The call to be One

THE WORD AND THE SAINT

September 21, 2020: Celebrating St. Matthew the Apostle

Ephesians 4: 1-7,11-13; Matthew 9: 9-13

One Lord, One faith, One baptism, One Spirit... Paul stacks up the meaning of the feast today, in describing his own wish for his children. Yes, every time we celebrate the feast of an apostle we are celebrating our call to be One! The division within the Church is because the sense of this Apostolic succession is lost somewhere, the link broken somewhere for those who deserted the lineage! 

That was an ecumenical point of view and important, of course. But more important is a socio-existential point of view of the Church today. The Feast of Matthew and the reminder from the scene of his call, give us this message with an enviable clarity: We are called to be One - are we?

How many categories we have created for ourselves to stand divided - denominations among churches, divisions within churches based on rites and languages and even caste - the worst of its kind! Churches sealed and communities shattered due to caste clashes and rites controversies - is that the Church that the Master wished for? Is that a Church at all? 

Matthew, when he was called, left everything on the table and followed Christ. A lot of things were at stake for him when he made that choice - he cannot turn back, he will have people on his back, he will have to answer so many people, he will be criticised by many, he will be branded by the world as 'out of his mind', he would be going behind a person about whom he can only pretend to know until the person himself reveals with clarity - how many things against that choice that he made! But still he made that choice - to leave everything and follow Christ. Leave everything, follow Christ and still hold on to the difference that some were fishermen and others household Jews over whom he had authority, the Roman authority given him, the authority to extort taxes... sounds so imbecile, doesn't it?

That is how it sounds when some one claims he or she is a follower of Christ and still holds on to divisions, stratifications and classifications, superiority over another, tolerating imposition of inferiority...how infantile and illogical of us! 

The question is, can I today, leave everything, everything - my desires, my identities, my attachments, my clingings, my holdings, my support system...everything! Can I leave them all, and follow Him, to become one with him and one with my brothers and sisters in him?