Twenty – Ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time – Sr. Maria Delaney, SNDdeN
Matthew 22: 15-21
“I thank my God for you and when I pray for you my prayers are always filled with joy.” This translation of a verse from the letter to the Thessalonians is a beautiful message to all the people we cherish. They are the people who embrace us as we are and do not regard status as a condition of acceptance and love. Jesus was forever at the mercy of people who challenged him to be or to do whatever they deemed appropriate for a man with power or when he didn’t do what they personally wanted. They did not regard people who were emotionally, physically or materially needy as worthy of their attention. The men and women who came in contact with Jesus’ teachings were constantly challenged to align their lives with the values he preached and lived. Like Jesus, they also suffered as they gave attention to the vulnerable and those who were living in fear or destitution. Catholic Social Teaching teaches us to disregard class, fortune or titles as markers of worthiness for our attention. Jesus respected the authority of those acting in conformity to the statutes/constitution of his country, but that authority did not demand that he neglect people who were not from an entitled class. St Paul writes a command for us as we maneuver through the conflicting value systems on our planet today. We cannot hope to attain anything except through the Holy Spirit acting within us and we cannot get connected to the Spirit without quiet time to gather ourselves and pray to guide our footsteps on the path that the Spirit has placed before us.
“For our gospel did not come to you in word alone, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with much conviction.”
Matthew 22: 15-21
The Pharisees went off
and plotted how they might entrap Jesus in speech.
They sent their disciples to him, with the Herodians, saying,
“Teacher, we know that you are a truthful man
and that you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth.
And you are not concerned with anyone’s opinion,
for you do not regard a person’s status.
Tell us, then, what is your opinion:
Is it lawful to pay the census tax to Caesar or not?”
Knowing their malice, Jesus said,
“Why are you testing me, you hypocrites?
Show me the coin that pays the census tax.”
Then they handed him the Roman coin.
He said to them, “Whose image is this and whose inscription?”
They replied, “Caesar’s.”
At that he said to them,
“Then repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar
and to God what belongs to God.”
Meet Sister Maria Delaney, SNDdeN
