Render What is Due

29th Sunday in Ordinary Time Oct 19
First reading                                        Isaiah 45:1,4-6
Thus says the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus, whom he has taken by his right hand to subdue nations before him and strip the loins of kings, to force gateways before him that their gates be closed no more: ‘It is for the sake of my servant Jacob, of Israel my chosen one, that I have called you by your name, conferring a title though you do not know me. I am the Lord, unrivalled; there is no other God besides me. Though you do not know me, I arm you that men may know from the rising to the setting of the sun that, apart from me, all is nothing.’
Psalm                                                Psalm 95:1,3-5,7-10

Second reading                               1 Thessalonians 1:1-5

From Paul, Silvanus and Timothy, to the Church in Thessalonika which is in God the Father 
and the Lord Jesus Christ; wishing you grace and peace.
  
We always mention you in our prayers and thank God for you all, and constantly 
remember before God our Father how you have shown your faith in action, worked for love 
and persevered through hope, in our Lord Jesus Christ.
  
We know, brothers, that God loves you and that you have been chosen, because when 
we brought the Good News to you, it came to you not only as words, but as power and as 
the Holy Spirit and as utter conviction.

Gospel                                          Matthew 22:15-21

The Pharisees went away to work out between them how to trap Jesus in what he said. And they sent their disciples to him, together with the Herodians, to say, ‘Master, we know that you are an honest man and teach the way of God in an honest way, and that you are not afraid of anyone, because a man’s rank means nothing to you. Tell us your opinion, then. Is it permissible to pay taxes to Caesar or not?’ But Jesus was aware of their malice and replied, ‘You hypocrites! Why do you set this trap for me? Let me see the money you pay the tax with.’ They handed him a denarius, and he said, ‘Whose head is this? Whose name?’ ‘Caesar’s’ they replied. He then said to them, ‘Very well, give back to Caesar what belongs to Caesar – and to God what belongs to God.’

Reflection

By Beth Eguia

Pedro received two ten peso coins from his mother, one for himself and one to place in the offering at church. As they were walking down the sidewalk to church, he accidentally dropped one, and it rolled into a nearby drain. He peered down through the grates of the drain at the shiny coin on the bottom. When he realized he couldn't retrieve it, he said, “Well, God, there goes your ten pesos.”

Too often, we neglect to give what is due to God. Just like Pedro, we think of ourselves first before God. We only give our spare time, talent and treasures to Him. During offerings at church or donations to charitable institutions and typhoon victims, we only give little. Most of our wealth we spend on unnecessary things like buying cigarettes, liquors, expensive shoes, clothes, toys or even use to bet in casinos or lotto. We spend our time more on work, that we even neglect going to church on Sundays or even spend quality time with our loved ones. We use our talents just to make money, retire and die. We never think it was given by God for us to use wisely, to benefit others and not ourselves. And God gave other people talents to benefit us too.

The main reflection of the Gospel for today is to render what is rightfully due, first to God, to others, to our family, to our society. Give to Caesar what is due to him means, we also need to pay our tax obligations rightfully. We could argue with the fact that there are corrupt government officials who are using and spending people’s money for their personal use and pleasures. The main point is, as citizens of this country we have the obligation to do what is right, to share and assist for our country’s prosperity.

Spend quality time with your family. Have dinner together, share jokes, fun and laughter, discuss important family matters, motivate one another to be at their best, support each other through good and bad times. These are priceless moments we can enjoy only if we decide to put our time and heart on them.

God is an awesome God. To render what is due to Him does not only commensurate with the time spend on going to Mass every Sundays, or saying our prayers. To render what is due to Him is to dedicate our whole self, our time, talents and treasures for His greater glory. Every moment we spend time with our family, every moment we share our time with the elders and less fortunate, every time we pay taxes rightfully, we are rendering what is due to God.

Prayer

Holy and precious God, we thank You for reminding us to render what is due to You and to others. Most of the times we are at fault. We forget that this life You gave us is not only for our own selves nor for our own use. But rather to use every moment of our time, talent and treasure for others and for Your great glory. Through the intercession of Mama Mary, may we always do and follow Your will and render what is rightfully Yours. Amen.