Who Me?

Jesus saw a tax collector named Levi sitting at the customs post.  

He said to him, "Follow me."
And leaving everything behind, he got up and followed him.
Then Levi gave a great banquet for him in his house,
and a large crowd of tax collectors
and others were at table with them.
The Pharisees and their scribes complained to his disciples, saying,
"Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?" Jesus said to them in reply,
"Those who are healthy do not need a physician, but the sick do. I have not come to call the righteous to repentance but sinners."

Did Jesus have the foggiest idea of what He was doing?  I know that hindsight is twenty-twenty but He must have known what kind of man Levi (Matthew) was.  For heaven's sake, he was a tax collector. Why there was no one that was looked down upon more than a tax collector, a collaborator with the hated Roman occupiers of Israel.  Picking a tax collector as one of your disciples is a real public relations nightmare. 

But, Jesus DID choose Levi and He knew full well who the man was and what he did and how much he sinned and still Jesus picked him.  Christ does the same with us.  He picks us for certain jobs and He knows who we are and how much we have failed, He picks us anyway.  Maybe we should learn to trust Him? 

The truth is the truth no matter if you believe it or not.  Purgatory is home to millions of souls who come not only from the Catholic tradition but from the Protestant tradition as well. One thing the people in Purgatory have in common is that to a man they are almost all forgotten by those left here on earth.  The Protestants do not believe that Purgatory exists so their dead languishes with no hope of early release because no one prays for them.   Many Catholics remain because we comfort ourselves with the thought that, "Mom is now in heaven."  I pray that she is but maybe she isn't.  Please pray for the Poor Souls in purgatory, don't let your love stop this side of the grave.