He Came for Sinners | St. Matthew the Apostle | Catholic Saint of the Day

Let’s get LIT…urgical 🔥 Read the full story 👇 Matthew was one of the original Twelve, called directly by Jesus — yet he was a sinner, an outcast, a tax collector despised and shamed by his own people. Tax collectors collaborated with the Roman occupiers, squeezed money out of their own people, and often lined their own pockets with corruption. Tax collectors were despised, cut off from synagogue life, and treated as traitors. But one day, as Matthew sat at his booth, Jesus walked by and said: “Follow me.” Without hesitation, Matthew got up and left everything behind. His first act? He threw a banquet. He invited Jesus — and filled the table with other tax collectors and sinners. When the Pharisees saw this, they were scandalized and asked: “Why does your teacher eat with sinners?” Jesus answered: “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have come to call not the righteous but sinners.” This moment embodies Matthew’s evangelizing style: he didn’t keep Jesus to himself — he brought other outsiders to Him. Matthew would go on to write the Gospel of Matthew — which was written mostly to the Jewish population and repeatedly shows how Jesus fulfills Old Testament prophecies as the long-awaited Messiah. His Gospel contains eyewitness testimony of 20 miracles Jesus performed — from healing the blind to raising the dead. It also includes eyewitness accounts of the Sermon on the Mount, the Beatitudes, and the Great Commission. After Jesus ascended, tradition says Matthew preached the Gospel in Ethiopia, where he was martyred for his faith — killed while proclaiming Christ. From traitor to evangelist, sinner to saint — St. Matthew shows us that no past is too broken for Christ’s call. ✝️ Apostle & Evangelist — author of the Gospel of Matthew 📖 Patron saint of accountants, bankers, and tax collectors 🩸 Martyred while preaching Christ in Ethiopia 🔔 Follow for daily liturgical drops that slap harder than midnight Mass coffee. 👉 Talmid Studios™: AI-assisted, faith-led, human-crafted. #getlit #catholic #liturgicalcalendar #stmatthew #catholicsaints