DAILY- HOMILY

SEPTEMBER 21, 2010
FEAST, ST. MATTHEW, APOSTLE AND EVANGELIST
TUESDAY 25TH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME – YEAR II

EPHESIANS 4:1-7, 11-13
I, the prisoner in the Lord, urge you therefore to lead a life worthy
of the vocation to which you were called. With all humility and
gentleness, and with patience, support each other in love. Take every
care to preserve the unity of the Spirit by the peace that binds you
together. There is one Body, one Spirit, just as one hope is the goal
of your calling by God. There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and
one God and Father of all, over all, through all and within all. On
each one of us God's favor has been bestowed in whatever way Christ
allotted it. And to some, his 'gift' was that they should be apostles;
to some prophets; to some, evangelists; to some, pastors and teachers;
to knit God's holy people together for the work of service to build up
the Body of Christ, until we all reach unity in faith and knowledge of
the Son of God and form the perfect Man, fully mature with the
fullness of Christ himself.

MATTHEW 9:9-13
As Jesus was walking on from there he saw a man named Matthew sitting
at the tax office, and he said to him, 'Follow me.' And he got up and
followed him. Now while he was at table 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: Mercy is
what pleases me, not sacrifice. And indeed I came to call not the
upright, but sinners.'

REFLECTION
Matthew, before he became an apostle and a saint, was a tax collector.
He was totally involved in serving his own self-interest. Tax
collectors in Jesus' day, were a despised group. They were local
Jewish people who were allowed to keep a percentage of the taxes they
collected for the Romans. The Jews saw these Jewish tax collectors as
oppressors of their own people. Jesus looked through this ugly image
to the person behind it. Matthew was quick to answer the call. Perhaps
he saw in Jesus someone who did not treat him with the contempt and
hostility to which he had been accustomed. When Jesus said to Matthew:
"Come follow me", he was calling Matthew to serve others and Matthew
responded wholeheartedly.

We who follow Christ are called to serve others. Our Lord says:
"Whoever would be great among you must be your servant." When we serve
others especially those with whom we live, it makes us feel inferior.
However, when we serve outsiders, for instance visiting the sick in
the hospitals or rescuing earthquake victims, we don't mind because we
realize "how good we are". But if we have to clean up the sala in our
house after our sibling has dirtied the place, we feel that we are
being abused. In our effort to be of service to people, it is good
first of all, to look for opportunities in our own family to be of
service.

As we honor St. Matthew today, let us keep in mind that we, too,
resemble him who was unconditionally loved by Jesus and gained the
strength to change his life and to follow Jesus all the way, even to
martyrdom. Let us also do our best that our lives may be a response to
the love with which God has first loved us.

PRAYER REQUESTS
We pray …
… for a deep and profound respect for life, especially for the
unborn.
… for the speedy recovery and healing of
- Susan
- Mike Torres
- Jo Marcelo, Jun Lee, Mon Torres, Peping Torres
- Dante Avelino
… for the safety of: Grace Uy
… Birthday: Jeffrey Go
… for the eternal repose of the souls of
- Nonoy Uy
- Arnold Cabatingan
- Joel Dapo
- Gerardo Zara
- Francisco Sandico
Eternal rest grant unto them and may perpetual light shine upon them.
May they and all the dearly departed rest in peace.
… for all the prayer intentions in the MTQ Dailyprayer Diary.
- Birthday: Ethan Rosca
- Birthday: Fr. Victor Helly, SJ
… for world peace and reconciliation.

Finally, we pray for one another, for those who have asked our prayers
and for those who need our prayers the most.

Have a good day!

**************************************************

These reflections are distributed free and are for personal use only.
Feel free to send the Daily Prayer reflections to your friends,
colleagues and relatives; however, if you do, please include the
following:

+================================================+
| The Daily Prayer, a service and an apostolate of the
| priests, laity and friends of Mary the Queen Parish
| http://www.marythequeen.org
| Distributed free and for personal use only.
+================================================+

--
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
GoogleGroup Address: http://groups.google.com/group/daily_homily
To subscribe from this free mailing service, send email to: dailyhomily@earthlink.net
To unsubscribe: daily_homily-unsubscribe@googlegroups.com

© 2010 Daily-Homily