Saint Bede More Saints
From a homily on Saint Matthew by
Saint Bede the Venerable, priest (c.
673-735)
The calling of Saint Matthew - Painting by CARAVAGGIO
- 1600
Jesus saw him through the eyes of mercy and chose him
Jesus saw a man called Mathew sitting at the tax office, and he said to him: Follow me. Jesus saw Matthew, not merely in the usual sense, but more significantly with his merciful understanding of men.
He saw the tax collector and, because he saw him through the eyes of mercy and chose him, he said to him: Follow me. This following meant imitating the patter of his life - not just walking after him. Saint John tells us: Whoever says he abides in Christ ought to walk the same way in which he walked.
And he rose and followed him. There is no reason for surprise that the tax collector abandoned earthly wealth as soon as the Lord commanded him. Nor should one be amazed that neglecting his wealth, he joined a band of men whose leader had, on Mathew's assessment, no riches at all. Our Lord summoned Matthew by speaking to him in words. By an invisible, interior impulse flooding his mind with the light ofgrace, he instructed him to walk in his footsteps. In this way Matthew could understand that Christ, who was summoning him away from earthly possessions, had incorruptible treasures of heaven in his gift.
As he sat at table in the house, behold many tax collectors and sinners came and sat down with Jesus and his disciples. This conversion of one tax collector gave many men, those from his own profession and other sinners, an example of repentance and pardon. Notice also the happy and true anticipation of his future status as apostle and teacher of the nations. No sooner was he converted than Matthew drew after him a whole crowd of sinners along the same road to salvation. He took up his appointed duties while still taking his first steps in the faith, and from that hour he fulfilled his obligation and thus grew in merit.
To see a deeper understanding of the great celebration Matthew held at his house, we must realize that he not only gave a banquet for the Lord at his earthly residence, but far more pleasing was the banquet set in his own heart which he provided through faith and love. Our Savior attests to this: Behold I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.
On hearing Christ's voice, we open the door to receive him, as it were, when we freely assent to his promptings and when we give ourselves over to doing what must be done. Christ, since he dwells in the hearts of his chosen ones through the grace of his love, enters so that he might eat with us and we with him. He ever refreshes us by the light of his presence insofar as we progress in our devotion to and longing for the things of heaven. He himself is delighted by such a pleasing banquet.Source: The Liturgy of the Hours - Office of Readings
Saint Matthew, called Levi before his conversion, was the son of Alphaeus,
probably born in Galilee and was a publican tax collector at Capharnaum (Matt. 9:9-13; 10:3) for the Romans occupying Israel. Among the Jews, publicans were universally abhorred and looked upon as enemies of their countrymen for conspiring with the Romans. They regarded them as notorious thieves, banished them from religious worship and shunned them in society. It is certain that St. Matthew was a Jew. As a publican, his duties consisted in collecting custom taxes on commodities coming by the sea Genesareth, and collecting toll taxes from passengers arriving by water.
After curing a famous paralytic at Capharnaum, Jesus walked the banks of the sea of Genesareth and was teaching the people. There Jesus saw Matthew sitting in his custom-house, and called him to come and follow him. Matthew was not unfamiliar with the miracles and teaching of Jesus as his custom-office and house was at Capharnaum, the city where Jesus had resided for some time preaching and working numerous miracles.A rich man with a lucrative post, Matthew was also wise and prudent, understanding what his compliance would cost him, and what the exchange of wealth for poverty would mean. Yet, pierced by the divine call of Jesus, he left all his interests and relations to become the Lord's disciple. (Mark 2:14; Luke 5:27-32).
Matthew became on of the twelve apostles and was the author of the first Gospel, written sometime between 60 and 90, originally in Aramaic. In 130, Papias records that Matthew wrote the Logia "in the Hebrew tongue", though the Gospel we now have was in Greek, which is a thorough and substantial revision of the original Aramaic, of which no traces have ever been found. It was without question written for Jewish Christians. Some scholars believe it was written sometime after 70 and perhaps at Antioch, Syria. According to tradition, Matthew preached in Judea and then went to the East, where he suffered martyrdom in Ethiopia, according to the Roman Martyrology.
It is said that St. Matthew wrote his gospel to satisfy the converts of Palestine; St. Mark, at the pressing entreaties of the faithful at Rome; St. Luke, to oppose false histories; St. John, at the request of the bishops of Asia.
Venantius Fortunatus relates that he suffered martyrdom at Nadabar, and according to Dorotheus, he was buried at Hierapolis in Parthia. His relics were brought into the West. Pope Gregory VII, in a letter to the Bishop of Salerno in 1080 that they were then kept in a church which bore his name in that city, where they still remain.
Source: Butler's Lives of the Saints (Five Volume set) Catholic Press, 1935); Dictionary of Saints, Delaney, Double Day & Co. NY 1980)