O glorious St. Matthew, in your Gospel you portray Jesus as the longed-for Messiah who fulfilled the Prophets of the Old Covenant and as the new Lawgiver who founded a Church of the New Covenant. Obtain for us the grace to see Jesus living in His Church and to follow His teachings in our lives on earth so that we may live forever with Him in Heaven.

Our Father...

St. Matthew presents Jesus as a New Moses. God called Moses to be His prophet and to speak to the people of Israel for Him. Through Moses, God freed His people from slavery in Egypt and led them to the Promised Land, where they would become a great nation. Through Moses God delivered His Law so that they would be formed into a people who would love and serve Him, the one true God, and each other. The leadership and example of Moses had a lasting impact even into the days of Jesus and beyond. The people followed even then the Law of Moses. St. Matthew works to portray Jesus as a New Moses, highlighting the many similarities between the two, but emphasizing how Jesus goes beyond anything that Moses taught or accomplished. Whereas Moses led the people on an exodus from slavery in Egypt to freedom in the Promised Land, Jesus led all of God’s people on a new exodus from slavery to death and sin to freedom in the Kingdom of God.