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<b style="margin:0px;outline:currentcolor none medium;padding:0px;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";font-weight:normal"><b style="margin:0px;outline:currentcolor none medium;padding:0px;font-size:18px;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";color:rgb(0,0,0);font-weight:normal;font-style:normal"><b style="margin:0px;outline:currentcolor none medium;padding:0px;font-size:18px;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";color:rgb(0,0,0);font-weight:normal;font-style:normal"><b style="margin:0px;outline:currentcolor none medium;padding:0px;font-size:18px;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";color:rgb(0,0,0);font-weight:normal;font-style:normal"><b style="margin:0px;outline:currentcolor none medium;padding:0px;font-size:18px;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";color:rgb(0,0,0);font-weight:normal;font-style:normal"><b style="margin:0px;outline:currentcolor none medium;padding:0px;font-weight:normal;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:georgia,"times new roman";font-size:18px;font-style:normal;text-align:start"><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-size:18px;font-weight:400;line-height:inherit;text-decoration:inherit;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";font-style:normal"><b style="margin:0px;outline:currentcolor none medium;padding:0px;font-weight:normal"><b style="margin:0px;outline:currentcolor none medium;padding:0px;font-size:18px;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";color:rgb(0,0,0);font-weight:normal;font-style:normal"><b style="margin:0px;outline:currentcolor none medium;padding:0px;font-size:18px;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";color:rgb(0,0,0);font-weight:normal;font-style:normal"><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-size:18px;font-weight:400;line-height:inherit;text-decoration:inherit;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";font-style:normal">Friends,
today’s Gospel tells <span style="background-color:rgb(208,224,227)"><b>the story of the Lord calling Levi, also known as
<span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)">Matthew.</span></b></span> <span style="background-color:rgb(208,224,227)"><b>As Jesus was passing by, he spotted Matthew at his tax
collector’s post</b></span>. <span style="background-color:rgb(217,234,211)"><b>To be a tax collector in <span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)">Jesus</span>’ time—a Jew
collaborating with Rome’s oppression of one’s own people—was to be a
contemptible figure. </b></span><br><br> <span style="background-color:rgb(208,224,227)"><b>Jesus gazed at Matthew and simply said,
"Follow me." </b></span>Did Jesus invite Matthew because the tax collector merited
it? Was Jesus responding to a request from Matthew or some longing in
the sinner’s heart? Certainly not. <span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)"><b>Grace, by definition, comes unbidden
and without explanation.</b></span><br><br> <span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)"><b>In Caravaggio’s magnificent painting of
<span style="background-color:rgb(208,224,227)"> this scene</span>,<span style="background-color:rgb(208,224,227)"> Matthew</span>, dressed anachronistically in sixteenth-century
finery, <span style="background-color:rgb(208,224,227)">responds to Jesus’ summons by pointing incredulously to himself
and
wearing a quizzical expression, as if to say, "Me? You want me?"</span></b></span><br><br>Just as creation is <i style="margin:0px;outline:currentcolor none medium;padding:0px">ex nihilo, </i>so
<span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)"><b> conversion is a new creation, a gracious remaking of a person from <span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)">the
nonbeing of his sin.</span></b></span> <span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)"><b><u>Matthew,</u> </b></span>we are told, <u><span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)"><b>immediately got up and
followed the Lord.</b></span></u><br><br></span></b></b></b></span></b></b></b></b></b></b><div><b style="margin:0px;outline:currentcolor none medium;padding:0px;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";font-weight:normal"><b style="margin:0px;outline:currentcolor none medium;padding:0px;font-size:18px;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";color:rgb(0,0,0);font-weight:normal;font-style:normal"><b style="margin:0px;outline:currentcolor none medium;padding:0px;font-size:18px;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";color:rgb(0,0,0);font-weight:normal;font-style:normal"><b style="margin:0px;outline:currentcolor none medium;padding:0px;font-size:18px;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";color:rgb(0,0,0);font-weight:normal;font-style:normal"><b style="margin:0px;outline:currentcolor none medium;padding:0px;font-size:18px;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";color:rgb(0,0,0);font-weight:normal;font-style:normal"><b style="margin:0px;outline:currentcolor none medium;padding:0px;font-weight:normal;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:georgia,"times new roman";font-size:18px;font-style:normal;text-align:start"><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-size:18px;font-weight:400;line-height:inherit;text-decoration:inherit;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";font-style:normal"><b style="margin:0px;outline:currentcolor none medium;padding:0px;font-weight:normal"><b style="margin:0px;outline:currentcolor none medium;padding:0px;font-size:18px;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";color:rgb(0,0,0);font-weight:normal;font-style:normal"><b style="margin:0px;outline:currentcolor none medium;padding:0px;font-size:18px;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";color:rgb(0,0,0);font-weight:normal;font-style:normal"><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-size:18px;font-weight:400;line-height:inherit;text-decoration:inherit;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";font-style:normal"><i style="margin:0px;outline:currentcolor none medium;padding:0px">Reflect: </i>Reflect on a time in your life when grace came to you "unbidden and without explanation" and how you responded. <br></span></b></b></b></span></b></b></b></b></b></b></div><div><b style="margin:0px;outline:currentcolor none medium;padding:0px;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";font-weight:normal"><b style="margin:0px;outline:currentcolor none medium;padding:0px;font-size:18px;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";color:rgb(0,0,0);font-weight:normal;font-style:normal"><b style="margin:0px;outline:currentcolor none medium;padding:0px;font-size:18px;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";color:rgb(0,0,0);font-weight:normal;font-style:normal"><b style="margin:0px;outline:currentcolor none medium;padding:0px;font-size:18px;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";color:rgb(0,0,0);font-weight:normal;font-style:normal"><b style="margin:0px;outline:currentcolor none medium;padding:0px;font-size:18px;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";color:rgb(0,0,0);font-weight:normal;font-style:normal"><b style="margin:0px;outline:currentcolor none medium;padding:0px;font-weight:normal;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:georgia,"times new roman";font-size:18px;font-style:normal;text-align:start"><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-size:18px;font-weight:400;line-height:inherit;text-decoration:inherit;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";font-style:normal"><b style="margin:0px;outline:currentcolor none medium;padding:0px;font-weight:normal"><b style="margin:0px;outline:currentcolor none medium;padding:0px;font-size:18px;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";color:rgb(0,0,0);font-weight:normal;font-style:normal"><b style="margin:0px;outline:currentcolor none medium;padding:0px;font-size:18px;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";color:rgb(0,0,0);font-weight:normal;font-style:normal"><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-size:18px;font-weight:400;line-height:inherit;text-decoration:inherit;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";font-style:normal">
</span></b></b></b></span></b></b></b></b></b></b><p><span style="color:rgb(0,0,255)"><b>
Uram, adj türelmet,<br>
Hogy elfogadjam amin nem tudok változtatni,<br>
Adj bátorságot, hogy megváltoztassam,<br>
Amit lehet, és adj bölcsességet,<br>
Hogy a kettő között különbséget tudjak tenni.<br></b></span>
<span style="color:rgb(0,0,255)"><b><br>
Uram,
tégy engem békéd eszközévé, <br>
hogy szeressek ott, ahol gyűlölnek, <br>
hogy
megbocsássak ott, ahol megbántanak, <br>
hogy összekössek, ahol széthúzás
van, <br>
hogy reménységet keltsek, ahol kétségbeesés kínoz, <br>
hogy fényt
gyújtsak, ahol sötétség uralkodik, <br>
hogy örömet hozzak oda, ahol gond
tanyázik. <br></b></span>
</p><span style="color:rgb(0,0,255)"><b>
</b></span><p><span style="color:rgb(0,0,255)"><b>Ó Uram, segíts meg, hogy törekedjem, <br>
nem arra, hogy
megvigasztaljanak, hanem hogy én vigasztaljak, <br>
nem arra, hogy
megértsenek, hanem arra, hogy én megértsek, <br>
nem arra, hogy szeressenek,
hanem hogy én szeressek. <br></b></span>
</p><span style="color:rgb(0,0,255)"><b>
</b></span><p><span style="color:rgb(0,0,255)"><b>Mert aki így ad, az kapni fog, <br>
aki elveszíti
magát, az talál, <br>
aki megbocsát, annak megbocsátanak, <br>
aki meghal, az
fölébred az örök életre.<br>
Amen. <br></b></span></p><p><span style="color:rgb(0,0,255)"><b>(Assissi Szt. Ferenc)</b></span></p>
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