Saint Who?
Saints Who Abandoned Riches
Saint Matthew
Apostle and evangelist (1st century)Feast: September 21
The Gospels were written to tell us about Jesus Christ, not his apostles, but we can learn about the Apostle Matthew from the details we find there. For example, we know that Matthew’s father’s name was Alphaeus, and Matthew was probably named Levi at birth.
When the Romans granted men the right to collect taxes from the native population, they didn’t care how much money those tax collectors gathered from their community. The Romans only insisted that each tax collector meet his promised annual quota. If a tax collector was enterprising and ruthless enough, he could make his neighbors pay twice as much as was required and become fabulously wealthy at their expense.
When Levi was sitting at his collection booth, fleecing his fellow Jews for the sake of the hated Roman empire, there was no obvious reason for him to leave behind his comfortable life to follow an itinerant rabbi. But God’s grace poured into his heart and changed everything. Levi left his job, his money, and his past to become a disciple of Jesus, one of the Twelve Apostles, and the writer of a Gospel. The name we call him now—Matthew—means “gift of Yahweh,” a fitting name for a man who gave his life for his Master as a martyr.
Lord of heaven and earth, may we joyfully
follow you wherever you call us to go.
