Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Is it lawful to pay taxes even when the money will be spent on abortion of gender ideologies? Yes, the tax must be paid. You may say that they are stealing from you, but actually you would be stealing from them if you didn’t pay the tax. So, you may need to mention that in your next confession. It is lawful to pay the tax no matter what they do with the money.
Our Lord gives us a wonderful catechesis that is very profound. He asks the men who poses the question to him, “Whose image is this and whose inscription in on the coin?” They answer that it is Caesar’s. And Jesus responds, “Then give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God.” But what does it mean to give to God what belongs to God and give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar?
It is easy to see what belongs to Caesar since we can see his image on the coin. But what belongs to God? What are we being asked to give to God, what belongs to him? Better said, who has the image of God inscribed in them? All of us! We have all been created in the image and likeness of God. What should we want to give to God, what does he have a right to? Your life!! Don’t forget that Jesus is speaking to Pharisees who are very law-abiding people, but their daily life was completely separated from these rules and regulations. Their life was another thing; it had nothing to do with these laws. They could do whatever they wanted and if they followed the Law they thought they were better than others.
Do you remember the poor widow who gave her two pennies in the temple? Christ observing what she did said that this woman put all she had into the temple. Actually, the original translation said she put in all her life; she gave her entire life. Do you give your whole life away like that? No way. We are not willing to give it even for the sake of the other. Jesus Christ did. He gave himself. Christ was given to us by the Father for love of you. And you and I are called to do the same. To give this coin to God is to give yourself. He has his imprint on you and created you in his image and likeness.
This sower of love has been put inside of you. This love has been placed in you; you are called to love. The LORD says to Cyrus in the first reading, a pagan king, “I have called you by your name.” Give to God what belongs to God and to Caesar what belongs to Caesar. We generally take care of the things that belong to Caesar. We pay our taxes, most of them, and educate the kids. And when we deal with the things of the world, the things used by men, like coins and money, we often ask for life from them. We ask Caesar to give us healthcare, to provide money if we don’t have a job, to lower the price of gasoline, we ask the state to protect us from people who can harm us, we feel safe to go out most of the time and not get robbed. But often the state doesn’t really help, it makes things worse. Look at the state of the black family where 90 percent of families have no father because of welfare there is no incentive for the wife to stay married. Who knows in another five or ten years what they will do with artificial intelligence, which is programmed by the same people who don’t have a Christian outlook.
Besides, God is the only one who gives you things. Health can only be given by God. The same with money and well-being. He is the only one who can give you the ability to love, truly love without any selfishness, a love that transforms you and the people around you. So don’t be foolish, yes, give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar. Give to the world what belongs to the world. But keep what is God’s and give that to him. Give him this love that he has given you, this forgiveness, this mercy that he has shown you. These are the things of God. He knows how to forgive, how to be merciful, how to love.
The gospel is wonderful. There are so many of us here who are Pharisees, who think that we are very good and perhaps we have not given to God what belongs to God. We are not like that poor widow who gave all her life. Do we say to God, do with me whatever you want. You are the one who provides for me, not my boss or the state or even myself. You are the one who provides for me.
Do you know what God has provided in your life? Money is the least of it. What is the most important thing that God provided in your life? His son, Jesus Christ! He has given you happiness, makes you a new man or new woman, transforms your life. If you think your life would have been better if you didn’t have this defect or if you didn’t commit that sin, or if you had not fallen into adultery or had that abortion, think again. You might say, oh, how I wish I could rewind my life like a movie and not fall into those sins. If you were able to rewind your life, I don’t know if you would have committed the same mistakes. Perhaps you learned or perhaps you didn’t, but I hope that we can love a little more today or forgive a little more because of those mistakes.
Our Lord is teaching us to forgive, to love, to not think we are better than anyone else because we pay our taxes or live in a big house, or we go all the time to Mass. What we are really missing is to give our whole life to the Lord. May it happen one day!