Friday, September 20, 2019

Homily by S. Jerome, Bk. 1. Comm on Matt. Ch. 9. v. 9 (Monastic Breviary)




THE other Evangelists, because of the reverence and honor in which they held Matthew, did not wish to call him by his ordinary name, but they called him Levi: for he possessed a double name. Now Matthew himself, according to that saying of Solomon, The righteous man accuseth himself in the beginning of his speech; and in another place, Do thou tell thy sins, that thou mayest be justified; calls himself Matthew and a publican: that he may make plain to those that read that no man should despair of salvation, having turned to better things, since he himself was suddenly changed from publican to Apostle.

HERE Porphyry and Julian Augustus argue the ignorance of the lying historian and the folly of those who immediately followed the Savior. As though they followed any man who called them; doubtless the Apostles had seen great virtues and great signs before they believed.

SURELY the very splendor and majesty of the hidden Deity, which was reflected in his human face, could, from the first glance, draw to itself those who beheld it. For if in an amber and in a magnet there is said to be such power that they attach rings and straws and stalks to themselves, how much more could the Lord of all creation draw to himself those whom he called?

AND it came to pass that while he was sitting in the house, behold many publicans and sinners came and sat down with Jesus. They saw that the publican turning from his sins to better things had found a place of penitence, and for that reason they themselves despaired not of salvation. And not having remained in their former vices, they come to Jesus, so that the Pharisees and Scribes murmured: they come doing penance, as the following word of the Lord signifies saying, I will have mercy and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance. Now the Lord came to the banquets of sinners that he might have occasion to teach and might afford spiritual food to these that invited him.

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