May the Lord bless you with peace and health in the Holy Spirit.
It is on the 21st of September 2024. We celebrate the feast day of St. Matthew, Apostle, and Evangelist.We reflect on Ephesians 4:1-7, 11-13 and the Gospel of Matthew 9:9-13.
Do we gaze at the Lord?
The gaze of Jesus overwhelmed Mathew and changed his life for good. Pope Francis says: “Jesus’ gaze always lifts us up. It is a look that always lifts us up… never lets us down… It invites us to get up… to move forward. The gaze makes you feel that He loves you. This gives the courage to follow Him.”
Evangelists mean missionary preachers, shepherds, pastors, and teachers. Every one of us can be a missionary preacher to equip the people of God to continue the mission of Christ.
We achieve perfection by unity, humility, faith and love in Christ, the Lord and Saviour. It is all directed towards the service offered to humanity at large by utilizing all the spiritual gifts through seven unities namely the Church, the Spirit, the Lord, Hope, Faith, Baptism and one God.
St. Paul encourages us to live our life according to the calling we have received from the Lord. With God, a change in our personal, social, and spiritual life is possible, an example is the saint of the day.
We hesitate to change due to circumstances, lifestyle, and the quality of our relationship. Some of us find it incredibly hard to let go of the strings of pleasure and power. But this spectacular life changes when we encounter Jesus in our life. A personal conversion was sparked and ignited by a personal touch of Jesus.
We have enough and more chances to change moment after moment. We all can come out of any sinful situation and sinful connections in our life by establishing the connection with Christ. Matthew, the tax collector, becomes the evangelist by meeting Christ. His contribution in writing is an inspiration to the Church and all of us just because he upheld that mercy is superior to sacrifices, laws, and rituals. “Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have come to call not the righteous but sinners.” (Mt. 9:13).
We all need to move towards fullness by leaving all that impoverishes us spiritually. Being merciful does not exclude being meritorious.
May the Lord endow us with the power of the Holy Spirit to be the evangelizers by life and word.
God bless you.
Fr. Peter Fernando, OFMCap.
Director, Office of Family Ministry, Apostolic Vicariate of Southern Arabia (AVOSA).Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
Website:https://reflectionsofpeter.org/.
Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/samarpet
Notes:
- For the Daily Mass Readings in English, please visit https://bible.usccb.org/readings/calendar
- For the Daily Mass Readings in Filipino, please visit https://www.awitatpapuri.com/ also daily posted on this website.
- Please visit St. Mary’s Catholic Church Dubai’s website for church schedules, services, activities, and programs: https://saintmarysdubai.org/
