We are all very good indeed for we are created in the image and likeness of God. Evil however seeks to distort that view of ourselves and of others through sin. It seeks to scatter us through unholy thoughts, even trickery. Some might be led to feel useless and alone in this world. While others may be led to think they are without sin and above all others.
Jesus had come to unite us all and so while we are many parts we are all one body in Him. We recognise that we are all sinners striving for holiness and we can achieve it through our Lord and saviour Jesus Christ. We are constantly renewed, strengthened through His mercy and grace.
Our Christian unity lies in the gifts and love we share with one another through Him, with Him and in Him. Amen
First reading
Ephesians 4:1-7,11-13
I, the prisoner in the Lord, implore you to lead a life worthy of your vocation. Bear with one another charitably, in complete selflessness, gentleness and patience. Do all you can to preserve the unity of the Spirit by the peace that binds you together. There is one Body, one Spirit, just as you were all called into one and the same hope when you were called. There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one God who is Father of all, over all, through all and within all.
Each one of us, however, has been given his own share of grace, given as Christ allotted it. To some, his gift was that they should be apostles; to some, prophets; to some, evangelists; to some, pastors and teachers; so that the saints together make a unity in the work of service, building up the body of Christ. In this way we are all to come to unity in our faith and in our knowledge of the Son of God, until we become the perfect Man, fully mature with the fullness of Christ himself.
Gospel
Matthew 9:9-13
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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