Paying Cesar, Loving God

How good God is to us! Thank God for this one hour, this one day of the week that is the Lord’s Day! At least we have this one day a week to step aside from all the problems the Caesars of the world inflict on us and worship the King of all the world!

I was in Church listening to a priest preach on this Gospel some years ago, and he said,

“In these difficult times, I want to make just three points:

“#1 - GET all you can!” ---- A man sitting next to me said, “AMEN!”

“#2 – KEEP all you can!” ---- Again the man next to me said, “AMEN!”

Then the priest said, “#3 – GIVE all you can!”

And the man sitting next to me said, “What a shame to spoil a good homily!”

Repaying to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God simply means that we have both civic and religious obligations. But the obligations to Caesar and God are radically different: To Caesar (to Government today) we still pay taxes, but to God we give everything!

You know, our taxes are automatically deducted from our salaries and our purchases. Our service to God, however, is not taken from us but is freely and consciously given. Our obligation to God is really the giving that freely and consciously flows from our sense of how good God has been to us. If you want to grow in giving, grow in being aware of how good God is to you. Every morning, every afternoon, every evening, take a moment to stop what you’re doing and remember how good God is to you.

How good God is to us! Thank God for this one hour, this one day of the week that is the Lord’s Day! At least we have this one day a week to step aside from all the problems the Caesars of the world inflict on us and worship the King of all the world!

Fr. Mark Zacker

Pastor

Twenty-ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time | USCCB