Sep-21 Feast of St Matthew the Apostle

 September 21: Feast of St Matthew the Apostle

St. Matthew the apostle, was the son of Alpheus, most likely born a Levite. He worked in Capernaum as a tax collector for Herod Antipas, collecting taxes from his fellow Jews. Many tax collectors cheated the people by charging more taxes than required and keeping the extra money for themselves. The Jews therefore considered tax collectors to be traitors and ostracised them as sinners. Jesus however knew in his heart that Matthew was not a sinner or a cheat, so when Jesus said to him "Follow me", Matthew left all immediately to become an apostle. 

Jesus went to dine at the house of Matthew. The Pharisees and Scribes were shocked that Jesus was dining with tax collectors and sinners. Jesus offered a very good answer and said, “Those who are well, do not need a physician, but the sick do. Go and learn the meaning of the words, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ I did not come to call the righteous but sinners.”  (Matthew 9:9–13, Mark 2:17, Luke 5:32)

As a tax collector, Matthew would have been literate in Aramaic and Greek. Following the death of Christ, around 41 and 50 AD, Matthew wrote his initial gospel account in Aramaic to convince his fellow Jewish people that Jesus was indeed the true Messiah, in fulfilment of the scriptures and that His kingdom had been fulfilled in a spiritual way, not the earthly way everyone was expecting with a militant messiah brandishing a sword and overthrowing the Roman conquerors. 

Matthew had to flee the Holy Land in 42AD to escape persecution and went on to spread the Gospel through Parthia and Ethiopia where he was eventually martyred.

On 18 November 1907, Pope St. Pius X instituted the Motu Proprio Praestantia Scripturae, or the Pontifical Biblical Commission to investigate thoroughly many unanswered Biblical questions being debated and make their final recommendations. On June 19, 1911 Pope St. Pius X proclaimed as catholic teaching the findings of the commission, among them the questions on the identity of the author, the date of composition, and historical truth Of the Gospel According to St. Matthew. In short the Pontifical Biblical Commission studied the evidence and established that Matthew the apostle (and reformed tax collector) wrote the earliest Gospel in Aramaic primarily for a doubting Jewish audience. These texts have been referenced by credible sources but did not survive the passage of time. Later this same Matthew wrote a more complete Gospel in Greek that rightly prophesied the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem; meaning it was published before 70AD.

Source: https://catholicleader.com.au/features/who-wrote-the-gospel-of-matthew/

We end with this prayer to St Matthew asking for grace: 

O Glorious Saint Matthew, in your Gospel you portray Jesus as the longed-for Messiah who fulfilled the Prophets of the Old Covenant and as the new Lawgiver who founded a Church of the New Covenant. Obtain for us the grace to see Jesus living in his Church and to follow his teachings in our lives on earth so that we may live forever with him in heaven. Amen.