The Year of Matthew

In this year of grace, the Evangelist Matthew has been our principal guide into the mind and heart of Jesus. He began on the mountain, proclaiming, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Mt. 5:3). With this beginning, Jesus offers us in the Sermon on the Mount the way to accept his later tender and compassionate invitation: “Come to me all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me for I am meek and humble of heart” (Mt.11:28-29). Further on, Jesus admonishes us that to enter the kingdom of heaven we must become like children (cf. Mt. 18:3-4; 19:14), vulnerable to reality, open to wonder, trusting in a gracious God who made us out of love. Each guidepost opens in us a spirit of receptivity to the Kingdom of God.

Now we approach the end of the year of Matthew. In the recent Solemnity of All Saints, Jesus again proclaims the Beatitudes, enticing us, challenging us, and teaching us to divest of the illusions by which we try to convince ourselves of our self-worth, relieving ourselves of the frustrations and pain of being human, and the temptation to power and control. He calls us to surrender our plans, our desires, our hopes and dreams, to those held by God for us, embodied in a Beatitude life. With humility he invites us to embrace our humanity—its pains and sorrows, joys and loves, fears and awkwardness—so Christ can lead us into the Kingdom of God, our true happiness. It all begins with profound truth declared in the first reading from 1 John: “See what love the Father has bestowed on us that we may be called children of God. Yet so we are. Beloved, we are God’s children now.” Matthew’s Gospel helps us guard and deepen that profound truth.

These words from the Christmas Carol, O Holy Night, sum all of this up: “Long lay the world in sin and error pining ‘til he appeared, and the soul felt it’s worth.” In Christ, God has appeared to announce this truth: God sees us as his children, reveals to us the dignity of those favored by the Creator and finally, welcomes us home.