Feast of St Matthew-Apostle

Beads of Joy 09-21-10

Feast of St Matthew-Apostle
©2010 James Dacey, Jr. SFO

Hello Everyone,

Yes, this week the blog will be focusing on "prayer". But today is a very special day, and prayer will be part of this blog, you can count on that. What do we know about St. Matthew? We do know that St. Matthew, was a tax collector who turned apostle, and he is also the author of the first gospel. Although we really don't know much about the life of Matthew, we do know that he told the account of Christ's ministry and all that he wrote about in that gospel is of immeasurable value to the Church, particularly in its verification of Jesus as the Messiah. Matthew's first encounter with Jesus went like this, "As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector's booth. "Follow me," he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him. While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew's house, many tax collectors and "sinners" came and ate with him and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, "Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and 'sinners'?" On hearing this, Jesus said, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and learn what this means: 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice. For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners." Matthew 9:9-13. Scripture is prayer.

An excerpt from the Vatican, Catholic News Agency Staff, Sept. 19, 2010, they wrote the following, "Like 11 of the 12 apostles, St. Matthew is traditionally thought to have died as a martyr while preaching the Gospel. The Roman Martyrology describes his death as occurring in a territory near present-day Egypt." and further they wrote "Reflecting on St. Matthew's calling, from the pursuit of dishonest financial gain to the heights of holiness and divine inspiration, Pope Benedict said in 2006 that “in the figure of Matthew, the Gospels present to us a true and proper paradox: those who seem to be the farthest from holiness can even become a model of the acceptance of God's mercy and offer a glimpse of its marvelous effects in their own lives.” I thought that to be an interesting find, to share. I also have a fantastic link I just know you will enjoy. You can download this for free, and put in either in your iTunes library or simple use it on Windows Media Player. Completely listening to it takes 122 minutes in length. I just love listening to the entire scripture like this. I hope you enjoy this wonderful treasure of audio when it comes to scripture. This is a direct link that will directly open your Windows Media Player.
http://newspiritenterprises.info/NIVMP3Bible/Matthew.mp3
The page this came from where you will have access to the entire New Testament and even the Old Testament is this link:
http://jcsm.org/1on1/NTBibleonMP3.htm

Now looking at the Gospel of Matthew, let us look at this brilliant outline. I am so excited and thrilled beyond words when it comes to spending time in scripture. The list here is a basic outline of the entire Gospel. Back in 1983 I actually, fully outlined the entire bible and it was copyrighted. "The Master Index To The Entire Bible" Not really sure how relevant it would be in today's time, considering technology and computers have changed how easily we look up information. And mind you, that original copy I wrote, was done on a regular typewriter, that indeed was a huge project back then when I was in college. But I loved it, my heart then and now give Jesus every spec of energy I got, 24/7/365. Anyhow, see I can get easily distracted. LOL. Check out this general outline in review to the splendid Gospel of St. Matthew:

Gospel of Matthew Outline
I. The Person of the King: the Early Life and Ministry of Jesus
(First Narrative - 1:1-4:11)
II. The Precepts of the King: The Sermon on the Mount
(First Discourse - 4:12-7:29)
III. The Power of the King: the Miracles and Mission of Christ
(Second Narrative and Discourse - 8-10)
IV. The Parables of the King: Rejection and Revelation
(Third Narrative and Discourse - 11-13)
V. The Progressive Rejection of the King: Miracles & Responses
(Fourth Narrative and Discourse - 14:1 - 18:35)
VI. The Presentation of the King: Entry & Controversy in Jerusalem
(Fifth Narrative and Discourse - 19:1-25:46)
VII. The Passion of the King: Crucifixion and Resurrection of Christ
(The Final Narrative - 26-28)

This outline was used with permission of Creative Commons Attribution 3.0
The entire outline to The Gospel of Matthew can be found at:
http://www.theopedia.com/Gospel_of_Matthew/Outline#Outline

I am praying for all of you, that you to find the JOY that is jam packed in scripture. I trust Jesus will lead your heart. Simply pray, "Jesus, I trust in You."


Your brother in Christ Jesus & His Most Blessed Mother,
Jim (The Rosary Man) Dacey Jr SFO

Today we pray the Sorrowful Mysteries
1. Agony in the Garden
2. The Scourging at the Pillar
3. Crowing with Thorns
4. Carrying of the Cross
5. The Crucifixion of Jesus