This morning I’ve decided to post an entry from my journal. 

By accident (?), I prayed the Office instead of Morning Prayer today, and the first reading was from St. Paul’s letter to the Ephesians. Notably, it is also the first reading for masses said today. There’s a lot in that reading: it proclaims the unity of our Catholic faith—one faith, one Lord, one Baptism—and it also speaks of the primacy of grace, another core teaching of the faith: that we do nothing apart from God’s grace—it is always His action that comes first, not ours.

This theme is also present in the Gospel reading from St. Matthew, which speaks very shortly of the conversion that takes place in Matthew the tax collector, when he is called by Jesus to follow.

As Jesus passed on from there, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax office; and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he rose and followed him.—Matthew 9:9 (RSV2CE)

That’s it… one single verse! And there’s a lot that’s going on in there. How much so that is with us as well. From the outside, things look so simple, but interiorly, there is often an ocean of depth in meaning. Jesus calls out to Matthew, who must have questioned this call, and he gets up and follows.  As a tax collector, Matthew was seen as an enemy by the Jews, a sinner because they made their living by skimming off the money that was collected from the people before turning it over to the government. A couple verses later, the Pharisees point this out. Jesus replies to them that “those who are well do not need a physician, but (rather) those who are sick.” Yes, it is we sinners who need saving, who need healing, who need divine assistance. Jesus tells them they must learn what it means that God “desires mercy, and not sacrifice.” Indeed, Jesus “came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”

It is not until we recognize that we sin all the time, because of our fallen human nature, that we recognize that we in fact do need God. It is this utter dependence upon Him that we must learn to recognize. And it is only then that we can then begin the journey that He calls us to.

Bp. Robert Barron ends his daily reflection today with the following: To come to Christ is to come to a higher, richer, broader form of life. Now life is not simply the pleasures and goods of the body; now life is lived in and through God.

The only thing I would add is that we must recognize and remember that this is not a one-and-done thing; it is a process. We will  rise to follow Jesus, and then there are times when we will turn away, or lose our footing, or simply forget because we’ve become distracted by politics, or our jobs, or our strained relationships, or every other thing that comes before us in the world. The key is to remember to get back up and follow him again at those times when lose sight of him. He will always come back for us, his lost sheep, point to us and say “Follow me.” All we have to do is get up.

I close with St. Paul’s beautiful words:

I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, beg you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all lowliness and meekness, with patience, forbearing one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of us all, who is above all and through all and in all.—Ephesians 4:1–6 (RSV2CE)