THE FEAST OF ST PETER DAMIAN.
THE CALL OF THE TAX COLLECTOR CALLED MATTHEW.
A TAX COLLECTOR NAMED LEVI.
"Jesus saw a tax collector named Levi sitting at the customs post.
He said to him, “Follow me.”
And leaving everything behind, he got up and followed him.
"Then Levi gave a great banquet for him in his house, and a large crowd of tax collectors and others were at table with them.
"The Pharisees and their scribes complained to his disciples, saying,
“Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?”
"Jesus said to them in reply,
“Those who are healthy do not need a physician, but the sick do.
I have not come to call the righteous to repentance but sinners.” (Luke 5: 27 - 32).
Saturday 21st February 2026.
Saturday After Easter in the Season of Lent
Today is the feast of St Peter Damian.
Saint Peter Damian (1007–1072) was an Italian Benedictine monk, reforming cardinal, and Doctor of the Church, known for his deep austerity and tireless work for ecclesial renewal.
Born in Ravenna into a large and impoverished family, he was orphaned young and rescued from harsh treatment by an older priest-brother, Damian, whose name he gratefully added to his own.Gifted intellectually, Peter became a successful teacher before discerning a call to the cloister and entering the hermit-monastery of Fonte Avellana, where his life of intense prayer, penance, and learning soon led to his election as prior and the founding and reform of other monastic houses.
Drawn from solitude into the wider service of the Church, he became a leading voice in the 11th‑century reform movement, fighting simony, clerical immorality, and lax religious discipline, while serving as papal advisor and, from 1057, Cardinal‑Bishop of Ostia.
Longing always to return to hidden contemplation, he nonetheless accepted repeated missions for the popes until his death at Faenza around February 21–22, 1072;
revered for his powerful letters and treatises, he was later proclaimed a Doctor of the Church in 1828, and is honored on February 21 as a model of contemplative zeal in service of reform.
“Come and be one of my disciples!” So Levi left everything, sprang up, and went with him." (TLB Translation).
The TLB Translation catches the enthusiasm of Levi better known as Matthew.
If you have been waiting for a call, or an opportunity to open up for a long time, you understand Matthew's reaction.
A vocation is a sacred call made by God to predestined souls.
Usually, the soul would have a premonition that he is born for more.
Like Abraham Lincoln. He is in a subdued mood of restlessness till the Teacher shows up.
A Chinese proverb says: "When the student is ready, the teacher appears."
Jesus' sudden appearance at Matthew's Tax Office was not an accident. It was Divine Providence.
Matthew, the Tax Collector became the Chronicler of the early Church.
He was not perfect. None of the Twelve Apostles was perfect.
Perfection took a long time in coming. It came through following Jesus every day and watching Him and doing what Jesus did.
The Holy Catholic Church honors the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph in February.
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