We thank thee, heavenly Father, for the witness of your apostle and evangelist Matthew to the Gospel of your Son our Saviour; and we pray that, after his example, we may with ready wills and hearts obey the calling of our Lord to follow him; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.

In light of all this, here's what I want you to do. While I'm locked up here, a prisoner for the Master, I want you to get out there and walk--better yet, run!-on the road God called you to travel. I don't want any of you sitting around on your hands. I don't want anyone strolling off, down some path that goes nowhere. And mark that you do this with humility and discipline--not in fits and starts, but steadily, pouring yourselves out for each other in acts of love, alert at noticing differences and quick at mending fences.

You were all called to travel on the same road and in the same direction, so stay together, both outwardly and inwardly. You have one Master, one faith, one baptism, One God and Father of all, who rules over all, works through all, and is present in all. Everything you are and think and do is permeated with Oneness.

But that doesn't mean you should all look and speak and act the same. Out of the generosity of Christ, each of us is given his own gift.

He handed out gifts of apostle, prophet, evangelist, and pastor-teacher to train Christians in skilled servant work, working within Christ's body, the church, until we're all moving rhythmically and easily with each other, efficient and graceful in response to God's Son, fully mature adults, fully developed within and without, fully alive like Christ.

I love the word

And hear its long struggle with No

Even in the bird's throat

And the budging crocus.

        Some winter's night

        I see it flood the faces

        Of my friends, ripen their laughter

        And plant early flowers in

        Their conversation.

        You will understand when I say

        It is for me a morning word

        Though it is older than the sea

        And hisses in a way

        That may have given

        An example

        To the serpent itself.

        It is this ageless incipience

        Whose influence is found

        In the first and last pages of books,

        In the grim skin of the affirmative battler

        And in the voices of women

        That constitutes the morning quality

                        Of Yes.

        We have all

        Thought what it must be like

        Never to grow old,

        The dreams of our elders

        have mythic endurance

        Though their hearts are stilled

        But the only agelessness

                    Is Yes.

        I am always beginning to appreciate

        The agony from which it is born.

        Clues from here and there

        Suggest such agony is hard to bear

        But is the shaping God

        Of the word that we

        Sometimes hear, and struggle to be.

by Brendan Kennelly

Passing along, Jesus saw a man at his work collecting taxes. His name was Matthew. Jesus said, "Come along with me." Matthew stood up and followed him.

Later when Jesus was eating supper at Matthew's house with his close followers, a lot of disreputable characters came and joined them. When the Pharisees saw him keeping this kind of company, they had a fit, and lit into Jesus' followers. "What kind of example is this from your Teacher, acting cozy with crooks and riff-raff?"

Jesus, overhearing, shot back, "Who needs a doctor: the healthy or the sick? Go figure out what this Scripture means: "I'm after mercy, not religion.' I'm here to invite outsiders, not coddle insiders."

Lord, you are the word of life. Through the intercession of Saint Matthew, we pray:

R/ Jesus, Light our way.

Lord, your word gives wisdom to the simple: make us simple of heart.

R/ Jesus, Light our way.

Lord, your word is sweet to the taste: grant us the discernment to prefer its taste to any empty words we may hear this day.

R/ Jesus, Light our way.

Lord, your word is steadfast, abiding for ever: keep our feet firmly on the path to everlasting life.

R/ Jesus, Light our way.

Lord Jesus Christ, you changed Matthew’s life by the good news which you entrusted to him. May we receive the Gospel with reverence, live it in faith, and hand it on in love. Grant this our prayer, who live and reign with God the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God for ever and ever. Amen.

Closing Hymn:   The Galilee Song (Frank Anderson)