St. Junipero Serra, priest 

＊＊＊ 1st Reading ＊＊＊ 

Amos 8:4-6, 9-12

Hear this,

You who trample on the needy to do away with the weak of the land.   You who say, “When will the new moon or the sabbath feast be over that we may open the store and sell our grain? Let us lower the measure and raise the price; let us cheat and tamper with the scales,  and even sell the refuse with the whole grain. We will buy up the poor for money and the needy for a pair of sandals.”

 Yahweh says, “On that day I will make the sun go down at noon and darken the earth in broad daylight.

 I will turn your festivals into mourning and all your singing into wailing. Everyone will mourn, covered with sackcloth and every head will be shaved. I will make them mourn as for an only son and bring their day to a bitter end.”

 Yahweh says, “Days are coming when I will send famine upon the land, not hunger for bread or thirst for water, but for hearing the word of Yahweh.

 Men will stagger from sea to sea, wander to and fro, from north to east, searching for the word of Yahweh, but they will not find it.

 

Ps 119:2, 10, 20, 30, 40, 131

One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.

 

＊＊＊＊ Gospel ＊＊＊＊

Matthew 9:9-13

As Jesus moved on from there, he saw a man named Matthew at his seat in the custom-house, and he said to him, “Follow me.” And Matthew got up and followed him.   Now it happened, while Jesus was at table in Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and other sinners joined Jesus and his disciples.  When the Pharisees saw this they said to his disciples, “Why is it that your master eats with those sinners and tax collectors?”

When Jesus heard this he said, “Healthy people do not need a doctor, but sick people do. 13 Go and find out what this means: What I want is mercy, not sacrifice. I did not come to call the righteous but sinners.”

 

Gospel Reflection：

Following all the Way Home

Here is Matthew comfortably “seated” at the customhouse, the place of his work. Jesus comes along and asks him to follow him. To where? Matthew is not told. (Nor are we.) But then we find them at Matthew’s own very house, now with Jesus “seated” at the table there…..

Perhaps this is what following Jesus amounts to: We are often displaced from home, seated at many customhouses, engaged in diverse activities that are often not so wholesome. Jesus comes along, asks us to get up and follow him, and leads us right into the center of our home and takes charge as its boss.

Once we realize where exactly he has taken us, we can only throw a party, as Matthew did. It takes a God to lead us home to ourselves.

              

 

 

 

   "We found on our journey, as well as in the place where we stopped,

                                               that treated us with as much confidence and good-will as if they had known us all their lives."

                                                                                                                                  〜〜〜 ST. JUNIPERO SERRA  〜〜〜