From: rich <richarra@gmail.com>

September 21st - St. Matthew, Apostle and Evangelist

PRACTICAL CONSIDERATIONS.

I. The holy Apostle and Evangelist, Matthew, greatly praised virginal
purity, and vows of chastity made to God; but he also preached that
those became guilty of sin who broke these vows. There are heretics,
who wish to be called Apostolic or Evangelical Christians, as they
pretend, in all things, to conform to the teaching of the Gospel and
of the Apostles. But the instructions and acts of St. Matthew prove
that their pretence is groundless. Luther and Calvin, the founders of
this heresy, taught that marriage was commanded to everyone, and that
virginal purity was much less valuable than the married state; that
the vow of it was unlawful and null before the Most High; whence it
follows that to break the vow was not only allowed, but obligatory, as
Luther broke it, and enticed others to do the same. How does this
harmonize with what was taught by St. Matthew, a true Apostle and
Evangelist of Jesus Christ? How can they call themselves Apostolic and Evangelical, who teach and believe the contrary of what was taught by
the holy Apostle and Evangelist, St. Matthew? Further, St. Matthew, an
Apostle of the Lord, admonished others to keep their virginity
unspotted, and threatened those who tempted them to break their
promise, with great punishment. Whose apostles are those who do
exactly the contrary, and try to make themselves and others believe
that the Almighty is not offended by sins against purity, as much as
the priest proclaims from the pulpit? St. Bonaventure says, without
the slightest hesitation: "The mouth of him, who entices others to
impurity, is the mouth of a devil." The devil, who once spoke and
deceived through the serpent, speaks and deceives through such people.
They are apostles of the devil. Woe to such apostles! The same hell
awaits them in which the unchaste Hirtacus has already suffered a
thousand years, and will suffer eternally. But woe also to those who
believe such apostles and are deceived by them! Iphigenia believed and
followed the apostle of Christ, and now enjoys as a recompense the
eternal bliss of heaven. May you also believe the preachers, priests,
and confessors, who teach what St. Matthew taught, for through them
speaks the same Lord Who spoke through the mouth of St. Matthew.

II. Christ, the Saviour, looked with His mild eyes at St. Matthew in
his custom-house, and called him. Matthew obeyed, instantly arose, and
followed Christ, becoming thus, from a publican, an apostle of the
Lord, a great Saint. How comforting an example of divine mercy, even
towards the greatest sinner! How wholesome a lesson! The same kind,
merciful Saviour, who gazed so mildly upon Matthew, and called him,
turns His loving eyes on you also, even if you live in mortal sin. He
calls you to repentance; He calls you to follow Him. Obey Him as St.
Matthew did, without putting it off. Let neither the greatness, nor
the number of your sins detain you. Your Saviour is ready to forgive
them, to receive you into His favor and to make you a Saint. "If you
are a publican or a sinner," says St. Chrysostom, "you may still
become an evangelist. If you are a blasphemer, you may still become an apostle." This means that you may obtain pardon and gain salvation, as
St. Matthew and St. Paul did, the former of whom was a publican, a
sinner; and the other, according to his own testimony, a blasphemer.
St. Augustine says the same in the following words: "Perhaps some may
think that the sin they have committed is so great that it cannot
obtain pardon from God. Oh! may such thoughts be far from us. Why, O
man, regard only the number of thy sins, and not the omnipotence of
the heavenly Physician? As God is merciful because He is gracious, and
as He can be merciful because He is omnipotent, he who believes that
God will not or cannot forforgive him, closes the door of the divine
mercy on himself, by denying that God is gracious or omnipotent. Hence
let no one doubt the mercy of God, even if he has committed a 100, nay
a 1000 crimes. But this belief should incite him to reconcile himself immediately with the Almighty."

See more at: http://catholicharboroffaithandmorals.com/St.%20Matthew%20popup.html

by Father Francis Xavier Weninger, 1876

=E2=80=9CJesus saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax office, and he s= aid
to him: Follow me.=E2=80=9C=E2=80=A6
Matthew 9:9


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Common of Apostles and Evangelists
Hymn: Exultet orbis gaudiis

Now let the earth with joy resound,
And heaven the chant re-echo round;
Nor heaven nor earth too high can raise
The great Apostles' glorious praise.

O ye who, throned in glory dread,
Shall judge the living and the dead,
Lights of the world forevermore!
To you the suppliant prayer we pour.

Ye close the sacred gates on high;
At your command apart they fly:
Oh! loose for us the guilty chain
We strive to break, and strive in vain.

Sickness and health your voice obey;
At your command they go or stay:
From sin's disease our souls restore;
In good confirm us more and more.

So when the world is at its end,
And Christ to judgment shall descend,
May we be called those joys to see
Prepared form all eternity.

Praise to the Father, with the Son,
And Holy Spirit, Three in One;
As ever was in ages past,
And so shall be while ages last.


























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