Matthew

Matthew   "As he passed by, he saw Levi, son of Alphaeus, sitting at the customs post. He said to him, 'Follow me.' And he got up and followed him.
   "While he was at table in his house, many tax collectors and sinners sat with Jesus and his disciples; for there were many who followed him. Some scribes who were Pharisees saw that he was eating with sinners and tax collectors and said to his disciples, 'Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?'
   "Jesus heard this and said to them (that), 'Those who are well do not need a physician, but the sick do. I did not come to call the righteous but sinners.'" (Mark 2:14-17)

Matthew (Levi). Formerly a tax-collector at Capernaum, he became one of the more prominent apostles. “Matthew is more fully introduced to the reader by the Evangelist [the Gospel of Matthew, 10:3] than perhaps any other member of the Twelve. He is introduced in Mark 2:13-15, as Levi the son of Alpheus, a tax collector of Capernaum, who gave a dinner in Jesus’ honor. Luke in his account of the same event, 5:27:29, also calls him Levi the son of Alpheus, but Matthew in his account, 9:9, 10, speaks of him as Matthew. In the list of the twelve apostles, however, all three of them call him Matthew” (Edgar J. Goodspeed. The Twelve, The Story of Christ’s Apostles. New York: Collier Books, 1962. p. 51).

    St Matthew, was a tax collector whose feast is celebrated on September 21.  He is an example to us of faithful response to the call of Jesus.  When Jesus saw him at his collection post, He simply said, “Follow Me,” and Matthew responded without any hesitation.  Matthew is the author of the First Gospel of the New Testament and preached the Gospel in Judea, Ethiopia, Persia and Parthia.  He is revered as a martyr, although traditional accounts of his death vary.  He is believed to have been beheaded in Ethiopia.
    In this window, Matthew is seen holding a quill and a scroll symbolical of his Gospel writing.  In the window below can be seen three money bags relating to his occupation as a tax collector and an axe, the cause of his martyrdom.  In the upper window of Mortification is an alabaster of myrrh.  Myrrh speaks of death, both physical and spiritual.  Through mortification we learn to die to ourselves in order that Christ might live within us.  Also symbolical of mortification are the rocks surrounding the alabaster.  In the fourth chapter of the Gospel of St Matthew we find the account of the temptation of Jesus in which Satan told Jesus to command that the stones become bread.  The reply of Jesus was, “One does not live by bread alone, but, by every word that comes forth from the mouth of God.”  (Compiled by Phyllis Evans)

Matthew, General Audience, Pope Benedict XVI, 08/30/06