21 September 1985
Lima, Peru

My dear Confreres:

For a few minutes yesterday evening when talking to Father Rigazio about the earthquake in Mexico and the possibility of making contact with our Confreres there, we both began to reflect upon the mystery of this terrible happening over which man has no control. Why does God allow this to happen? We know for certain that He has His own reasons, but they are above and beyond our limited minds. An earthquake shakes not only the earth and all who stand on it. It shakes also our minds and forces us to admit that however deep man may probe into the secrets of the universe, he will never master them all. An earthquake brings man back to earth.

An earthquake brings man back to the realization that he is creature and not Creator. An earthquake brings a man into the heart of the psalmist who said: "O God, how difficult I find your thoughts, How many of them there are! If I counted them they would be more than the grains of sand. When I awake, I am still with you." (Ps. 138:17-18).

There are earthquakes of another order than the physical one, and one such was the call of Levi or Matthew, which is described in today's gospel. Looked at from our point of view, Matthew was not a suitable candidate for the priesthood, much less for the episcopacy.

To begin with, he was a man who had become rich on oppression. All the world knew that and thoroughly despised him for it. Matthew, for his part, had probably long ago become accustomed to being despised, which probably made him all the more avaricious and greedy. It was when Jesus Christ passed by and looked at him with His penetrating eyes that the earthquake happened in Matthew's life. Jesus Christ seemingly spoke only two words: "Follow Me," (Mt 9:9) and Matthew rose up and followed, "leaving everything," (Lk 5:28) according to St. Luke, except, we can presume, that pen with which he was to write that book which we know as his gospel and which will be a best-seller until the end of time.

What stirred Matthew to follow Jesus is his secret and God's. However, we can be certain of this; namely, that the glance of Jesus was one of love. That caused an earthquake in Matthew, for he was so used to receiving glances of hate from people, that the glance of love from Jesus Christ brought his world of money crashing to the ground, as buildings do in an earthquake.

The story of Matthew's conversion could be a salutary earthquake for us. It is very easy for us to label people and put them into categories of our own making, and especially to categorize unfavorably people who are and act differently from us. The story of Matthew's conversion is a forceful reminder to us that it is only God Who can fully read the human heart, and that the human heart will respond to love, when all other means fail. No change was wrought in Matthew until he felt the warmth of the love which Jesus Christ showed him. It remains true for us today. If we want to change the poor, if we want to change oppressors, the only way is that of Jesus Christ, Who changed Matthew by making him feel that there was goodness in his heart, not withstanding his grasping hands. Earthquakes of conversion only happen when there is movement of love from one individual heart to another.

Let me end by allowing St. Vincent to speak. In an era when there was much bitterness between Protestant and Catholic, St. Vincent saw clearly that no change would be achieved unless there was profound respect for the individual person, whatever his theological views might be, and unless the spoken and the written word sprung from a loving heart.

Let us listen to St. Vincent describing his personal experience: "...God has been pleased to make use of this wretch to convert three people; but I must admit that meekness, humility and patience in dealing with these poor misguided people was the essence of this good work." (Coste I, Eng. ed., ltr. 30, pp 57-58).