＊＊＊ 1st Reading ＊＊＊

 Ephesians 4: 1-7, 11-13

  Therefore I, the prisoner of Christ, invite you to live the vocation you have received.  

Be humble, kind, patient, and bear with one another in love.

Make every effort to keep among you the unity of Spirit through bonds of peace.  Let there be one body and one spirit, just as one hope is the goal of your calling by God.

One Lord, one faith, one baptism.  One God, the Father of all, who is above all and works through all and is in all.

 But to each of us divine grace is given ac­cording to the measure of Christ’s gift. As for his gifts, to some he gave to be apostles, to others prophets, or even evangelists, or pastors and teachers.

 So he prepared those who belong to him for the ministry, in order to build up the Body of Christ,  until we are all united in the same faith and knowledge of the Son of God. Thus we shall become the perfect Man, upon reaching maturity and sharing the fullness of Christ.

 

 

＊＊＊＊ 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.  Go and find out what this means: What I want is mercy, not sacrifice. I did not come to call the righteous but sinners.”

 

Reflection gospel：

“WHAT I WANT IS MERCY. NOT SACRIFICE.”

Why does Jesus want mercy? He wants mercy because mercy, together with forgiveness, is restorative. It heals the broken human heart; it restores back fragmented spirit to wholeness. Mercy connects us back to God, our fellow human creatures, and other nonhuman creatures .

Because Jesus has shown us his mercy, he wants us to give it to others; he wants us to pass it on to others. This is the only way things will work In favor of humanity and all creation. What God has done to us, what we ourselves have experienced as a result of the love and mercy of God, we also pass on to others. And so we become instrument or agent of God’s divine and wonderful action in our lives. God’s action simply flows through us towards others, so that they, too, might experience God’s love and mercy.

In 2017 Pope Francis added the “care of creation” as a modern work of mercy. The mercy of God is now extended to include the rest of God’s “very good” creation. This is grounded in the pure love of God that knows no limit; his love embraces all of life, all that he has created. That is why we are all enjoined to be merciful to all creatures, both humans and nonhumans alike.