Gospel (Mt 9.9-13) - At that time, as Jesus was going away, he saw a man called Matthew, sitting at the tax counter, and said to him: "Follow me". And he got up and followed him. While he was sitting at table in the house, many tax collectors and sinners came and sat at table with Jesus and his disciples. Seeing this, the Pharisees said to his disciples: "How come your teacher eats together with tax collectors and sinners?". Hearing this, he said: «It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. Go and learn what it means: “I want mercy and not sacrifices”. In fact, I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners."

The commentary on the Gospel by Monsignor Vincenzo Paglia

On this day when the Church remembers the apostle and evangelist Matthew, let us reread the story of his vocation. His call becomes an opportunity to open our gaze to the mercy of the Lord. An ancient Christian commentator wrote thus: «he saw a publican and, looking at him with mercy, chose him (miserando atque eligendo), said to him: “Follow me”. He told him “Follow me”, that is, imitate me. Follow me, he said, not so much with the movement of your feet but with the practice of life." It is no coincidence that Pope Francis chose this expression as the motto of his pontificate: "Miserando atque eligendo". At the beginning of Jesus' call there is always his mercy. And by virtue of this choice even a publican like Matteo can become a disciple and guide of others. «Learn what it means: I want mercy and not sacrifice», says Jesus. The world seems to have forgotten what this word means: mercy is the heart that becomes close to what is small, and translates the Hebrew term hesed, which indicates alliance and solidarity. Feeling mercy is therefore not an act of pity but of justice. Matthew seems to have learned immediately what this means, in fact he opens the doors of his house and offers Jesus and those with him a banquet. There are also his friends and others that the Gospel calls "sinners": they were people despised by everyone. Matteo understands that we cannot save ourselves alone. He understands that converting one's life does not mean offering a formal "sacrifice", but making concrete gestures that change the lives and hearts of others. Jesus is not scandalized by the sin of men, by their weakness, but distances himself from the judgment of the Pharisees, who raise walls, create distances, draw borders that divide men into pure and impure, good and bad, healthy and sick. "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick." Jesus then explains what his mission is: he came to help and to heal, to liberate and to save. He did not come down from heaven to judge, but to teach men to do as he did.