The New comfort

A New Comfort

“Those who are well do not need a physician, but those who are sick do.”

Vocation of Matthew

Giving comfort or consolation is a basic emotional need of human beings. 

I share here my experience of giving communion to the blind woman at San Roque every Sunday. She wants to be touched and give the blessing prayer. Then only she gets satisfied. One day it was raining. She became upset.  

People need comfort because it helps them cope with the daily routine of pain, stress, and sadness. 

In today’s Gospel, Matthew received comfort from Jesus who was passing by the custom's office. His work involved collecting customs duties from travelers, traders, and farmers, often taxing goods entering the land. To secure this position, he would have paid an advance to the Roman authorities and then collected taxes in excess to recover his payment and earn a profit. It was a despised profession.

Despite having a job, income, and Roman connections, Matthew seems inwardly empty. The people’s hatred, the burden of dishonesty, and the weariness of his soul left him comfortless. But when Jesus calls him, he responds immediately, as if he had been waiting for this very day. He rises and follows. And not only that—he throws a banquet to celebrate the call. He receives a new comfort in Jesus.

In the first reading, Isaac lost his mother, and Abraham purchases land to bury her—the first portion of the Promised Land that becomes his. Isaac grows up quickly. Abraham, now aged, commissions his servant to find a wife for Isaac from his own kin. The servant succeeds and brings Rebekah. Isaac receives her into his mother’s tent and marries her. The text simply says, “Isaac was comforted after his mother’s death.”

How many sons of Abraham? Not only Isaac, also Ismael, but he was born not to Sarah, but Hagar. But Sarah’s death really disturbed isaac. because he was the only son. 

A deeper reading suggests that Isaac likely carried trauma after witnessing his father prepare to sacrifice him. His bond with his mother, Sarah, may have deepened after that event. Hence, her death left him inconsolable—especially in his own home, where loneliness cuts deepest. He finds that lost comfort in Rebekah.

Isaac, consoled in the midst of personal loss. Matthew, consoled in the midst of social shame. Whether through people or directly through God, true comfort always has a divine touch.

So, what sorrow or discouragement in your life today seems unbearable or unhealed?

The Lord Himself is coming toward you as your new comfort.

Our part is simple:

Be like Isaac—go out into the field and wait.

Be like Matthew—be present at your duty, and invite Jesus at your party. 

When comfort is given, share it with others.

Jesus, in turn, defines His mission: “I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”

And then He makes this powerful statement: “I desire mercy, not sacrifice.”

What does that mean?

Sacrifice is rooted in the past—we offer atonement for sins already committed. Mercy, however, is rooted in the present. The Good Samaritan didn’t ask how the man ended up on the road. He simply saw his present suffering and responded with compassion.

When we meet people, do we view them through the eyes of their past? Or do we look at them through the mercy of the present? To comfort someone, to see them as God sees them, is the beginning of true healing