Catholic Mass Readings and Reflection September 21, 2026
Monday – FEAST OF SAINT MATTHEW, APOSTLE AND EVANGELIST
21st September 2026 (Monday)
Psalter: Feast
Here are the Catholic Mass readings and a daily Gospel reflection for Monday, September 21, 2026. Paul says what is sown in the ground dies and rises transformed, and Jesus tells of a sower and four kinds of soil.
Catholic Mass Readings
Readings of the Day
First Reading: Ephesians 4:1-7, 11-13
Brethren: I, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling, to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift. And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints, for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.
Psalm 19:2-3, 4-5 (R. 5a)
R/. Their sound goes forth through all the earth
Gospel Acclamation
V/. Alleluia
R/. Alleluia
V/. We praise you, O God; we acclaim you as Lord; the glorious company of Apostles praise you.
R/. Alleluia
Gospel: Matthew 9:9-13
As Jesus passed by, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax booth; and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he rose and followed him. And as Jesus reclined at table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and were reclining with Jesus and his disciples. And when the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” But when he heard it, he said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. Go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice. For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”
Monday – 25th Week in Ordinary Time
Daily Gospel Reflection
Main Point: Matthew was a tax collector, which in his world meant a traitor and a thief. Jesus walked straight to his table and said two words. The man everyone had written off became an apostle and a Gospel writer.
1. Matthew tells his own story here, and he does not clean it up. He was sitting at the tax booth. In his day that meant he worked for the Roman occupiers, taking money from his own people and keeping a cut. He was a collaborator and a cheat, and everyone knew it.
2. People like Matthew were despised. Not disliked, despised. Grouped with prostitutes and public sinners, barred from the synagogue, counted as traitors to Israel and to God. When his neighbors passed his booth, they saw a man who had sold them out for money.
3. And Jesus walks straight to that booth. Not around it. He looks at the man behind the table and says, follow me. Two words. No lecture, no demand that Matthew first prove he has changed. Just a call, offered to the last man in town anyone would have chosen.
4. Notice that Matthew rose and followed. He left the money on the table and walked away from the only life he had. Something in that call reached deeper than shame. He had likely stopped believing he could be anything but what he was. Christ saw an apostle where the town saw a thief.
5. Then Jesus does something worse, in the eyes of the respectable. He goes to Matthew’s house and eats with his friends, more tax collectors, more sinners. The Pharisees are scandalized. Why does your teacher eat with such people? To share a table then was to accept someone. Jesus was accepting the unacceptable.
6. His answer is the heart of the day. Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners. He is not drawn to our polished surfaces. He comes for the wound, the failure, the part of us we are sure disqualifies us.
7. Then the line that should free us. Go and learn what this means: I desire mercy, not sacrifice. God is not looking for people who have it all together. He is looking for people who know they are sick and will let the Physician near. That is the only requirement, and Matthew met it by simply standing up.
8. Paul tells us what such a called person becomes. He writes of grace given to each of us, and of a body built up when each one takes his place. The traitor at the tax booth became the first to write down the Gospel of Jesus. Grace does not just forgive the past. It makes something new of it.
My Practice: Name the part of your past or your present you are sure puts you beyond God’s reach, and hear Him say to that exact place, follow me. Come to His table today as you are, not once you are worthy, because that is the only way anyone has ever come.
Prayer
Lord Jesus, You walked past the respectable and stopped at the booth of a man everyone despised, and You called him with two words. You still do this. You come not for our polished surfaces but for the places we are ashamed of, the failures we are sure disqualify us. Thank You that You desire mercy, not a performance of holiness we cannot give. Call us as You called Matthew, and give us the courage to rise and follow, leaving behind what we were. Make something new of our past, as You made an apostle of a tax collector. We come to Your table as we are. Amen.
Question to Reflect Today
- What part of your life makes you feel unfit to be called by God, and can you hear Jesus speak His “follow me” to that very place today?
Thank You 🙏🙏🙏
Tags: Daily Mass Reflection, Feast, Saint Matthew, Gospel of Matthew, Catholic Mass Readings, September 2026
