Fr. JC Maximilian

[The Calling of Saint Matthew, by Caravaggio. 1599-1600. Oil on canvas, 322 x 340 cm. In the Contarelli Chapel, San Luigi dei Francesi, Rome.]

Often it is in a hospital room, doctor’s office, or maybe even on the battlefield, but the situation that the Prophet Hosea describes in today’s first reading is a fairly common one, “In their affliction, people will say: ‘Let us know, let us strive to know the Lord….’” In other words, when the going get tough people turn to prayer. The prophet seems to think little of such conversions that are born out of crisis.

Of course the prophet is not saying that we should not turn to the Lord in our times of need, but he is warning the people that they need to really get to know the Lord if they want to know the salvation and peace that He offers them. In a sense the Prophet Hosea is saying that we cannot treat God as some kind of vending machine where we just say a certain number or kind of prayers and God will give us whatever we pray for. This is why he is so critical of the Chosen People; “Your piety is like a morning cloud, like the dew that early passes away…. For it is love that I desire, not sacrifice, and knowledge of God rather than holocausts.”

It is rather common when visiting someone who is sick, or is going through some other kind of crisis, to hear them say something to the effect of, “Father, I have been praying the Rosary everyday for the past month, but it still does not seem as if God is listening to me.” Or we get the down right silly; “Father, we have been trying to sell our house now for months. We buried St. Joseph upside down just as the kit said, but he does not seem to be working. Is there something you can do?”

So just for the record: I am not some kind of sorcerer. I did not attend Hogwart’s School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and while I sometimes pray in Latin, I do not do any kind of incantations and have no magic wand. I am a Catholic Priest. I studied at a seminary so that I could learn more about God — the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. We call that theology. More importantly I have entered into a deeply personal relationship with God, and because of the special nature of my relationship with God, the Holy Spirit, through the anointing and laying of hands by the bishop, has left a permanent mark on my soul that gives me the grace to be able to act “in persona Christi capitas”, in the person of Christ the Head.

I say all this because too often, many people treat our Christian faith as some kind of magic. They think if they “do and say” the right things, or get the priest to “do and say” the right things, they will magically get what they want. This is the kind of thinking of the people who neighbored Israel at the time of the Prophet Hosea, which the Chosen People too often imitated. God was not someone that they entered into a personal relationship with, but just a ritual duty that they attended to at the proper time, or when they were in need.

Our readings this weekend make it very clear that this is not the faith that God calls us to, in fact it is not really any kind of authentic faith at all. God loves us in an intimately personal way. He wants to fulfill the deepest desires of every human heart, and He knows what will lead us to true and ultimate happiness. However, as a loving, personal God, He will not force Himself on us. We need to freely embrace Him and enter into the relationship that God invites us to.

This is what St. Paul is saying in today’s second reading from his letter to the Romans. He holds up the example of Abraham, our father in faith, who had such a personal relationship with the God who called him, that Abraham accepted as true what God promised him — namely descendants — even though from a strictly natural perspective he and his wife, Sarah, were well beyond the child bearing age. Abraham, through his personal relationship with God, knew that he could trust God. He had faith in God, and thus he was obedient to God.

In today’s Gospel reading Jesus recognizes a deep need and longing in Matthew’s, the tax collector, heart. Matthew, while despised by his own people, seemed to be living the good life. He had a lot of money, and a lot of power in that town. People feared him, even if they did not respect him. He had friends and was never wanting for a good party to attend. Yet deep down, there was a hunger in Matthew. All of his money, material possessions, friends and power where attempts to satisfy this deep hunger in Matthew’s heart, and they did succeed to a certain extent in distracting him from the deep desire of his heart, but they did not really fulfill this deep desire. Jesus in passing by recognized this deep longing in Matthew. The Gospel says that Jesus “saw” Matthew sitting at his post. When Jesus “sees” a person He sees their heart; the very core essence of their being. Jesus sees everything about the person; seeing them in a way that they have never been seen before. And in His compassion, in His love, Jesus says to Matthew “Follow me.” Jesus does not call Matthew to do a better job at following the Law of Moses, or even just the Ten Commandments. No, Jesus calls Matthew to Himself, to follow HIM!

A Christian is a follower of Jesus Christ, the Risen One, the ever-living God and Lord of Life and history. To be a Christian means more than following some rules. To be a Christian means following a person, Jesus Christ. Christianity is a relationship, a friendship with the one true God who has become Man in order to take our hands and lead us to everlasting meaning and life.

There is a famous painting by the Italian artist Caravaggio who lived in the 16th and 17th century, entitled “The Call of St. Matthew.” Matthew is seated at his post with a few friends around him, and Jesus is pointing towards him, calling him, and Matthew is pointing to himself as if saying, “Who? You want me?” One of the things that I love about this painting is that while Jesus is clothed in the garb common for a Jew of the 1st century living in Palestine, Matthew is dressed as someone from 16th or 17th century Italy. In this painting Caravaggio is not expressing the merely historical fact that Jesus called Matthew the tax collector. No, Caravaggio is expressing the fact as an encounter in the present reality. Jesus continues to see the heart of each and every one of us. Jesus sees past the distractions and addictions in our lives that we try to use to keep us from recognizing the deep desire of our heart. Jesus sees the real us, and He calls us.

How do we respond to this encounter with Jesus and His invitation to follow Him? After his life-changing encounter with Jesus, St. Matthew threw a dinner party, inviting all of his friends to meet this man who changed his life; who truly fulfilled the desire of his heart. St. Matthew did not keep his encounter with Jesus as a “me-and-Jesus” thing. He started to share the Good News of Jesus Christ with everyone, even if he did not fully understand all the “teachings” of Jesus. Having encountered Jesus’ love, Matthew wanted to share that loving relationship with everyone.

Wow! What a novel idea, sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ in the context of a meal. Wait a minute! That’s what we do at each and every Mass. At the Mass we do not merely hear words about Jesus, we hear Jesus — the Word of God. We encounter Jesus in a deeply personal way, by receiving His Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity, and we encounter Him in the midst of our brothers and sisters in Christ. Actually we encounter Him as part of His Mystical Body. How awesome is that?

Then why do so many people seem to treat the Mass as something they cannot wait to be over? What do you have happening in your lives that is better than Jesus Christ, that you have to rush to your cars before the priest has even made it down the aisle at the end of Mass?

Jesus is calling you — YES YOU — to follow Him. Will you accept His invitation and enter into His Joy?