Jesus passes a tax collector's post and says two words: "Follow me." Matthew - a man his own neighbors would have despised, someone who collected money for Rome by squeezing his own people - gets up immediately and follows. Then he throws a dinner party, and it's full of "tax collectors and sinners." The Pharisees are scandalized. Jesus's answer is the whole Gospel in one line: "I desire mercy, not sacrifice. I did not come to call the righteous but sinners." Paul adds the shape mercy takes once it's received: "grace was given to each of us... for building up the body of Christ." Mercy called Matthew. Mercy sent him out to build something with it.

The deeper reflection on today's readings - and a daily prayer for your household - is waiting in the & Altar app and at andaltar.com. More after the news.

📰 Quick Hits

1. "Spare Him Because He Loved Us": Congress Marks 50 Years of the Hyde Amendment

Ahead of the Hyde Amendment's 50th anniversary on September 30, Rep. Chris Smith led a Special Order on the House floor last week honoring the law that has kept federal taxpayer dollars from directly funding abortion since 1976 - and, advocates estimate, has meant the difference for millions of children. Smith recalled Henry Hyde's own words near the end of his life, quoting Archbishop Fulton Sheen on facing final judgment utterly alone - except, Hyde believed, for one thing: "I think there will be a chorus of voices that have never been heard in this world but are heard beautifully and clearly in the next, and they will plead for everyone who fought to defend them. They will say to God, 'Spare him because he loved us.'"

Faith Lens for the Home: Hyde didn't claim the movement earned mercy - he imagined mercy pleading on its behalf simply because it loved. Ask your family: "What does it mean that even our best efforts don't earn God's favor - that mercy is always a gift, not a wage?" That's Matthew's whole calling too.

2. A Bishop and a Once-Imprisoned Missionary Join the Religious Freedom Commission

President Trump named Bishop Robert Barron of Winona-Rochester to the bipartisan U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom last week, alongside Andrew Brunson, an evangelical pastor who spent two years wrongly imprisoned in Turkey before his 2018 release. "I was honored to accept President Trump's invitation," Barron wrote, calling the commission "strictly bipartisan" and noting the Catholics who've served before him: Robert George, Mary Ann Glendon, Fr. Thomas Reese, Charles Chaput, William Murphy. The commission - which can only recommend, not compel - has separately urged the administration to press for the release of religious prisoners in China, including Jimmy Lai, ahead of President Xi's visit to Washington this Wednesday.

Faith Lens for the Home: A man once imprisoned for his faith now sits on the commission meant to defend others facing what he survived. Ask your family: "What does it mean to be sent, after suffering something, to go build something for someone else who's suffering the same thing?" That's Matthew's tax booth turned into a Gospel.

3. A Vatican-Backed Film About a Young Man's Suffering Heads Toward the Oscars

"Green Lava," a documentary co-produced by the Vatican's Dicastery for Communication, opened this week in Beverly Hills as the first Vatican-backed film to pursue Academy Award consideration. It follows Giacomo Mattivi, 22, who lives with Duchenne muscular dystrophy, uses a wheelchair and ventilator - and who studies sociology, works as a catechist, writes poetry, plays football with friends, and runs a small egg-selling business. His brother Mattia died of the same condition in 2022. Rather than close off in grief, Giacomo's family chose to open themselves to others, and the film - shot in the Dolomites - has been described as "a poignant reflection on independence, the human spirit, and the transformative power of community in the face of adversity."

Faith Lens for the Home: A family that could have shut the world out after losing one son to a disease instead opened their door wider, welcoming a camera crew into their hardest years so others could find hope in it. Ask your family: "What does it look like for us to turn something painful into a gift for someone else?" Matthew did it with a tax booth. This family is doing it with grief.

⛪ Family Saint Spotlight

St. Matthew, Apostle and Evangelist - September 21

A tax collector in Capernaum - a profession despised by his fellow Jews as collaboration with Roman occupation - Matthew was sitting at his customs post when Jesus said two words that changed everything: "Follow me." He got up immediately, left the booth behind, and threw a dinner for Jesus filled with people just like him: tax collectors and sinners. He went on to write the Gospel that bears his name, the one that opens with a genealogy tracing Jesus's ancestry through kings and sinners alike, and preached, by tradition, in Ethiopia or Persia before his martyrdom. He is patron of accountants, bankers, and tax collectors - the very profession that once defined him before mercy did instead.

Ask at dinner: "Matthew got up immediately when Jesus called him - he didn't finish the day's work first. Is there something we've been putting off following God on, waiting for a better moment?"

✋ One Simple Action

Pray for the Hyde Amendment's approaching 50th anniversary and for the millions its 50 years have protected. Pray for Bishop Barron, Andrew Brunson, and Jimmy Lai ahead of Wednesday's meeting between Presidents Trump and Xi. And look up "Green Lava" or Giacomo Mattivi's story this week - let a young man who turned his suffering into a gift remind your family what mercy received looks like when it's given away again.

📚 Read More

• Hyde Amendment 50th anniversary - Chris Smith's floor speech: LifeNews (https://www.lifenews.com/2026/09/17/members-of-congress-celebrate-hyde-amendments-50th-anniversary/) and Rep. Chris Smith's office (https://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=415841) and National Right to Life (https://nrlc.org/nrlnewstoday/2026/01/in-2026-nrlc-will-celebrate-the-50th-anniversary-of-the-hyde-amendment-which-has-saved-over-2600000-lives/)
• Bishop Barron joins US Commission on International Religious Freedom: OSV News via NCR (https://www.ncronline.org/news/trump-names-bishop-barron-international-religious-freedom-watchdog) and Catholic Herald (https://thecatholicherald.com/article/bishop-barron-joins-us-commission-on-international-religious-freedom) and Catholic World Report on Jimmy Lai appeal (https://www.catholicworldreport.com/2026/09/15/u-s-religious-freedom-commission-urges-trump-to-press-for-release-of-religious-prisoners/)
• "Green Lava" - Vatican's first Oscar-qualifying film: Vatican News (https://www.vaticannews.va/en/vatican-city/news/2026-09/green-lava-giacomo-mattivi-story-on-the-road-to-the-oscars.html) and Variety (https://variety.com/2026/film/global/vatican-submit-film-oscar-consideration-1236864011/)
• St. Matthew, Apostle and Evangelist: Franciscan Media (https://www.franciscanmedia.org/saint-of-the-day/saint-matthew/)

Follow me, Jesus said to a man everyone else had written off, and Matthew got up immediately. I desire mercy, not sacrifice. A senator once imagined unborn children pleading for mercy on behalf of those who loved them. A once-imprisoned pastor now defends others facing what he survived. A family turned their grief into an open door instead of a closed one. Mercy called Matthew. It's still calling. Get up and follow.