Today’s Mass Reading

This is a copied from “Living the Liturgical Year With Catholics”

https://liturgicalyear.wordpress.com/2010/09/21/come-follow-me/

Come, Follow Me!

Today we celebrate the feast of St. Matthew, the apostle.  He’s an interesting character because as a tax collector for the Roman authorities, he was hated by the Jews.  He was among the low of the low of society, and yet he became the evangelist to the Jewish people and among the most memorable names in the bible.  I also think Matthew was a remarkable man for his prompt, faithful response to Jesus’ call.

We first meet him when “… Jesus passed by, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the customs post.  He said to him, ‘Follow me.'”  Matthew “got up and followed him.” (Mt 9:9-10)

Matthew’s immediate response challenges us all.  He just got up & followed Jesus.  No hesitation, he just went.  

Jesus invites us to do the same. “Come follow me,” He calls.  What is our response?  Do we respond as quickly as Matthew?  Probably sometimes yes and sometimes no. 

What keeps us from promptly following Jesus?  I believe there are 3 main things:  fear, doubt, and sloth.

Fear: Fear is a lack of trust rooted in a lack of love.  It might be that we don’t really believe that God loves enough to provide for our needs.  It might be that we don’t love ourselves enough to believe that God wants the best for us.  It might be that we really don’t believe that God does have our best interests at heart.  The first letter of John tells us that “perfect love casts out all fear.”(1Jn 4:18)  We grow in trust by trusting.  We grow in love for God by loving in an abandoned way – the way a little child completely relies on his or her mom or dad – big hand in little hand walking side by side.

Doubt:  Doubt varies slightly from fear.  It is rooted more in disbelief.  If you’re like me, a tape goes off in your head “You don’t really mean You want me to work with that person?”  “You really don’t mean for us to have another baby now?”  “I don’t know how to do this.  I’ll fail.”  “I can’t speak before that large crowd.”   What God calls us to is often way outside our comfort zone.  But remember, when God calls, He provides (1Thess 5:24).  He does not always call the equipped, but He does equip those He calls.

Sloth:  This is a tough one because it’s a real balancing act which requires careful and honest discernment.  We’re all busy.  We have our primary obligations to our vocation.  We can neglect the Jesus at home while we’re out serving the Jesus in the world.  We can, however, do just the opposite in the name of balance – neglect how God calls us to serve His people in the world, but using our primary obligations as a shield which keeps us from stretching ourselves in order to build up the kingdom.  We need to carefully heed Jesus’ words in Matthew’s gospel, “His master said to him in reply, ‘You wicked, lazy servant!  So you knew that I harvest where I did not plant and gather where I did not scatter?  Should you not then have put my money in the bank so that I could have got it back with interest on my return?  Now then! Take the talent from him and give it to the one with ten.” (Mt 25:26-28)