Gospel: January 18, 2025
January 18, 2025 (Saturday)
1st Week in Ordinary Time
Psalter: Week 1 / (Green/ White)
Blessed Virgin Mary
Ps 19:8, 9, 10, 15
Your words, Lord, are Spirit and life.
1st Reading: Hebrews 4:12-16
Gospel: Mark 2:13-17
When Jesus went out again, beside the lake, a crowd came to him and he taught them. As he walked along, he saw a tax collector sitting in his office. This was Levi, the son of Alpheus. Jesus said to him, “Follow me!” And Levi got up and followed him. And it so happened that, when Jesus was eating in Levi’s house, tax collectors and sinners sat with him and his disciples; there were a lot of them, and they used to follow Jesus. But Pharisees, men educated in the law, when they saw Jesus eating with sinners and tax collectors, said to his disciples, “Why does your master eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?” Jesus heard them, and answered, “Healthy people don’t need a doctor, but sick people do. I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”
Reflection:
“I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”
Saint Bede sums up the attitude and action of Jesus toward Levi the tax collector, that is Matthew, in three Latin words: miserando atque eligendo. Pope Francis found these words so powerful, that he took them for his motto. They are hard to translate into English without losing something, but the meaning is “having mercy and choosing” or “taking pity and choosing.” Tax collectors at the time of Christ had a bad reputation, both for collaboration with the occupying, oppressive force of the Romans, and for corrupt practices that burdened the poor even further. However, looking at Levi, rather than simply seeing sin, Jesus sees the potential for change and growth, and so he shows mercy toward him, pardoning the sin, and then choosing him as one of his disciples. Pope Francis would encourage us to foster a culture of mercy, in imitation of Christ. Instead of standing aloof from those who have sinned against us, we are to show mercy, forgiving and giving of our love, so that they feel welcomed (chosen), rather than excluded, and given the chance to grow.
