XXIX ORDINARY SUNDAY Homily Is it lawful to pay the census tax to Caesar or not? Well, show me the coin… Funny you should happen to have that coin (with a graven image of a selfproclaimed God!) in your pocket!! Repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar… And to God what belongs to God. Caesar’s power –whether or not he knows and acknowledges– is God-given and temporary. And God’s power is everywhere and always. It governs eternal life. And God can read hearts –not just words & appearances! So, we need to be open to God writing straight with crooked lines? If God could free the Israelites from exile in Babylon by using Cyrus –another foreign, pagan king– as we heard in the prophet Isaiah, then who is to say that he can’t work grace in our lives through people we don’t like? Like it or not, many of life’s questions are not yes or no, black or white. We are not to be ruled by the world’s values… but neither are we to opt out, to isolate ourselves and refuse to participate in society. Our bishops remind us, for instance, that we have a responsibility to vote, but to do so only after carefully considering, how the positions of candidates on a range of issues correspond to our Gospel beliefs in the sanctity of life and the dignity of the human person. Like Jesus, we must refuse the lies and deceptions of those who would have us believe that things are simple and self-evident when they are not. But like Jesus, we must also refuse to run from the challenge of defending our principles, even if others dislike or misunderstand us because of our honesty and our integrity. We must strive always to repay to God what is God’s –and that includes ourselves. We are created in God’s image and likeness; and therefore, unlike Caesar’s coin, we are stamped with God’s image and God’s imprint. We belong first to him. For example, take in consideration that the only measure on November ballot on which the Bishops of California have taken a position is supporting the Proposition 47, because it is aligned with Catholic social teaching. While reclassifying minor offenses, it frees up law enforcement to focus valuable resources on serious offenders. The savings enables resources to be directed to restorative activities, assistance for victims of crime and mental health and drug treatment programs that are not available under current sentencing guidelines. Pope Benedict reminds us in Sacramentum caritatis that public worship at Eucharist has consequences for how we relate to others… it commits us to public witness to our
faith. To share the Lord’s Table, to eat the bread of life, is to commit to God before all else. Let me end with the story of the 6th grade class whose pastor took them on a tour of the parish church. He explained the symbolism of the stained glass windows, identified the statues, and explained the altar furnishings, the sacred vessels, and the vestments. After all this, he had the class sit down and he invited individual students to explain what they found most interesting and important in all that they had seen and heard. One young man –let’s call him Johnny– began almost immediately to raise his hand and to wave it around, “Ooh, ooh, me, Father, call on me.” But the pastor knew that Johnny could sometimes be a wise guy and a bit of a trouble maker, so he tried to ignore the waving hand and to call on other students. Eventually, though, there was no one left to speak but Johnny –still enthusiastically waving his hand. So the pastor finally called on him. With apparent sincerity, the young man said: “I think the most important and interesting part of everything I saw today, Father, is the exit signs over the church doors.” Convinced that Johnny was having him on, and shaking his head in exasperation, the pastor said: “Well supposing you just tell us why you think the exit signs are the most interesting and important, Johnny…” Imagine the pastor’s surprise when the young man replied: “Well, I figure that when we go out through those exit doors, that’s when we find out whether what we said and did at mass made any difference or not.” Today, let us pray with St. Anselm: Lord, because you have made me, I owe you the whole of my love; because you have redeemed me, I owe you the whole of myself; because you have promised so much, I owe you all my being. I pray you, Lord, make me taste by love what I taste by knowledge; let me know by love what I know by understanding. Draw me to you, Lord, in the fullness of love. I am wholly yours by creation; make me all yours, too, in love. Amen. Entrance We give to God something that we do not give to any earthly ruler. That thing is worship. And this is precisely why we are gathered here –to worship God, Creator of the universe and Lord of all. Sadly, in practice we don’t always put God first in our lives. Prayer of the Faithful Let us pray that we may not be afraid to stand up and be counted in a world that often ignores the values of Christ. Lord, grant us in all our tasks your help, in all our dangers your protection, in all our doubts your guidance, and in all our sorrows your consolation. We ask this through Christ our Lord.