Ephesians 4:1-7, 11-13 / Matthew 9:9-13
In a job application form, as well as other application forms, it is usually a requirement for applicants to disclose any prior criminal convictions or penal offenses.
The purpose is primarily for legal, practical, and risk-management reasons.
And if an applicant has a prior criminal conviction or committed a penal offence, then there will be challenges and difficulties.
For St. Matthew, it was public knowledge that he was a tax-collector who was working for the Romans.
Needless to say, he was labelled as a traitor who betrayed his own people, and hence he was cut-off, rejected, despised and hated.
Jesus would have His reasons for calling St. Matthew to follow him, but the other disciples would certainly be suspicious of him.
St. Matthew may had had a bad start, and he had to work hard at being faithful in following Jesus.
And he may also had to make it a point to remember and record down the teachings of Jesus.
And so for the feast of St. Matthew, the gospel passage was chosen from his gospel with the message that Jesus did not come to call the virtuous, but sinners.
It was a message for himself, and it is also a message for each of us.
St. Matthew started off rough and tough, but that formed him to be one of the Evangelists.
When we acknowledge that we are sinners, then God will call us to do great things for Him.