Dear friends, My Homily for 29th (Mission) Sunday in Ordinary Time (A) 2014. EVERY CHRISTIAN HOLDS DUAL CITIZENSHIP The Pharisees who asked Jesus this question about taxes were interested in one thing: getting Jesus in trouble with the authorities. Jesus saw through their ploy, but instead of ignoring or humiliating them, he taught them a lesson. And that lesson is as valid today as it was twenty centuries ago: Give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and to God what belongs to God. Every Christian holds dual citizenship, each one of which has its own benefits and duties.Our birth made us citizens of an earthly nation; our baptism made us citizens of a heavenly Kingdom.Sometimes they overlap, but in the end, our earthly citizenship will finish, while our heavenly citizenship will last forever. Its obvious which one is more important. Through the centuries, the many Christian saints and martyrs have taught us that if we are ever forced to choose between the two,if ever Caesar tries to take what belongs to God,we must be faithful to our true, everlasting homeland, even if it means suffering painful consequences here on earth. But today Christ is reminding us that, as far as possible, we need to live out both of these citizenships responsibly. How can we do that? Lets take a few minutes to reflect on how we can be good citizens of earth, giving to Caesar what belongs to him, as well as good citizens in Christs Kingdom, giving to God what belongs to him. Pope Benedict made this same point - both citizenships are important, but our Christian citizenship is more important: When the Letter to the Hebrews says that Christians here on earth do not have a permanent homeland, but seek one which lies in the future (cf. Hebrews 11:13-16; Philippians 3:20),this does not mean for one moment that they live only for the future:present society is recognized by Christians as an exile;they belong to a new society which is the goal of their common pilgrimage and which is anticipated in the course of that pilgrimage...Hence, while we must always be committed to the improvement of the world, tomorrows better world cannot be the proper and sufficient content of our hope. (Spe Salvi, #4, #30) THE DUTIES OF HEAVENLY CITIZENSHIP Lets start with the duties of heavenly citizenship. What exactly belongs to God? Do we owe any taxes to the heavenly tax office? All of us know the answer immediately; it is written in the very first pages of the Bible.All that we are, all that we possess, and all that we can hope for has come to us from God.Just as the Roman coin bore the image of the Emperor who made it, so the human soul bears the image and likeness of God (Genesis 1:26), our Creator and our Father. He called each one of us into existence; he wants each of us to exist, so that we can enter into and develop a personal relationship with him. This is the whole purpose of our lives: to live in communion with God, starting now and leading into everlasting life.As the Catechism puts it (#44): Coming from God, going toward God, man lives a fully human life only if he freely lives by his bond with God.Freely living by our bond with God means living as he created us to live.And he has shown us how to do that by sending us his Son, the model of every Christian life, the Friend of every human soul (John 3:16; 15:14; Philippians 2: 5-11). And so, giving to God what belongs to God means obeying his commandments,following the example of Christ, our Savior and older Brother,and heeding the teachings of his Church. Ignoring God and his commandments, as if he were far away, uninterested, or foolish - that would be a kind of spiritual thievery, like stealing the Emperors coins. This is an important point for us to remember for World Mission Sunday, which is today: every one of us is called individually by God to follow him and fulfill a mission in life (Matthew 8:21-22). As Pope St. John Paul II put it towards the beginning of his papacy: It is essential for us to understand that Jesus has a specific task in life for each and every one of us.Each one of us is hand-picked, called by name by Jesus!There is no one among us who does not have a divine vocation!(Pope John Paul II, June 1, 1982) BEING A CHRISTIAN IN A DEMOCRACY - THE FORGOTTEN OPPORTUNITY But staying informed about important current issues is only half of our democratic duty.As Christians, we are called not only to help maintain civil society, but also to help improve it, to help build up a civilization of Christian justice and love. In democratic societies, we have a unique opportunity to do this by making good use of the many conversations that happen in election years - conversations about social virtues and values that never even happen in non-democratic societies. Many of our friends, colleagues, and neighbors want to make the right decisions in the voting booth, but dont understand the difference between foundational and secondary issues.They are hungry for the truth on these complicated issues.As followers of Christ, we are called to feed the hungry, to let our light shine before others.Sociological studies have repeatedly shown that the single biggest influence on how people vote is not the mass media, but the input and advice they get from friends and colleagues.We should never be afraid to explain our point of view and the Churchs teachings in conversations around mama put or at dinner parties.We are Gods messengers; we have something important - something crucial - to contribute to these conversations! The great Anglican political thinker Edmund Burke once said, All it takes for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing. In todays largely democratic world, where good and evil are still fighting it out, lets do something. Lets give to God what belongs to God (nothing less), and give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar (nothing more). Lets do so today in this Mass, tomorrow at the office or in the classroom, and every day thereafter, world without end, Amen.
Posted on: Sat, 18 Oct 2014 18:06:57 +0000