Our Gospel states to us: “Render therefore to Caesar,” says our Lord, “the things that are Caesar’s”, and then He adds: “And to God the things that are God’s.” This statement reminds us that we are created in the image of God and thus all of our faculties should return to Him.
Saint Augustine stated that we “are the coins of God stamped with His image, and God demands the return of His coins as Caesar did the return of his.” Saint Jerome adds to this: “Let us give to Caesar the money which bears his inscription, since we cannot do otherwise, but let us give ourselves freely and of our own accord to God, for what our soul bears is the glorious imprint of the face of a God and not the more or less majestic head of an emperor.”
This all ties into our Epistle which stated: “He who hath begun a good work in you, will perfect it unto the day of Christ Jesus.” Therefore, we should be able to think of the many ways in which God has begun something great within us. We have been created in the image and likeness of God and have been given so many gifts that we are able to share with the Church and others.
It is impossible for us to claim to love God if at the same time we ignore the needs of others. This is something more than saying that we love someone because there must also be actions to what we say. We can say that we are Catholic all that we want, but at the same time we should backup who we are by our actions. We should not only live the faith in word, but also in action.
Just because we pride our country on the separation of Church and state does not mean that we can separate our faith from our public witness. There are some who claim to be Catholic, but give a public witness which attacks the sanctity of human life and marriage. This is an impossible way to live and order one’s life if they desire to order everything that they do towards God.
This Gospel is challenging us towards something deeper. We must always remember that God has given us everything that we have and therefore everything that we have we owe unto Him. Our Christian witness is not one of separation and complacency, but rather should be one which is fully integrated into the teaching authority of the Church. We are called not to complacently live our life, but instead to actively order our life towards Christ.
As Saint Augustine put it, “Our hearts are made for you, O Lord, and in you only can it find rest.” In thus manner let us find our rest in the Lord and “render therefore to Caesar, the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”
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