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Views from the Choir Loft

Fringe Fest

Fr. David Friel · September 21, 2013

ATTHEW, WHOSE HEBREW NAME was Levi, was, of course, a tax collector. I think we all know that tax collectors were on the outs with other Jews. There was actually a religious ban on associating with them, because they made their living essentially through extortion.

So why would God choose Matthew? Why would He choose to associate with Matthew, which not even other Jews would do? It’s mysterious, and the only possible explanation is God’s mercy.

But, really, we are not so different from Matthew. We have nothing to offer of ourselves; whatever good we do is really God at work within us. So why would God choose us? Why would He choose to associate with us, who are weak, “unprofitable servants”? Psalm 8 says it so well: “What is man that You should keep him in mind, mortal man that You care for him?” He does, but the reason remains mysterious. It must be mercy. As the Lord says in Matthew’s Gospel: “I did not come to call the righteous but sinners” (Matthew 9:13).

This all has profound ramifications for us. If God could look past Matthew’s sin to associate with him and to call him even to be one of the four Evangelists, we must follow the Lord’s example. The Lord challenges us to go to the people who live on the fringe and to be evangelists, bringing the Word of God to them. These aren’t just some theoretical group of people out in space. They’re real people in your family and my family, among our neighbors and friends.

It’s not good enough just to associate with our “religious” friends. What about your neighbor who never comes to church? It’s easy to judge them, but it’s much harder to invite them to come along. What about the child or grandchild who is cohabiting? We need not simply to disapprove, but to engage them in conversation. What about the poor? It’s great to put money in the poor box, but it is something entirely different to deliver a meal to a person who is homebound or homeless. Jesus challenges us to push those borders, to go beyond what is comfortable, to associate with both righteous and sinners.

If God could take Levi the tax collector and make of him Saint Matthew, think what He could do with all the people who live on the fringes of society today!

Opinions by blog authors do not necessarily represent the views of Corpus Christi Watershed.

Filed Under: Articles Last Updated: January 1, 2020

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About Fr. David Friel

Ordained in 2011, Father Friel served as Parochial Vicar at Saint Anselm Church in Northeast Philly before earning a doctorate in liturgical theology at The Catholic University of America. He presently serves as Vocation Director for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia and teaches liturgy at St. Charles Borromeo Seminary.—(Read full biography).

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Corpus Christi Watershed

Quick Thoughts

    Hymn by Cardinal Newman
    During the season of Septuagesima, we will be using this hymn by Cardinal Newman, which employs both Latin and English. (Readers probably know that Cardinal Newman was one of the world's experts when it comes to Lingua Latina.) The final verse contains a beautiful soprano descant. Father Louis Bouyer—famous theologian, close friend of Pope Paul VI, and architect of post-conciliar reforms—wrote thus vis-à-vis the elimination of Septuagesima: “I prefer to say nothing, or very little, about the new calendar, the handiwork of a trio of maniacs who suppressed (with no good reason) Septuagesima and the Octave of Pentecost and who scattered three quarters of the Saints higgledy-piddledy, all based on notions of their own devising!”
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Introit • Candlemas (2 February)
    “Candlemas” • Our choir sang on February 2nd, and here's a live recording of the beautiful INTROIT: Suscépimus Deus. We had very little time to rehearse, but I think it has some very nice moments. I promise that by the 8th Sunday after Pentecost it will be perfect! (That Introit is repeated on the 8th Sunday after Pentecost.) We still need to improve, but we're definitely on the right track!
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Simplified Antiphons • “Candlemas”
    Anyone who desires simplified antiphons (“psalm tone versions”) for 2 February, the Feast of the Purification—which is also known as “Candlemas” or the Feast of the Presentation—may freely download them. The texts of the antiphons are quite beautiful. From “Lumen Ad Revelatiónem Géntium” you can hear a live excerpt (Mp3). I'm not a fan of chant in octaves, but we had such limited time to rehearse, it seemed the best choice. After all, everyone should have an opportunity to learn “Lumen Ad Revelatiónem Géntium,” which summarizes Candlemas.
    —Jeff Ostrowski

Random Quote

“The Pope is not an absolute monarch whose thoughts and desires are law. On the contrary: the Pope’s ministry is a guarantee of obedience to Christ and to his Word. He must not proclaim his own ideas, but rather constantly bind himself and the Church to obedience to God’s Word, in the face of every attempt to adapt it or water it down, and every form of opportunism.”

— ‘His Holiness, Pope Benedict XVI (11 May 2005)’

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