Daily Gospel Reflection
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February 21, 2026
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.”
“Why do you eat with tax collectors and sinners?” This question struck my conscience because it reflects a tension I have carried for a long time: how to choose friends, and what responsibility comes with friendship. Friendship is essential to the human experience. Without it, life feels incomplete. Some of my closest friends have helped carry me through the hardest moments of my life, and I know I would not be who I am today without them.
I have often wrestled with the idea that “you become your five closest friends.” While there is truth in that, I have always resisted using it as a reason to distance myself from people who struggle in their faith. I want friendship to be about giving, not just protecting myself. That is why Jesus’ words resonate so deeply: “I have not come to call the righteous to repentance but sinners.”
The most interesting part, though, is that Jesus does not eat with sinners to affirm their brokenness; he eats with them to heal it. Levi leaves everything behind before the banquet ever begins. The table becomes a place of transformation, not comfort. This challenges me to ask whether my friendships truly invite Christ into the room, or whether I sometimes place myself in the role of the healthy one instead of recognizing my own need for mercy and inviting others to do the same.
Jesus shows me that real friendship rooted in faith is not about strategy or self-protection but about presence. Trusting that when Christ is at the table, everyone there, including myself, is being called to repentance and renewal.
Prayer
Lord, you knew each of us before the foundation of the world and called us each by name. Free us from narrow, prejudicial thinking, attitudes and actions. We are all sinners. Inspire us to humbly serve you and all your creation. We ask this through Christ our Brother. Amen.
Saint of the Day
St. Peter Damian was declared a doctor of the Church for practicing what he preached. He reformed and strengthened the Church as an administrator, but he led people with his example.
He was born in 1007 in Italy as the youngest of a large family. When he was orphaned at a young age, he was sent to live with an older brother, who treated him like a slave and sent him to tend the pigs. Another brother, Damian, a priest, took pity on him and welcomed him into his home and educated him. In gratitude, Peter took this brother’s name as his own last name.
Peter was an excellent student and continued in school until he was teaching himself. He was also very pious and devoted himself to prayer and fasting. He seemed to always have a poor person under his care, and often fed them at his own table. He was considering a vocation to the religious life when two Benedictine monks happened to visit him. He heard about their community life and decided to join them.
He was so devout that his fasting and mortifications interfered with his health, and he had to spend time recovering. He used that time to learn the Scriptures well, and when he recovered fully, he was tasked with teaching others, both within the monastery and beyond.
Peter was eventually elected to lead the Benedictine community when the abbot died, and he greatly expanded the monastery and even went on to establish seven other houses for new communities.
He was so intelligent and led such a faithful life that popes and kings began to ask for his assistance in deciding matters. He was named bishop and cardinal, and fervently fought to reform life of the clergy, who were living in worldly ways. Whatever he proposed for others he practiced himself. The pope used him a number of times as his representative.
Peter never lost sight of the life of prayer, and continually sought relief from his official duties so he could live as a hermit. He encouraged people to live heroic lives of faith, especially through his own witness.
St. Peter Damian was declared a doctor of the Church, a title given to 38 saints who are known for elucidating the faith by their words or example. Some of his relics rest in the reliquary chapel in the Basilica.
St. Peter Damian, you urged others to live with heroic virtue by your own example—pray for us!
Image Credit: Our featured image of St. Peter Damian is in the public domain. Last accessed December 6, 2024 on Wikimedia Commons.
