Living with Strength and Kindliness

2023 is the year of the Gospel of Matthew

This Sunday is the end of the Church’s liturgical year. That’s right, the church’s calendar doesn’t follow the same ‘Gregorian’ calendar nor the ‘financial year’ calendar that the rest of us use to mark time. 

A new liturgical year means that we focus on a new Gospel.  In 2023 the daily gospel readings will be taken predominantly from the Gospel of Matthew.

Did you know?

The Gospel of Matthew was the first gospel that was written, (in about 85CE) and it was originally written in Greek.

It is considered to be the most complex of the Gospels; included in it are aspects of history, biography, narrative and testimony.

Whilst the gospel of Luke is noted as the gospel of parables, Matthew’s story is also filled with an abundance of parables; aimed to guide us on ‘what we should be doing’, ‘how we should be living’ and ‘what we should hope for’.

Not unlike the contemporary climate we are facing, with fire, pandemics and floods at our heels - Matthew wrote for his own community who were living during a period of great crisis. Matthew recognises that life has some rocky roads. The clear and direct imperatives that he has for us are that, even when the ride seems rough, we need to endure the bumps. We need to be the Salt of the Earth, the Lamp on the Hill, the peacemakers in our communities.

We look forward to a year of readings from Matthew.

Kirrilee Westblade

College Leader - Catholic Identity