Who, me?

St Matthew and the Angel (1602)
Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio

1571 -1610

The picture shows the first version of the St Matthew and the Angel, executed for the Contarelli Chapel in the San Luigi dei Francesi in Rome. This painting was rejected, and the artist made another one which still stands over the altar today. The first version of the St Matthew and the Angel was purchased by Marchese Vincenzo Giustiniani and then ended up in Berlin, where it was destroyed in the Second World War; no color reproduction exists.

The Inspiration of Saint Matthew

Caravaggio (1602)

 The angel belongs to an aerial and sublime dimension, enveloped in an encircling rippled sheet. The restless Matthew leans to work, as the angel enumerates for him the work to come. All is darkness but for the two large figures. Matthew appears to have rushed to his desk, his stool teetering into our space. His expression is sober.

The Calling of Saint Matthew is  by Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, depicting the moment at which Jesus Christ inspires Matthew to follow him.. It was completed in 1599-1600 for the Contarelli Chapel in the church of the French congregation, San Luigi dei Francesi in Rome, where it remains today. It hangs alongside two other paintings of Matthew by Caravaggio, The Martyrdom of Saint Matthew (painted around the same time as the Calling) and The Inspiration of Saint Matthew.

Matthew 9:9-13

King James Version (KJV)

⁹ And as Jesus passed forth from thence, he saw a man, named Matthew, sitting at the receipt of custom: and he saith unto him, Follow me. And he arose, and followed him.

¹⁰ And it came to pass, as Jesus sat at meat in the house, behold, many publicans and sinners came and sat down with him and his disciples.

¹¹ And when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto his disciples, Why eateth your Master with publicans and sinners?

¹² But when Jesus heard that, he said unto them, They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick.

¹³ But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.

                        ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Raphael, The Miraculous Draught of Fishes (1515)

 

Matthew 4:19

And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.

Through Jesus Christ, the Incarnation, God works personally and intimately in the lives of every human being. God calls everyone to fulfill a very particular mission that only the called individual can fulfill and through which the individual will reach his fulfillment as a human being. The vocation is a unique and intimate reality experienced differently by everyone. Every human being, in some way or another, must face such a moment of decision: he will either leave his comfort zone or stay hunched over his personal comforts, ignoring the Divine Caller. For those who choose to heed the call, the reward is incredible. They are offered what was offered to Matthew: a privileged relationship with the Son of God and eternity with him in heaven!

Read more: The Encounter Between God and Man

 "All Catholic faithful are called to be missionaries."  Pope Francis, July 7th, 2013