Jesus saw a man named Matthew sitting at the customs post

21 SEPTEMBER (Mt 9,9-13)

The mystery of man is his vocation, and this has its source in the heart of God, who does not have pre-defined schemes. He passes and calls with infinite and eternal freedom. The before does not count, because the vocation is total change of being. Amos is the truth.

Then the Lord God showed me this: he called for a judgment by fire. It had devoured the great abyss, and was consuming the land, when I said: Cease, O Lord God! How can Jacob stand? He is so small! The Lord repented of this. “This also shall not be,” said the Lord God. Then the Lord God showed me this: he was standing by a wall, plummet in hand. The Lord asked me, “What do you see, Amos?” And when I answered, “A plummet,” the Lord said: See, I will lay the plummet in the midst of my people Israel; I will forgive them no longer. The high places of Isaac shall be laid waste, and the sanctuaries of Israel made desolate; I will attack the house of Jeroboam with the sword. Amaziah, the priest of Bethel, sent word to Jeroboam, king of Israel: “Amos has conspired against you here within Israel; the country cannot endure all his words. For this is what Amos says: Jeroboam shall die by the sword, and Israel shall surely be exiled from its land.” To Amos, Amaziah said: “Off with you, visionary, flee to the land of Judah! There eat your bread by prophesying, but never again prophesy in Bethel; for it is the king’s sanctuary and a royal temple.” Amos answered Amaziah, “I was no prophet, nor have I belonged to a company of prophets; I was a shepherd and a dresser of sycamores. The Lord took me from following the flock, and said to me, Go, prophesy to my people Israel””. (Am 7,1-17).

Jesus passes, and sees Levi sitting at the tax office. He calls him to make an Apostle of him, a builder of the Kingdom of God. All his sinner friends see in this vocation that there is redemption for all with Christ; and many run to be redeemed by Jesus. Theirs is a vocation to salvation. Even for them the before no longer counts. Now, the following of Jesus who demands the abandonment of the past life, is what counts.

As Jesus passed on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the customs post. He said to him, “Follow me.” And he got up and followed him. While he was at table in his house, many tax collectors and sinners came and sat with Jesus and his disciples. The Pharisees saw this and said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” He heard this and said, “Those who are well do not need a physician, but the sick do. Go and learn the meaning of the words, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ I did not come to call the righteous but sinners.”

The Pharisees do not understand the mystery of the vocation to salvation and accuse Jesus of complicity with the world of sinners. Jesus answers by reminding them the prophet Hosea.

“Come, let us return to the Lord, For it is he who has rent, but he will heal us; he has struck us, but he will bind our wounds. He will revive us after two days; on the third day he will raise us up, to live in his presence. Let us know, let us strive to know the Lord; as certain as the dawn is his coming, and his judgment shines forth like the light of day! He will come to us like the rain, like spring rain that waters the earth.” What can I do with you, Ephraim? What can I do with you, Judah? Your piety is like a morning cloud, like the dew that early passes away. For this reason I smote them through the prophets, I slew them by the words of my mouth; For it is love that I desire, not sacrifice, and knowledge of God rather than holocausts. But they, in their land, violated the covenant; there they were untrue to me. Gilead is a city of evildoers, tracked with blood. As brigands ambush a man, a band of priests slay on the way to Shechem, committing monstrous crime. In the house of Israel I have seen a horrible thing: there harlotry is found in Ephraim, Israel is defiled. For you also, O Judah, a harvest has been appointed. (Hoseah 6,1-11).

Every man of God has to show to every other man the greatness of the Lord’s mercy. This is the first vocation of every man. Without this, every other vocation is vanity, futility and folly. It is a human and not a divine thing, because everything that comes from God has only one purpose: teaching every man how to love, manifesting him the infinite love God has for him. The Pharisees do not know the love of God.

Virgin Mary, Mother of the Redemption, Angels, and Saints make us as merciful as God.