Sep 22 Fri
As he did every day, Matthew the publican was sitting in his customs post, collecting taxes. That was his job. But that day something changed everything in his life.
It was the voice of Jesus Christ, who was passing by: “Jesus saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax office. He said to him, ‘Follow me.’” Jesus walked into his life forever; he asked the personal surrender of all he was and all he had.
It is a scene that has since been repeated, step by step in the lives of many of us. The Lord came to meet us while we were busy in our work, in the most ordinary things, and called us. That calling, the vocation, is the greatest question in the life of any man, a question that commits his entire existence: What does God want from me? God calls us, and at the same time, he gives us the lights to see our vocation and the strength to respond to it. From our side, we must pave the way for him to come, and go out to meet him with prayer and sanctity of life.
Jesus saw Mathew through his merciful eyes and chose him. Jesus “saw” Matthew, not merely in the usual sense, but more significantly with his loving understanding of men.
Jesus chose him, and he said to him: “Follow me.” This following meant imitating the pattern of his life, being another “christ” – not just walking after him. St. John tells us: “Whoever says he abides in Christ ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.”
Perhaps, for Matthew, the dream of his future was limited to success in his work. Yes, mediocrity consists on being in front of greatness and not realizing it. But at the call of the Lord, right there in his job, he immediately answered God and accepted the divine calling in his soul: “And he got up and followed him.”
Christ, who was calling him away from earthly possessions, had a greater gift for him, the incorruptible treasures and happiness of heaven.
To give oneself completely to God, one has to be able to love, one needs a big heart, because the calling “is something as beautiful as falling in love, and demands faithfulness to one’s commitment of love. It has two sides: joy and sacrifice. It is an amazing gift, as our Lord said and I like to repeat. You have to give your whole heart, undivided and entire, otherwise the heart gets attached to material things and persons. In any case, it may get attached to yourself; I don’t want to hide this fact and I think you notice it” (St Josemaría).
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