Message from Augie

In today’s Gospel the question is about authority.  What can Caesar rightly claim?   How far does that claim reach?   And what belongs to God?

The coin bears the emperors image and inscription.  It is part of the world of Roman money and taxation, and a world Jesus’ listeners cannot pretend does not exist.  Yet Jesus’ second instructs prevents Caesar’s claim from becoming the whole story.

So what does it mean to give to God what belongs to God?  We might think first of money.  But Jesus’ words reach farther than anything we could put in an offering plate.

Sometimes we must decide how to fulfill an obligation that is legitimate without compromising a conviction that matters just as deeply. We cannot settle every obligation by dividing life into what is religious and what is not.  Our faith must accompany us into the decisions we make as workers, employers, parents, neighbors and citizens.

Jesus asks whose image in on the coin.  Caesar’s questioners answer.  Then repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God.

 The coin may bear Caesar’s image but the person holding it bears God’s.

SO THE QUESTION:  WHAT CONSCIENCE DECISIONS CALLUS TO FULFILL A DUTY WE WOULD RATHER AVOID?

PRAYER TO ST. JUDE:  St. Jude, apostle of Christ, the church honors and prays to you universally as the patron of hopeless and difficult cases.   Pray for us in our needs.   Make use, we implore you of this powerful privilege given to you to bring visible and speedy help where help is needed.  Pray that we humbly accept the trials and disappointments and mistakes which are a part of our human nature.   Help us to see the reflection of the suffering of Christ in the trials and tribulations of our lives.   Let us see in a spirit of great faith and hop the part we even now share in the joy of Christ’s resurrection and which we long to share fully in heaven.   Intercede that we may again experience this joy in answer to our present needs.   If it is God’s dire for us (here make your request)  we know our prayers will be heard through your intercession.  AMEN