Twenty-ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time

(10/18/2026) Gospel Reading: Matthew 22:15-21

"Give to God What Belongs to God"

 

Shine like lights in the world

as you hold on to the word of life.

From the desk of Fr. Leo

     What do you think Jesus is trying to enunciate in this weekend's gospel? What I think Jesus is enunciating here is the important principle of keeping things in balance. We have many needs in our life. We have to take care of ourselves physically, we need time for work, for fun, for family, for friends, for learning and for our spiritual needs. It is so easy to let one area of our lives get out of control at the expense of another area. And this can cause many problems.

     One of the areas of our lives that many people tend to neglect is the spiritual. That is why every Sunday we are at Church to remember that there is more to life than getting up in the morning, going to work, going to bed at night and starting over the next day. We are in Church to care for the spiritual part of ourselves. That is what Jesus is talking about in the gospel this weekend. Giving to God what belongs to God may not have the excitement of a basketball game, or the pleasure of staying in bed on a Sunday morning. Yet, we are told in the third commandment to “Keep holy the Lord’s Day.” We've pretty much reduced His day to one hour and for some people even that is too much to ask. It is not all God said we owe Him. We could talk about charitable giving as in a mission collection that we do every year. Ultimately, we owe God for everything that we have. “What do we have that we have not received?” St. Paul asks us.

     Catholics as a group make more money than most other denominations yet in terms of percent of giving, we are among the stingiest. This is not about talking money. I am just pointing out that God asks for more than time from us. And why? Not for His good, but for our own. We all have a spiritual part to ourselves and that part of us needs to be nurtured too. And although, we need other things like rest, food, family, friends, and fun, the spiritual part of us is the only part that will survive. The only things we will take with us when we leave this world are the things we have done to serve God and the good works we have done for others, nothing else. Our eternal happiness will depend on that. That should certainly be enough motivation to “give up” something that will benefit us momentarily in this life in order to make room for something that will benefit us forever. It takes mainly self-discipline to do this, and faith. Let us continuously thank God for our faith and the prayers we offer as we offer our gifts of time and ourselves to our Lord. As we sing in one of the Psalms “This is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it.”

Meditation: What do we owe God and our neighbor? Scripture tells us to give to everyone whatever is their due and to "owe no one anything, except to love one another" (Romans 13:6-8). The Jewish authorities sought to trap Jesus in a religious-state issue. The Jews resented their foreign rulers and despised paying taxes to Caesar. They posed a dilemma to test Jesus to see if he was loyal to them and to their understanding of religion. If Jesus answered that it was lawful to pay taxes to a pagan ruler, then he would lose credibility with the Jewish nation who would regard him as a coward and a friend of Caesar. If he said it was not lawful, then the Pharisees would have grounds to report him to the Roman authorities as a political trouble-maker and have him arrested.

Coins inscribe the owner's name and authority on them
Jesus avoided their trap by confronting them with the image of a coin. Coinage in the ancient world had significant political power. Rulers issued coins with their own image and inscription on them. In a certain sense the coin was regarded as the personal property of the ruler. Where the coin was valid the ruler held political sway over the people. Since the Jews used the Roman currency, Jesus explained that what belonged to Caesar must be given to Caesar.

We have been "stamped" with God's image and likeness
This story has another deeper meaning as well. We, too, have been stamped with God's image since we are created in his own likeness - "God created man in his own image ..male and female he created them" (Genesis 1:26-27). We rightfully belong not to ourselves, but to God who created us and redeemed us in the precious blood of his Son, our Lord Jesus Christ (see 1 Corinthians 6:19-20). Paul the Apostle says that we are to present our bodies as a living sacrifice to God (Romans 12:1). Do you acknowledge that your life and everything you possess belongs to God and not to yourself? And do you give to God what rightfully belongs to him? 

Lord, because you have made me, I owe you the whole of my love; because you have redeemed me, I owe you the whole of myself; because you have promised so much, I owe you all my being. Moreover, I owe you as much more love than myself as you are greater than I, for whom you gave yourself and to whom you promised yourself. I pray you, Lord, make me taste by love what I taste by knowledge; let me know by love what I know by understanding. I owe you more than my whole self, but I have no more, and by myself I cannot render the whole of it to you. Draw me to you, Lord, in the fullness of love. I am wholly yours by creation; make me all yours, too, in love. (prayer of Anselm, 1033-1109 AD) 

read more at: http://dailyscripture.servantsoftheword.org

*** + ***