Daily Catholic Lectio
Fri, 4 July ‘25
Thirteenth Week in Ordinary Time – Friday
Genesis 23:1–4, 19; 24:1–8, 62–67. Matthew 9:9–13
A New Comfort
“Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick do.”
In today’s Gospel, Jesus calls a man named Matthew, seated at the tax booth. Scholars suggest that Matthew may have originally been called Mattathias, meaning “Gift of God”. He is also known as Levi. His work involved collecting customs duties from travellers, traders, and farmers—often taxing goods entering the land. To secure this position, he would have paid an advance to the Roman authorities and then collected taxes in excess to recover his payment and earn a profit. It was a despised profession.
Despite having a job, income, and Roman connections, Matthew seems inwardly empty. The people’s hatred, the burden of dishonesty, and the weariness of his soul left him comfortless. But when Jesus calls him, he responds immediately—as if he had been waiting for this very day. He rises and follows. And not only that—he throws a banquet to celebrate the call. He receives a new comfort in Jesus.
In the first reading, things move swiftly in Abraham’s household. Sarah dies, and Abraham purchases land to bury her—the first portion of the Promised Land that becomes his. Isaac grows up quickly. Abraham, now aged, commissions his servant to find a wife for Isaac from his own kin. The servant succeeds and brings Rebekah. Isaac receives her into his mother’s tent and marries her. The text simply says, “Isaac was comforted after his mother’s death.”
A deeper reading suggests that Isaac likely carried trauma after witnessing his father prepare to sacrifice him. His bond with his mother, Sarah, may have deepened after that event. Hence, her death left him inconsolable—especially in his own home, where loneliness cuts deepest. He finds that lost comfort in Rebekah.
Isaac, consoled in the midst of personal loss. Matthew, consoled in the midst of social shame. Whether through people or directly through God, true comfort always has a divine touch.
So what sorrow or discouragement in your life today seems unbearable or unhealable?
The Lord Himself is coming toward you—as your new comfort.
Our part is simple:
Be like Isaac—go out into the field and wait.
Be like Matthew—be present at your duty.
When comfort is given, share it with others.
In today’s Gospel, Matthew himself narrates his calling. Two types of people look at him. The first is Jesus—He sees Matthew not only in his present condition but in the light of his future. Though a tax collector, Jesus calls him to be an apostle.
The second group is the Pharisees. They look at Matthew only through the lens of his past. To them, he is a tax collector and sinner—unworthy of a rabbi’s companionship.
Matthew embraces his past and invites Jesus into it. He even welcomes others like him—sinners—to sit at the table with Jesus. He owns his reality and finds healing in that honesty.
Jesus, in turn, defines His mission: “I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”
And then He makes this powerful statement: “I desire mercy, not sacrifice.”
What does that mean?
Sacrifice is rooted in the past—we offer atonement for sins already committed. Mercy, however, is rooted in the present. The Good Samaritan didn’t ask how the man ended up on the road. He simply saw his present suffering and responded with compassion.
When we meet people, do we view them through the eyes of their past? Or do we look at them through the mercy of the present? To comfort someone, to see them as God sees them, is the beginning of true healing.
Fr. Yesu Karunanidhi
Archdiocese of Madurai
Missionary of Mercy
Yesu Karunanidhi 
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