Back at the start of Advent we began a new Liturgical Year. That means we started following a different cycle of readings. We are now in year A for the Sunday readings and cycle 2 for weekday readings.
The Gospel of Matthew is read during year A. Every Sunday Gospel, expect on a few special occasions, will come from the Gospel of Matthew. You will notice that we will read the Gospel straight through. Sunday after Sunday we will read from Matthew, picking up where we left off the week before.
Did you know?
- Matthew is the first book of the New Testament and comes as the 40th book in the Bible.
- This Gospel contains 28 chapters.
- It was most likely written between the years 70 – 110.
- The authorship is unknown but traditionally believed to be Matthew the tax collector turned follower of Jesus.
- The Gospel of Matthew was most likely written in Antioch.
- Matthew quotes more than 60 times from prophetic passages of the Old Testament, more than any other Gospel.
- It was written to a Jewish audience.
- This Gospel was written to establish that Jesus Christ is indeed the Messiah.>
- It begins with the Genealogy of Jesus.
- The Gospel of Matthew is a natural bridge between the Old and New Testaments.>
- Matthew portrays Jesus as a second, greater Moses.
- Matthew has a fivefold division that suggests it was modeled on the structure of the Pentateuch (the first five books of the OT).
- Matthew contains five major sermons or discourses that end with “when Jesus had finished saying these things.”
- The Sermon on the Mount is Matthew’s greatest composition.
- It ends with Jesus saying, “Behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.”
There you go. Now that your interest in the Gospel of Matthew has been piqued, I encourage you to stay tuned and pay attention week after week as we hear from the Gospel according to Matthew.
Sister Lisa Maurer
Sister Lisa Maurer was born and raised in Sleep Eye, Minnesota. Before entering the Monastery in 2007, she taught and coached in Catholic schools within the New Ulm Diocese. Sister Lisa made her Perpetual Monastic Profession in July 11, 2012. Her first ministry as a Benedictine Sister was working at the parishes of St. Lawrence and St. Joseph in Duluth. Currently she is Director of Mission Integration for the Benedictine Health System.