First reading Amos 8:4-6,9-12
A famine not of bread, but of hearing the word of the Lord
Listen to this, you who trample on the needy
and try to suppress the poor people of the country,
you who say, ‘When will New Moon be over
so that we can sell our corn,
and sabbath, so that we can market our wheat?
Then by lowering the bushel, raising the shekel,
by swindling and tampering with the scales,
we can buy up the poor for money,
and the needy for a pair of sandals,
and get a price even for the sweepings of the wheat.’
That day – it is the Lord who speaks –
I will make the sun go down at noon,
and darken the earth in broad daylight.
I am going to turn your feasts into funerals,
all your singing into lamentation;
I will have your loins all in sackcloth,
your heads all shaved.
I will make it a mourning like the mourning for an only son,
as long as it lasts it will be like a day of bitterness.
See what days are coming – it is the Lord who speaks –
days when I will bring famine on the country,
a famine not of bread, a drought not of water,
but of hearing the word of the Lord.
They will stagger from sea to sea,
wander from north to east,
seeking the word of the Lord
and failing to find it.
Responsorial Psalm 118(119):2,10,20,30,40,131
Man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.
They are happy who do his will,
seeking him with all their hearts,
I have sought you with all my heart;
let me not stray from your commands.
Man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.
My soul is ever consumed
as I long for your decrees.
I have chosen the way of truth
with your decrees before me.
Man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.
See, I long for your precepts;
then in your justice, give me life.
I open my mouth and I sigh
as I yearn for your commands.
Man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.
Gospel Matthew 9:9-13
It is not the healthy who need the doctor, but the sick
As Jesus was walking on, he saw a man named Matthew sitting by the customs house, and he said to him, ‘Follow me.’ And he got up and followed him.
While he was at dinner in the house it happened that a number of tax collectors and sinners came to sit at the table with Jesus and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, ‘Why does your master eat with tax collectors and sinners?’ When he heard this he replied, ‘It is not the healthy who need the doctor, but the sick. Go and learn the meaning of the words: What I want is mercy, not sacrifice. And indeed I did not come to call the virtuous, but sinners.’
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As you are…Follow me
Jesus looked at Matthew and saw in this tax collector the potential to be His disciple and give his life for the sake of the gospel. At that moment, Matthew had to choose: To cling to his worldly securities and luxurious lifestyle or to follow Jesus, the itinerant and poor preacher. Matthew decided to respond to the call. Every day, Jesus calls us to follow Him: to follow Him in the way He lives, loves and serves. Let us answer the call of Jesus and trust that He will always lead us towards a purposeful and meaningful life.
The religious leaders struggled to understand the reason why Jesus dined with sinners. Jesus told them, “Mercy is what pleases me, not sacrifice”. This is what He is telling us today too. Jesus wants us to have a heart like His by seeing beyond the mistakes and flaws of a person and recognising who he/she is, i.e. a beloved child of God. Today, let us allow Jesus to teach us what mercy truly means.
Reflective questions:
What do I say and do when God calls me today?
What do I say and do when God calls me today?
Acknowledgment: Reflections are based on “Prayer for Living: The Word of God for Daily Prayer Year B” by Sr Maria Jose FMVD.
