September 30, 2026

By Father William Muench
NCC columnist

I am writing this on the Feast of St. Matthew, the apostle and the evangelist. We, Catholics, owe such gratitude to all four of the evangelists, who gave to all ages the Gospels concerning Jesus – Matthew, Mark, Luke, John. They took the time in those early years of our Catholic Church to give us these Biblical Gospels – stories about Jesus – all so powerfully written. This was not an easy task – in those days – compared to our digital devises of today. Could you imagine someone following Jesus around with recording devices as we have today. So, those evangelists had to be good listeners – so that they could remember carefully Jesus’ words and all the Lord’s activities.

You may remember that these evangelists wrote their Gospels several years after the time of Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection. I am certain those early Christians repeated over and over the stories about Jesus; they shared together Jesus’ words that they remembered. They had been there when Jesus was teaching and healing. I can only imagine the evangelists gathering all these stories and all the words of Jesus.

On this Feast Day of St. Matthew, the Gospel reading at Mass is this same Matthew remembering of the day when he was called by Jesus – “Follow me.” Matthew had experienced Jesus; he had heard Jesus’ teaching and was present when Jesus healed. I was surprised that Matthew continued to work as a tax collector. In those days, tax collectors were not respected, not liked; they were cooperating with the Romans. But Jesus knew that there was something special about Matthew. Jesus recognized that Matthew was the perfect person to be part of his apostles. So, one day, Jesus confronts Matthew at his station: “Enough. This is the time. Come, follow me.” We thank you, Jesus for choosing Matthew to be an Apostle. His Gospel is so wonderful.

There is also John – the youngest apostle and a talented evangelist; his was the last Gospel to be written. One of the most powerful sections of John’s Gospel was his memory of Jesus’ Discourse at the Last Supper. John gives us Jesus’ words that he shared with his apostles just before his crucifixion. John has continued to transform our Church through the centuries giving us these words of Jesus.

And there is Luke – among other things Luke captured the many clever parables of Jesus, especially the excellent attention to details. Even now, these parables of Jesus help us understand better Jesus’ message to us. Think of the Prodigal Son or the Parable of the Good Samaritan.

And Mark, whose Gospel carefully has introduced Jesus to many throughout the centuries. The evangelists are an important part of every Mass. In the Liturgy of the Word, we always listen to a reading from one of the Gospels. The Gospels of the evangelists guide us carefully as we unite together to celebrate the Eucharist.

Here is a story about Bishop Sheen: this Bishop did a television program for many years. One year his television program won an Emmy. At the acceptance ceremony, Bishop Sheen said he wanted to give special credit to his team – Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.