Twenty-ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time
If
you are in college or professional sports, there are six sounds you want to
hear: duh-duh-dunt, duh-duh-dunt.
That’s the little sound clip that plays on ESPN Sports Center when a
great play has been made. It’s the
sign that the television sports
authority has noticed what you have done.
And sometimes, in middle school or high school, teammates or fans will chant that little
jingle to say that the previous play was amazing.
In
sports, as in much of life, we want to give credit when we something really
good happen, and receive credit when we do something good. It probably stretches back when our
parents taught us to thank people or applaud when something great had happened,
especially in certain contexts.
With the advent of Facebook and Twitter, that has certainly become much
easier to click “like” or “share,” or “favorite” a particular tweet.
The
disciples of the Pharisees along with the Herodians (those who supported King
Herod) tried to trap Jesus in today’s Gospel about the interaction between the
state (what is Caesar’s) and the religion (what is God’s). And many priests, especially at this
time of year, preach on the principles that every Catholic should think and
pray about as they approach the polls so that their vote truly advances what is
good for every human person, especially as enlightened through the Gospel. However, I want to focus, not on
“‘repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar,’” but on “‘and to God what belongs to
God.’”
What
does belong to God? We probably
certainly think about our gifts and talents: the things we do well. But if those gifts and talents also
helped us to get our job, then that is given to us by God. We may think of our families: the place
where we learned the faith and had the love of God made present in a very clear
way. Maybe sometimes you think
that a particular sibling might be from the devil by the way they treat you,
but they come from parents, who received their life from God, so they belong to
God as well, and are not from Satan.
We could spend all day thinking about the things that we have that
belong to God: life, home, family, pets, food, clothing, etc., etc., etc. In summary, everything that we have is
a gift from God. Without God
willing us into existence at each nanosecond, we would not be. God gives us everything. So if we are to give to God what
belongs to God, then are we to give Him everything?
St.
Augustine and St. Thomas both examine the word religion, and where it comes
from. St. Augustine, though his is
not the only explanation, tracks the word root from the Latin, ligare, to bind, just as ligaments
connect bone to bone. Religion is
the virtue whereby we are bound to God, and, as St. Thomas notes, give God what
is His due, which is why religion is considered an aspect of the virtue of justice. God has given us so much, and so we are
bound to give Him something back.
But what are we to give Him?
The
Prophet Micah asks this very question:
With what shall I
come before the Lord, and bow before God most high? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a
year old? Will the Lord be pleased
with thousands of rams, with myriad streams of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my crime, the fruit of my body
for the sin of my soul? You have
been told, O mortal, what is good, and what the Lord requires of you: Only to
do justice and to love goodness, and to walk humbly with your God.
Jesus expands on that
when He says to give God what belongs to God. But really, what more is there than justice, goodness, and
humility? Doing those things means
that we are giving our all to God.
And we are giving our all to God the Father, who gave His Firstborn, His
Beloved, not for His sin, but for ours!
When
we practice our religion, our faith, we are practicing giving God what is His due. Part of that is coming to Mass each
Sunday. So often I hear the
complaint, “But I don’t get anything out of Mass!” Now, that’s patently false, because we get to hear the Word
of God and, if we are in a state prepared to receive Holy Communion, we get to
have union with the same Son of God who died for us to save us from sin and
death! But, and this may be more
important, Mass isn’t about what we get out of it. Getting something out of Mass as we do is simply, as the
youth say, gravy. Mass is the time
when we get the opportunity to give back a little for the immeasurable amount
He has given to us. Yes, Mass may
not always be entertaining (it’s not supposed to be), but is it too much to
give God one hour each week to give Him worship, even if it’s not our favorite
activity? Or do we walk out
immediately after Holy Communion simply because we’ve grown tired and have more
important things to do, like go for breakfast at Big Boy, take a nap, and/or
watch the Lions try to turn a great win into a bitter loss? Sometimes there are legitimate reasons
to leave early, but we should be careful lest those exceptions become the
norm.
But
our religion, our giving back to God what is His, does not end in this
building. What we do on Sundays is
meant to inspire, nourish, and energize us to take to that faith, that religion,
into our daily life. Going to Mass
is not the end of our faith. It is
only the beginning! And by daily
prayer, weekly reading Scripture, acts of kindness and charity, we give back a
little to show God how much we appreciate the everything He has given us.
This
week, give back to God: read 1 chapter of Matthew’s Gospel; pray 1 Our Father
each day; do one random act of kindness to a fellow employee or student. God has given us everything. What we will give Him in return?
