When I was a teenager and was fighting one time with my mom about having to go to church, I said, “Everybody there is a hypocrite! Why would I want to go some place filled with a bunch of hypocrites?”
“Do you think you’re going to find a church not filled with hypocrites? Are you so perfect that you can’t be around sinners? That’s part of the point of church, Amy, is to find healing from God for your sins.”
I had no answer.
The incredibly pathetic thing was that while I was looking down on my fellow parishioners, I was NOT in any fashion leading a squeaky clean life. You wanna talk about a hypocrite, well, I was example número uno.
Today, is the Feast Day of St. Matthew, a one-time sinful tax collector.
After he is called by Jesus, the Pharisees stand around horrified that Jesus was eating with him and other sinners. If Jesus didn’t eat with sinners than He would have only ever eaten with His mom or by Himself.
You have to wonder at the Pharisees game plan for helping sinners not be sinners. Never engage with them in a merciful way? Ignore them? Refuse to help them?
I was just like the Pharisees when I was a teen, thinking myself too good to be around the “riff-raff” of the church I belonged to.
Jesus is the Great Physician. He transformed St. Matthew’s life, He can transform any sinner’s life, but it certainly doesn’t always happen at the speed of light. I’m living proof of that.
The truth is, in this life, we are all a work in progress, Catholic Pilgrims, and we will be until we are no longer here. Our churches will never be filled with only lily-white saints, but we still need to go because the Eucharist, Confession, and the other Sacraments are our best hope for transformation.
You’ll see the purity you desire once you get to Heaven.
St. Matthew, pray for us!
*St. Matthew’s Cathedral, Washington DC
