The Catholic Calendar for Thursday, September 21, 2006
Thursday of the Twenty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time
St. Matthew, apostle and evangelist

Scripture from today's Liturgy of the Word:
Ephesians 4:1-7, 11-13
Psalm 19:2-3, 4-5
Matthew 9:9-13

A reflection on today's Sacred Scripture:

There is a saying that "the whole is greater than the sum of its parts." We see this in the readings of today. In the first reading from Ephesians we are presented with the "glue," the means by which we can pull and hold the circle, namely humanity, together. We are told to "live in peace and gentleness, striving to preserve the unity of the Spirit." (see Ephesians 4:1-7, 11-13)

Love conquers all.

Christ shows us how to do this in our own lives as He depicts how we are to reach out to the disenfranchised, the tax collectors and sinners of His day. In the first reading, the phrase is used that we are "to preserve the unity of the Spirit." The question could be raised as to why these people were disenfranchised. Did they separate themselves from the mainstream community by their behavior, or did they behave the way they did because we disenfranchised them first? That question remains to this day.

Christ cut through all of that theorizing and chose instead to sit down to the table and dine with them as one, much as He does when He calls us to the table of the Eucharist. Christ urges us to reach out with mercy and love, just as He has done with each of us.

"O Lord, have mercy on us!"

- Joan of Jesus, OCDS
(jmurphy at utica dot edu)