September 21 Feast of Saint Matthew
Collect from Common Worship
O Almighty God,
whose blessed Son called Matthew the tax collector
to be an apostle and evangelist:
give us grace to forsake the selfish pursuit of gain
and the possessive love of riches
that we may follow in the way of your Son Jesus Christ,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
This is a contemporary reworking of the collect composed for the Book of Common Prayer (1549). That collect was based on the Gospel reading of the day:
ALMIGHTIE God, whiche by thy blessed sonne dyddest call Mathewe from the receipte of custome to be an Apostle and Evangelist; Graunt us grace to forsake all covetous desires, and inordinate love of riches, and to folowe thy sayed sonne Jesus Christ; who lyveth and reigneth, &c.
USA (TEC) BCP has replaced it with a collect composed by Rev. Dr. Massey H. Shepherd jr reminiscent of the one for the feast of Saint Andrew:
We thank you, heavenly Father, for the witness of your apostle and evangelist Matthew to the Gospel of your Son our Savior; and we pray that, after his example, we may with ready wills and hearts obey the calling of our Lord to follow him; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.
possessive love of riches is not quite the same as inordinate love of riches – but Rev. Dr. Massey H. Shepherd jr appears to have forgotten that (a) Matthew was a tax collector, and (b) the global economy is in a state of some dissaray because of an inordinate love of bonuses!
If we’re going to take liberties with the test let’s say : –
ALMIGHTIE God, whiche by thy blessed sonne dyddest call Mathewe from the receipte of custome to be an Apostle and Evangelist; Graunt us grace to forsake all covetous desires, and inordinate love of shares and bonuses, and to folowe thy sayed sonne Jesus Christ; who lyveth and reigneth, &c.