24th Week in Ordinary Time (B) : Saturday 21st September 2024

The call of Matthew account is relatively straightforward and does not contain any comment by the author about his own thoughts or feelings about this experience. But that doesn’t prevent us from putting ourselves in Matthew’s shoes and reflecting on how we would have experienced that moment when Jesus called him from his counting table.

The Italian artist Caravaggio, in his painting of this scene from Matthew’s Gospel, exudes a plenitude of sentiments. But it is the gaze and gesture between Jesus and Matthew that captures the heart. What was Matthew’s feeling at that moment, as he sat counting the money he had collected for the Roman authorities? Amazement? Confusion?  And yet, Matthew got up and followed Jesus. Why? What prompted him to leave behind his profession, his friends, his way of life, to follow Jesus Who simply entered his room and invited him to come after Him? It simply conveys that God’s call is urgent.

Conversion is a testimony of God’s grace at work to anyone who cooperates. Since each one of us has been given his own share of grace as Christ alloted (Eph 4:7), this simple episode around the counting table leads us from stigmatizing to a banquet feast of joy.  The call of Matthew offers us the opportunity to rewrite our own encounter with the Lord. What is the one conviction that my way of life calls for a higher purpose?

Lord, may I never be deaf to Your call to bring true conversion.