Secretly Gay is my newest follower. His blog is called A Secretly Gay Teen Boy Blog. He lives in England, describes himself as working class, and writes about things that are going on in his life and his hopes for self-improvement. Maybe you can offer some good advice. Maybe you'll just like hearing about what he's doing. Why not check out the blog?
Glad you've decided to follow, Secretly Gay. I hope you find it worthwhile.
Today is the Feast of St. Matthew, the tax collector who answered the call to become one of the 12 apostles. One of the four gospels in the Bible bears his name. His profession of tax collector for the Romans meant that he was despised by his fellow Jews as a collaborator. Furthermore, it was a job which gave copious opportunities for extortion and fraud. So when Jesus and his disciples were joined by a large group of tax collectors and sinners for dinner the pharisees didn't like it. Table fellowship implied a considerable degree of closeness, and they thought that good people should have nothing to do with sinners. When they questioned Jesus' disciples about how he could do that, Jesus replied, "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 9:11-13
Because I worked for the IRS, I consider Matthew to be one of my patron saints. But more generally, I think we can realize both from the fact that Jesus chose him and from the reply to the pharisees that God does not reject people. If we realize that we have been doing things that are wrong, that doesn't mean that we can't get back to God. God still wants us and he'll help us to do better if we let him.
