RETURNING LOVE

When the Jews asked Jesus whether it was lawful to pay to the emperor or not, He gave a brilliant answer: “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, but give to God what is God’s.” This, of course was not a direct answer to their question. Instead, Jesus made them think. What belongs to Caesar? And what belongs to God? Then, too, how can we give to God what is God’s?

Actually, we also have to think about all this. The first part of Jesus’ statement seems fairly to answer. We should be good citizens and pay just taxes and follow the rules. But how about the second part of his statement? What did Jesus mean when he said that? Perhaps the best way to answer the question would be to refer to Genesis. There we read: “God created man in the image of himself, in the image of God He created him, male and female He created them. ”(Gen.1:27) This tells us that we owe our whole being to God. He created our heart, our mind and our very soul. He created our lungs as well as the air we breathe. He created cows that live in the fields and munch the grass that is eventually turned into the milk that we drink. Not only that, He sustains us now – every moment of our lives.

The Gospel story today might be related to the creation of man. Since the time God created us, He has been pouring out his blessings on us, too many to count. Aware of this, we give God continuous thanks, over and over expressing our gratitude not only with words but also by living a good life; in particular, by loving Him and loving one another. Loving God and loving others – that is the best way to give God what is His.

On this World Mission Sunday, we are reminded of the concerns of the Church to reach out to frontier missions. Did it ever strike you that, without the sacrifices and generosity of the early Irish missionaries we would not be what we are today. Let us contribute our share with prayers and sacrificial giving of our money so that others who have not known Christ may be evangelized.

I have here a parable that relates about duffel bags of old, tattered money bills at the Central Bank Depository. They started conversing to one another. A $5 bill asked a $100 and $50 bills in the same sack, “Where have you been these past days of summer?” “Gee, I went to 5-star hotels and casinos and big restaurants, ”bragged the $100.“ And how about you?” he asked the $50 bill. ”Well, I’ve been to department stores and many fast food counters,” replied the $50 bill. The two looked at the $5 who appeared glum asked, “How about you?” “All I ever did was, go to church, and go to Church!” The lesson from this parable is that we give more of the $5 & $10 bills and other big bills and less of the $1 every Sunday when we go to Mass.

A JOKE FROM ST. JOE: What is the best after dinner speech you ever heard? The best one I ever heard was from a friend who said: “Give me the bill!”

This Sunday we celebrate World Mission Sunday. Please be more generous in supporting our foreign missionaries and international priests especially in their missions abroad and at their respective countries. The feast of Ss. Simon and Jude, Apostles falls on a Saturday that is October 28. This is all for now, watch for the next bulletin. God bless!

Your Priest-Servant and Parochial Administrator,

Fr. Reggie