I spoke about heavenly light for the baptism for the child of a couple I prepared for marriage.
18 October 2020
Protecting the New Orphans & New Widows in Our Time as Fundamental, Basic, Essential, Non-Negotiable, and the First Priority: God & Caesar (Homily #185)
video credit: St. Catherine's Church (Mr. Manuzon)
“Protecting the New Orphans & New Widows of our Time as
Fundamental, Basic, Essential, Non-Negotiable & the First Priority: God
& Caesar”
(Homily #185)
By Deacon Dennis Purificacion
October 18, 2020
(29th Sunday in Ordinary Time)
10 a.m. & 12 p.m. Masses
According to the Cambridge English dictionary, the word “fundamental” is defined as “the base from which everything else develops” (repeat).
If one has a long list of important tasks to do, there are simply more basic and fundamental tasks to do first. Everything else comes later.
In our daily finances for home or work, there are more essential and fundamental items to buy and shop before everything else. We simply don’t have the time, money and energy to buy and shop for everything except for what is fundamental to our families.
Fundamental is the priority.
II
In today’s Gospel, Jesus reminds us that God is fundamental. Everything else is secondary. God is fundamental, the base, essential, the non-negotiable, the first priority.
Caesar then is secondary. Ceasar is negotiable. Caesar has to wait in line. Caesar represents all those things in our lives that are important, but they are not the priority.
What is fundamental comes first. “Repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and repay to God what belongs to God.”
Additionally, whenever we discern what is fundamental in our lives, we will be tempted or distracted with other things to lead us away from what is fundamental. According to the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius Loyola, the founder of the Jesuits, there is a saying that the devil won’t [always] distract us with things that are evil, but the devil will distract us with things that are good.
It is like the hypocritical Pharisees that plotted to entrap Jesus [with a list of good things]. They put Jesus, as the saying goes, between a rock and a hard place.
Had Jesus said, “Don’t pay taxes,” then he would have been in trouble. Had Jesus said, “Pay taxes,” then he too would have been in trouble [with the Jews]. They even set it up it in a mocking and sarcastic way:
(sarcastic tone:) “Teacher…”
(sarcastic tone:) “We know that you are a truthful man.”
(sarcastic tone:) “You teach the way of God in accordance with the truth”
(sarcastic tone:) “And you are not concerned with anyone’s opinion”
(change to serious tone:) “Oh and BTW, do we pay the taxes or not?”
You see, knowing their malice, Jesus said, “Why are you testing me, you hypocrites? Show me the coin to pay taxes.” Jesus then says what is fundamental. “Repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and repay to God what belongs to God.”
In the First Reading, it is written in the Book of the Prophet Isaiah about God first, “People may know that there is none besides me. I am the Lord, there is no other” (Is. 45). God is more important that Cyrus, an image of Caesar and a worldly ruler. Cyrus was mentioned over 30 times in the Bible. Cyrus was a pagan ruler yet he was chosen to lead God’s people into freedom after 70 years of captivity.
Today, in a sense, we are also being tested by those who wish to entrap us or entrap the Church [between a rock and hard place].
We are not going to be distracted against doing evil necessarily. But rather we will be overwhelmed with doing all this good in the world. There is simply a long list of good to do, issues to choose from, candidates to select that determine our laws.
But we simply can’t do everything. Given the long list of important tasks, issues and candidates, we must determine what is basic, essential, non-negotiable, the first priority, and fundamental.
What is the base, what is essential, non-negotiable, what is the priority from which everything else flows [or is built]? In both the natural law tradition and in the Catholic religious tradition, the dignity of innocent human life from natural beginning to natural end is fundamental.[1] Life is the basis from which everything else flows. The 5th Commandment on protecting innocent human life comes before the 7th Commandment on protecting material property’ the 5th Commandment comes before the 8th Commandment on protecting truth and speech.
In the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, the Church teaches “When – concerning areas or realities that involve fundamental ethical duties – legislative or political choices contrary to Christian principles and values are proposed or made, the Magisterium teaches that ‘a well-formed Christian conscience does not permit one to vote for a political program or an individual law which contradicts the fundamental contents of faith and morals” (#590).[2] In other words, the first non-negotiable is do not formally cooperate with intrinsic evil of killing innocent human life.[3] Intrinsic evil is defined as acts that are 100% wrong regardless of the circumstances. The other negotiable, prudential judgment issues come later.
Let us remember as Catholics in the public forum: God first and Caesar second. The Lord first before Cyrus. Faith first, party second. We must have the conviction of bringing our faith in the public forum, to defend the innocent and defenseless. As St. Paul wrote in his First Letter to the Thessalonians in today’s Second Reading, “For our gospel did not come to you in word alone, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with much conviction.” A well-formed Catholic conscience must be formed by the Word of God and the authoritative teaching of the Church, rather than mere opinions or the new fads of the day.[4]
In closing, please allow me to briefly reflect on a liturgical vestment I am wearing. A deacon wears what is called a “dalmatic” while the priest wears what is called a “chasuble.” The deacon’s dalmatic has sleeves while the priest’s chasuble does not.
There is a traditional prayer that I try to say before putting it on. It goes like this: “Lord, endow me with the garment of salvation, the vestment of joy, and with the dalmatic of justice ever encompass me.” The dalmatic of justice reminds all of us to work for justice, just like the first seven deacons ordained 2,000 years ago. The job of the first seven deacons was to bring up any neglected in the community to the busy Apostles. As deacons, we remind people to serve everyone, but even those first seven deacons identified widows and orphans of their day as the priority.
In our day, I too want to remind the world and the Church of the neglected in the womb and the single mothers who raise their children. We may not be registered voters or taxpayers, but all of us can still care for our families and the less fortunate. May these marginalized new orphans and forgotten new widows today be our priority, our base, our essential non-negotiables, our fundamental, so that as the Responsorial Psalm says, we may “Give the Lord glory and honor.”
“Repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and repay to God what belongs to God.”
[1] See, for example, St. John Paul the Great, Evangelium
Vitae, no. 71.
[2] See also Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, “Doctrinal
Note on Some Questions Regarding the Participation of Catholics in Political
Life” (24 November 2002), 4.
[3] See Catechism of the Catholic Church ##1749-1761;
see also St. John Paul the Great, Veritatis Splendor, 79-83.
[4] See Catechism of the Catholic Church ##1783-1785.
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