Dear brothers and sisters in the Lord Jesus Christ!
Today, September 21, the Holy Catholic Church celebrates the Feast of **Saint Matthew**, who is called an **Apostle, Evangelist and Martyr**. Through the celebration of the Feast Mass, the Church offers her reverence, respect and tribute to the martyrdom of this great saint.
Since today is a Feast Mass, the **“Glory to God in the Highest”** will be sung. Since Saint Matthew was a martyr, the priest celebrating the Holy Mass will wear **red liturgical vestments**.
Dear brothers and sisters, Saint Matthew is not merely a saint. He was one of the Twelve Apostles whom our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God and our God, chose and gave authority to drive out evil spirits and to cure diseases and sicknesses.
Furthermore, Saint Matthew was one of the Twelve Apostles who had the great privilege of seeing with his own eyes our Lord Jesus Christ—the Son of God who created the universe, the whole world, the heavens and the vast multitude of stars. He lived with the Lord for about three years, ate and slept with Him, touched Him and experienced His presence, listened to His words, witnessed His miracles, and had the blessing of seeing with his own eyes the Mother of our Lord, whom we also honour as our Mother, and receiving her love and affection.
We all know that Saint Matthew is one of the **four Evangelists** and one of the **three Synoptic Evangelists**. He accompanied our Lord throughout His public ministry and remained with Him until the end. He was a witness to our Lord's Resurrection and Ascension. After the Ascension of the Lord, he first preached the Gospel in Judea and later in other countries. According to Christian tradition, he eventually died as a martyr and went to be with the Lord in heaven.
Our saint, the son of Alphaeus, was born in the region of Galilee in Judea, which was under Roman rule. Under the authority of the Romans and Herod Antipas, the local ruler of Judea, he worked as a **tax collector at the customs post in Capernaum**. The Jewish people regarded tax collectors as sinners and considered them outcasts from society. It was in such a situation that our Lord called Matthew to become one of His Twelve Apostles.
The work of collecting taxes could provide considerable wealth. Saint Matthew had a life of luxury, delicious food and worldly comforts. Yet he threw all these things away, **left everything behind**, obeyed the Lord's call and followed Him.
The name **Matthew** may have been the name given to him by our Lord. In Aramaic, the name Matthew means **“gift of Yahweh” or “gift of God.”**
Matthew invited the Lord who had called him to his home and gave Him and others a great feast. When the Pharisees and teachers of the Law saw Jesus eating with tax collectors and sinners, they asked His disciples:
**“Why does He eat with tax collectors and sinners?”**
When our Lord heard this, He answered:
**“It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”**
After our Lord's Ascension, all the Apostles stayed together in the upper room and prayed. After the coming of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost, they proclaimed to the people of Jerusalem that **Jesus is the promised Messiah**.
It is traditionally believed that our Saint Matthew preached the Gospel to the Jews in Judea for about fifteen years. Afterwards, he went to regions such as Ethiopia, Macedonia, Persia and Parthia and proclaimed the Good News about Jesus to the people living there.
The Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church traditionally believe that Saint Matthew was martyred by being **stoned and shedding his blood for the faith**.
It is traditionally said that he wrote his Gospel in the **Aramaic language**, the language spoken by our Lord Jesus and the Jews of that time. Saint Matthew was not the first person to write a Gospel. Saint Mark wrote his Gospel first. However, Matthew's Gospel is placed first among the four Gospels.
Saint Matthew is one of the Apostles about whom relatively little is spoken in the Gospel narratives. He wrote his Gospel especially for **Jewish Christians**, proclaiming that **Jesus Christ is the Messiah whom the Jews had been awaiting**.
Therefore, Matthew repeatedly presents the birth, life, death and other events of Jesus as the **fulfilment of the Old Testament prophecies**.
He presents the genealogy of Jesus in three groups of fourteen generations each, in a way that would be recognised by the Jewish people. His purpose was to present **Jesus as the King of the Jews**. He also gives the great command to go throughout the whole world and proclaim the Gospel.
Matthew records the opening of the tomb after the death of Jesus and the rising of the dead. Likewise, Matthew alone records that soldiers were placed at the tomb of Jesus as guards.
The purpose of Matthew was to emphasise that **the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus was truly and convincingly witnessed**, and that the empty tomb could not simply be explained away.
Matthew refers directly to passages from the Old Testament in **29 places** and indirectly in **121 places**. No other Gospel writer makes use of the Old Testament to such an extent.
Matthew strongly emphasises that **Jesus did not come to abolish the Law, but to fulfil it**.
He also records very clearly and beautifully teachings concerning the **Church** and about living the life of heaven while still on earth.
Among the early Christians, the Gospel according to Matthew was one of the most widely used and highly valued Gospel writings.
Dear brothers and sisters, our Saint Matthew is also one of the **Twelve Apostles who are symbolically represented as the twelve foundation stones of the New Jerusalem, the Church**.
Saint Matthew did not study at a university or obtain an academic degree or doctorate. He simply proclaimed the Gospel that our Lord had taught.
As our Lord promised, at the time of the renewal of creation, when the Son of Man sits upon His glorious throne, Saint Matthew will be among those who will sit in judgement over the **twelve tribes of Israel**.
Saint Matthew is the **patron saint of accountants, bankers, librarians, stockbrokers and customs officers**.
**Saint Matthew, pray for us.**
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