Essential thing to do

Listening to the Spirit

We praise you, O Risen Christ,
for the creative purpose of your Holy Spirit in the world.
May the proclamation of your resurrection
heal all divisions and paint the way to unity.
Keep all missionaries in the world,
safe from all danger and give them courage and
strength to continue their missionary journey.
Bless them with the abundance of your graces,
most especially the Xaverian congregation,
that they may continue sowing the Good News to the people and
those who don’t know Christ yet.
We make this prayer through your Son, Jesus.

Amen

Listening to the Word

Matthew 22: 15-21

Then the Pharisees went off and plotted how they might entrap him 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."

Reflection

Recently I heard a parish priest told his staff during their general cleaning in his parish office “put them (the documents) where they were used to be”. In short, put where they belong. The gospel today is about putting the essential in the right position, perspective, and direction. Jesus was asked, “Is it lawful to pay the census tax to Caesar or not?” This question intended to force Jesus to take either a position contrary to that held by the majority of the people or one that will bring him into conflict with the Roman authorities. Jesus avoided taking sides in the question of the lawfulness of the tax. Instead, Jesus asks all to render what is due to Caesar and God.

Returning to essential was the call of Jesus to the Pharisees and Herodians. In the book, Little Prince, the fox gave little Prince a secret, “it is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye”. I wonder when Antoine de Sainte Exupery had in his mind Jesus while writing this book because many times in the gospel we hear Jesus talking like the Little Prince who is vocal and silencing the Pharisees. Jesus and the Fox in the Little Prince asked the Pharisees and us to return to the essentials and to be able to see the things that mattered most.

Today is the World Mission Sunday. This celebration brings us back to the core of our being and our calling: we are missionaries. We are all called to bring Christ's love to those who needed him most and to those who have forgotten him. The mission continues and no pandemic can stop us from this calling. We are asked in this Mission Sunday to reiterate the answer we have uttered in baptism, “Here am I, send me”. Send me, where? Wherever we are. As St. Therese of the Child Jesus, the patroness of the Mission, said “Remember that nothing is small in the eyes of God. Do all that you do with Love.”

What is lawful or essential to do in this time of pandemic? By becoming a missionary. Like Cyrus and Paul in our readings today. They were able to deliver the message of God to their people, they brought good news, not fake news. Like these two missionaries, we can bring hope to people at this time of the pandemic. Not to dishearten people. We may able to bring them to Jesus, the missionary par excellence, not to ourselves.