiles, he made himself unclean in coming into contact with them and in dealing with them. But why would he be concerned so long as his profession was lucrative and provided him wealth and riches? This is what it means to have a career. One is a mercenary to money.
A vocation however is directed towards the service of the community. It is the greater good of the community that is the focus of one who has a vocation. A vocation is a calling from God who calls us from within us to serve. He puts a passion in our heart, a vision in our mind as to how one can help to build the community. A vocation is primarily a service. The rewards and payments are secondary. They are not the determinant factors for one to take up a position. The passion and commitment come from a vision and a conviction.
Jesus showed us what it means to live a life worthy of our vocation. He regarded Himself as a Divine Physician. He said, “It is not the healthy who need the doctor, but the sick. Go and learn the meaning of the words: What I want is mercy, not sacrifice. And indeed I did not come to call the virtuous, but sinners.” Jesus came to heal humanity of its sinfulness. The citation “what I want is mercy, not sacrifice” is taken from Hosea 6:6. The Israelites during the time of the prophet Hosea were sick because of their sins of rebellion against God, abandoning the Temple of Jerusalem and worshipping false gods. So Jesus saw Himself as the Divine Physician coming to heal His people bodily, spiritually and socially. Indeed, He came to heal the sick, those who were lame, blind and deaf and even those who contracted infectious diseases like leprosy. However, He also came to heal those wounded by sins and had gone astray, as in the case of the tax collectors and prostitutes.
Not only did Jesus come to heal humanity, He came for the poorest, the most sinful and broken, those ostracized by society and those who needed Him most. Jesus was clear that His mission was directed firstly to the poor. Quoting from Isaiah, He spelled out His mission. “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” (Lk 4:18f cf Isa 61:1) It was for this reason that He reached out to Matthew, the tax collector, and was present at the dinner with other tax collectors, the colleagues of Matthew. These were the people ostracized by their community and they felt rejected by God. So Jesus came to offer them hope and reconciliation. He came to offer them a greater meaning and calling in life, more than just what money and wealth could offer.
Jesus was a true physician who was not afraid to attend to the wounds of the sick. He was not afraid of coming into contact with the unclean and sinners, just like doctors who are not afraid to look after and attend to the disgusting sores of a patient. He came among the sick like a true doctor. He did not stay away from them. He came not to judge them but to save them. Like a good doctor, Jesus did not simply offer a diagnosis and did nothing. It was not all talk but no action. Jesus gave them the antidote and brought them to recovery. Jesus did all these because He was the compassion of God. He felt with the sick, whether spiritually or physically.
The Jewish leaders on the contrary saw themselves as merely carrying out their religious profession. They were self-righteous. They had no compassion for the people. They only knew how to find fault and criticize them without lending a helping hand. They liked to judge but they did not offer encouragement and solution. They only knew how to condemn them. Instead of reaching out to them, they stayed in their comfort zone, lest the sinners contaminated them and made them ritually unclean. They were protecting their interests, not serving the people.
Today, we are all like St Matthew. We are all sinners but the Lord has chosen us to follow Him. When we respond to His call, it means giving up all that prevents us from living His life. When Matthew was called, “he got up and followed him.” He did not hesitate. In fact, he was waiting in his heart, waiting for grace to come to him. Jesus, the grace of God in person, saw his hungry heart, his lonely soul, and asked him to follow Him. He left everything, his lucrative business and shared in Jesus’ life, which was a life of simplicity and total dependence on God and His providence. Having been touched by the Lord’s mercy, Matthew in turn used his charism to bring Jesus to meet with his fellow tax collectors. As a recipient of mercy, he in turn brought others to meet the Lord of mercy. From then on, St Matthew became an apostle of mercy.
We, too, should be ready to exchange our career for our vocation. This does not necessarily mean that we have to change our jobs. It just requires us to change our perspective of doing what we are doing. We must be focused on how we can, by doing what we are doing, help to make the life of our people better. All vocations in the final analysis is to help build up people so that all can live a life of unity, love and maturity in Christ. This is what St Paul wrote in the first reading. “Each one of us, however, has been given his own share of grace, given as Christ allotted it … so that the saints together make a unit in the work of service, building up the body of Christ. In this way we are all to come to unity in our faith and in our knowledge of the Son of God, until we become the perfect Man, fully mature with the fullness of Christ himself.”
We are all called to contribute from the charisms the Lord has blessed us to build up the individual and the community so that we become truly the perfect man and perfect woman in Christ, and together become the family of God. This is simply because as St Paul said, “There is one Body, one Spirit, just as you were all called into one and the same hope when you were called. There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one God who is Father of all, over all, through all and within all.” Hence, today’s feast of St Matthew is inviting us to use all we have for the service of the Church and humanity. When we are intent on building up each person, helping each to find fulfillment and self-reallization, and on strengthening the community, promoting friendship, love, mutual understanding and harmony, we are helping to build the Kingdom of God, even if not all come to know Jesus or accept Him as Lord and Saviour.
Written by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights Reserved.
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