{"id":2900,"date":"2011-10-16T08:00:44","date_gmt":"2011-10-16T08:00:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.catholicpreaching.com\/?p=2900"},"modified":"2017-06-19T15:15:25","modified_gmt":"2017-06-19T19:15:25","slug":"twenty-ninth-sunday-in-ordinary-time-a-october-16-2011-audio-homily","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/catholicpreaching.com\/wp\/twenty-ninth-sunday-in-ordinary-time-a-october-16-2011-audio-homily\/","title":{"rendered":"God&#8217;s Good Servants First, Twenty-ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time (A), October 16, 2011 Audio Homily"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Fr. Roger J. Landry<br \/>\nSt. Anthony of Padua Church, New Bedford, MA<br \/>\nTwenty-ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time (A)<br \/>\nOctober 16, 2011<br \/>\nIs 45:1 4-6, Ps 96:1 3-5 7-10, 1Thes 1:1-5, Mt 22:15-21<\/p>\n<p><em>To listen to an audio recording of today\u2019s homily,\u00a0please click at the bottom of the page.\u00a0<\/em><em>The following text guided\u00a0this homily:<\/em><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>GOD\u2019S GOOD SERVANTS FIRST<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>In today\u2019s Gospel, two groups that were archenemies conspired to try to trap Jesus. Both the Herodians and the Pharisees were trying to get Jesus out of the way, because both felt threatened by him. They decided to ask him a question about which they themselves were constantly in disagreement \u2014 whether it was lawful to pay taxes to or support in any way the Roman empire. The Herodians were sycophants, and, regardless of how they personally felt about a foreign power\u2019s ruling over them, decided that if you couldn\u2019t beat the Romans, you should join them. They cooperated with the Romans in almost everything, including taxes. The Pharisees, like most of the Jewish people, deeply resented being dominated by a pagan power, and found utterly repulsive the thought of giving a tribute to a foreign ruler who fancied himself a god. They thought their long-standing disagreement was a perfect catch-22 by which to nail the carpenter from Nazareth.<\/li>\n<li>So they approached Jesus and manifested their mendacity and hypocrisy by a barrage of empty flattery: \u201cTeacher, we know that you are sincere, teach the way of God with accordance to the truth, show deference to no one, and don\u2019t play favorites.\u201d Then came the question: \u201cIs it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor or not?\u201d It was the perfect query, they thought, because no matter how Jesus answered it, they had him. If he failed to respond, he would lose authority by ducking one of the most relevant political questions of the day. If he said \u201cyes,\u201d he would risk losing the affection of the masses, who hated the Romans, hated the emperor, and particularly hated being forced to give him any recognition at all. If he said \u201cno,\u201d then they could turn him over to Pontius Pilate for inciting lawlessness among the people.<\/li>\n<li>But Jesus could not be trapped, and he always brings good out of evil. In answer to their hypocrisy, Jesus pointed the path to true human integrity. In response to their mendacity, Jesus gave us a truth to live by, one that is as relevant today as it ever was.<\/li>\n<li>After he had asked to see the coin used for the tax and they brought him one (showing that all of them used the money when it served their purposes!), he queried, \u201cWhose image is this and whose inscription?\u201d When they responded, \u201cCaesar\u2019s,\u201d he gave them and us the principle which extends far beyond the glory days of Rome. \u201cThen give to Caesar the things that are Caesar\u2019s, and to God the things that are God&#8217;s.\u201d Most of Jesus\u2019 original listeners thought that you couldn\u2019t serve two masters, both God and Caesar; either you gave to God, they thought, or gave to Caesar. Jesus said it was not necessarily \u201ceither\u2026 or\u201d but could be and should be \u201cboth\u2026 and.\u201d We have responsibilities in the social order (what we might call the horizontal plane;\u00a0 we also have responsibilities toward God (the vertical plane). The two should go together. One of our responsibilities toward God is to love our neighbor; and one of the greatest services to our neighbor is the service of the truth that comes from God.<\/li>\n<li>Today, we don\u2019t come to trap Jesus in his speech, but to learn from him the truth that will set us free. And as we ask him the same question about the allegiance we owe to the social order \u2014 to our society, our nation, our communities, our city \u2014 he turns to us and asks us something. He doesn\u2019t request to see a dollar bill, but rather says to us, \u201cLook in the mirror!\u201d Yes, \u201cLook in the mirror!\u201d Now he asks us: \u201cWhose image is THIS?\u201d He wants us to recognize that we are made in the image and likeness of God. He turns to us and says, \u201cthen give to God the things that are God\u2019s.\u201d All that we are, all that we have, all our time, our talents, our money, our resources, our health comes from God, are part of our being in his image, and we\u2019re called by him in justice, in wisdom and in love, to give back to God the things that are his.<\/li>\n<li>What are we to do when conflicts arise between the two orders of responsibility, to this world and the next. How do we resolve them? The best principle, I think, comes from the example and last words of one of the great saints in the history of civilization. Thomas More was chancellor of England from 1529-1532. He was an extremely gifted man and soon after King Henry VIII had made him second in charge of the British kingdom, he had it running on high octane. He was much respected and admired by the king, by the British people, by the Church, and by many throughout Europe. Eventually, however, Henry discovered that his wife, Catherine of Aragon, was incapable of bearing him a son. So he wanted to get rid of her and marry another who would be able to provide him an heir \u2014 unsurprisingly, he already had someone in mind (Anne Boleyn). Divorce was unthinkable, because he was a Christian king and Jesus had taught quite clearly that no man could separate what God had joined (Mt 19:10-19). So he did the only thing he could: he appealed to Pope Clement VII to look into whether his marriage to Catherine was valid. If it weren\u2019t, then the Pope could declare it null and void and he would be free to marry Anne Boleyn. Pope Clement, however, saw no reason that his marriage to Catherine was invalid and said that he could not give him an annulment. Henry responded by declaring himself the \u201csupreme head of the Church in England,\u201d dismissed Catherine, married Anne, and then made every British subject take two oaths. One was an \u201coath of succession,\u201d by which one would swear under God that the king\u2019s marriage to Catherine was null, his marriage to Anne was valid, and that his rightful heir would would be Anne\u2019s offspring. The second oath was the \u201coath of supremacy;\u201d one had to swear that the king, and not Christ through his earthly vicar, was the head of the Church.<\/li>\n<li>What happened? Most British Catholics betrayed Christ and took the oath. Almost every bishop in England joined them. One bishop, John Fisher, refused to take the oath and he was killed. Thomas was still chancellor, number two in the kingdom, but his conscience prevented him from lying before God. He consistently refused to take either of the oaths. Henry was furious and took it as a sign of betrayal. Thomas resigned the chancellorship, his family was reduced to poverty, and those who were trying to kiss up to the king sought ways to harm Thomas. Eventually, the king\u2019s loyalists trumped up charges against him to get him thrown into the Tower of London, perhaps the most famous prison in the capital at the time. They tried to harass, molest and starve Thomas into submission, but he never relented. Finally, they sentenced him to death. As he stood on the platform where he would be beheaded, he was asked whether he had any last words. He did. His valedictory, right before he had his head chopped off, was \u201cI have always been the king\u2019s good servant, but God\u2019s first.\u201d<\/li>\n<li>Those words each of us is called to make his own. All of us are called to be the good servants of our nation, of our communities, of our city, but God\u2019s good servants first. Should there ever be a conflict between what we owe to God and what civil leaders claim we owe to them, God must win. And the greatest service we can give to society and to her rulers is to serve God faithfully, because by this we bring to them the truth, which is the only foundation on which society can be firmly grounded.<\/li>\n<li>We\u2019re living in an era in which we need many more St. Thomas Mores, because it\u2019s a time in which supposed conflicts between what we owe to God and what others claim we owe to society are growing. A numerically small but very litigious group of atheists, in conjunction with secularists on the courts, are trying to abuse of the separation of Church and state to eliminate any reference of God in public life or public policy. This principle of the separation of Church and state comes historically from Christian reflection on Jesus\u2019 principle in today\u2019s Gospel of giving to Caesar and giving to God. It was enshrined in our Constitution to prevent any one religion from becoming a national religion and to prevent the national government from infringing on religious liberty; it was never intended as a means by which God could be entirely kicked out of public life. But that\u2019s precisely what these secularists and atheists, helped by the ACLU, are trying to do. They want to eliminate \u201cone nation under God\u201d from the pledge of allegiance. They want to excise \u201cin God we trust\u201d from our currency. They want to prevent cr\u00e8ches on public property. They want to purge prayers at graduations and sporting events. They want to remove any reference to the ten commandments anywhere and everywhere. Even if we were not Catholic, we could ask ourselves, as honest non-Christian public commentators have, \u201cAre we better off with God or without God in public life?\u201d Would our society be better if we KEPT the ten commandments or not? Are these atheists and secularists helping society or harming it?<\/li>\n<li>President George Washington, who was not himself a particularly religious man, recognized that without the government\u2019s supporting religion in general, the nascent United States of America would not be able to survive. He declared in his farewell address in 1796, \u201cOf all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports&#8230; Let it simply be asked, Where is the security for property, for reputation, for life, if the sense of religious obligation desert the oaths which are the instruments of investigation in courts of justice? And let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion.\u201d Without a deep religious sense underlying our oaths, people will lie if they can get away with it. Without a deep religious sense underneath our morality, all hell will break loose. There\u2019s a Polish aphorism to the effect that the amount of police you need outside is inversely proportional to the amount of police you have on the inside. If we police ourselves, if we won\u2019t do something wrong even if we could get away with it, then we can have a free country because our freedom won\u2019t be used to destroy ourselves, others and our nation. But if we don\u2019t police ourselves, if we don\u2019t have a sense that there\u2019s a higher order to which we need to answer, then we\u2019ll need policemen everywhere. The second president, John Adams, had similar advice: \u201cWe have no government armed with the power capable of contending with human passions, unbridled by morality and true religion. Our Constitution is made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.\u201d<\/li>\n<li>Yet their successor, Barack Obama, and his government are not taking this advice. In fact, they are rapidly implementing a secularist agenda when it comes to the role of religion in American life. They are trampling on the rights of conscience and the right to religious freedom. Archbishop Timothy Dolan of New York, a very affable and complimentary man who always seeks to find the good, in the last couple of weeks has written a letter to President Obama and another to his brother bishops basically calling attention to what the President is doing. He\u2019s taken off the gloves, so to speak, and ceased to be complimentary when it\u2019s clear that the government is baldly going after the rights of believers and Churches. He highlighted several instances, but I\u2019ll mention three:<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ol>\n<li>The government, specifically the Department of Health and Human Services, is now trying to force all of us to give our earnings to pay for others to get contraception, sterilizations and abortion-causing pills.<\/li>\n<li>They\u2019re treating our support for marriage as the union of one man and one woman as an unconstitutional act of bigotry. Right now they\u2019re arguing that just to overturn the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act that passed both houses of Congress overwhelmingly and was signed into law by President Clinton. But this is just the first step. If that \u201cbigotry\u201d is found unconstitutional, then the logical next step is that those of us, as individuals and as Catholic Churches that are with Jesus about marriage, will be prosecuted for not renting our apartments to those in gay marriages. Already clerks are being fired for not giving out marriage licenses to those of the same-sex even if they provide for someone else in the office to do it.<\/li>\n<li>The government is also arguing against what\u2019s called in constitutional jurisprudence the ministerial exception, that religious groups have an exception to normal employment law, so that Jewish groups don\u2019t need to hire, for example, non-Jews who don\u2019t know Jewish culture, so that evangelical churches don\u2019t have to hire people who don\u2019t live by Christian teachings, etc., that Catholic groups don\u2019t have to ordain married men or women. The Obama Justice Department just argued before the Supreme Court against the ministerial exception that even the most liberal Justices on the Court seemed to find pretty ludicrous in their initial questionings.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<ul>\n<li>During the fall season, most dioceses, like our own, have \u201cRed Masses,\u201d calling down the power of the Holy Spirit on those who work in the legal profession as lawyers, judges and court personnel. On Sept 29, Bishop Thomas Paprocki of Springfield, Il, a civil lawyer by training, went to Houston to give the homily at their Red Mass. After reviewing some of the same incursions against religious freedom that I just detailed, he said: \u201cPerhaps the best antidote to profane secularism can be learned from the example of those who withstood and defeated godless communism. One of the staunchest defenders of the Church in communist Poland was the Primate of Poland, Cardinal Stefan Wyszy\u0144ski. In May 1953, the communist regime ordered the implementation of a law by which it, not the Catholic Church, would appoint and remove pastors, vicars and bishops. The Church would become, de facto, a subsidiary of the state. In a powerful sermon at Warsaw\u2019s St. John\u2019s Cathedral, Cardinal Wyszy\u0144ski drew the line, saying, \u2018We teach that it is proper to render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar\u2019s and to God the things that are God\u2019s. But when Caesar sits himself on the altar, we respond curtly: he may not.\u2019\u201d<\/li>\n<li>But, as free citizens, we need to do more than respond curtly that government can\u2019t do it when it\u2019s sitting on the altar. We need to act. Are we going to be like the Catholics in 16<sup>th<\/sup> century Britain, most of whom did nothing in response to the tyranny of Henry VIII? Will we just go along with the tide, as they did, provided that we\u2019re left alone? Or will we stand up, like St. John Fisher and St. Thomas More, and say, \u201cWe are good American citizens, but citizens of heaven first&#8221;!? Are we God\u2019s servants above all or not? The question for us is whether we are going to take these outrages and behave like the vast majority of Catholic lay people and clergy in the 1500s, who did nothing when God\u2019s rights were being trampled upon except side with those who were doing the trampling or whether we\u2019re going to rise up peacefully as the modern St. Thomas Mores and St. John Fishers, or Cardinal Wyszynski.<\/li>\n<li>Today God asks us to look in the mirror and see in whose image we are made. Then he calls us to act in accordance with that dignity. May he give us his help so that we may always give to Him the things that are His and be able to say at every moment of our life \u2014 and at the moment of our death \u2014\u00a0that we have always been citizens of our great land, but God\u2019s good servants first.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The readings for today&#8217;s Mass were:<\/p>\n<div class=\"bibleReadingsWrapper\">\n<h4>Reading 1<a href=\"http:\/\/www.usccb.org\/bible\/isaiah\/45:1\">IS 45:1, 4-6<\/a><\/h4>\n<div class=\"poetry\">Thus says the LORD to his anointed, Cyrus,<br \/>\nwhose right hand I grasp,<br \/>\nsubduing nations before him,<br \/>\nand making kings run in his service,<br \/>\nopening doors before him<br \/>\nand leaving the gates unbarred:<br \/>\nFor the sake of Jacob, my servant,<br \/>\nof Israel, my chosen one,<br \/>\nI have called you by your name,<br \/>\ngiving you a title, though you knew me not.<br \/>\nI am the LORD and there is no other,<br \/>\nthere is no God besides me.<br \/>\nIt is I who arm you, though you know me not,<br \/>\nso that toward the rising and the setting of the sun<br \/>\npeople may know that there is none besides me.<br \/>\nI am the LORD, there is no other.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"bibleReadingsWrapper\">\n<h4>Responsorial Psalm <a href=\"http:\/\/www.usccb.org\/bible\/psalms\/96:1\">PS 96:1, 3, 4-5, 7-8, 9-10<\/a><\/h4>\n<div class=\"poetry\">R\/ (7b)<strong> Give the Lord glory and honor.<\/strong><br \/>\nSing to the LORD a new song;<br \/>\nsing to the LORD, all you lands.<br \/>\nTell his glory among the nations;<br \/>\namong all peoples, his wondrous deeds.<br \/>\nR\/ <strong>Give the Lord glory and honor.<\/strong><br \/>\nFor great is the LORD and highly to be praised;<br \/>\nawesome is he, beyond all gods.<br \/>\nFor all the gods of the nations are things of nought,<br \/>\nbut the LORD made the heavens.<br \/>\nR\/ <strong>Give the Lord glory and honor.<\/strong><br \/>\nGive to the LORD, you families of nations,<br \/>\ngive to the LORD glory and praise;<br \/>\ngive to the LORD the glory due his name!<br \/>\nBring gifts, and enter his courts.<br \/>\nR\/ <strong>Give the Lord glory and honor.<\/strong><br \/>\nWorship the LORD, in holy attire;<br \/>\ntremble before him, all the earth;<br \/>\nsay among the nations: The LORD is king,<br \/>\nhe governs the peoples with equity.<br \/>\nR\/<strong> Give the Lord glory and honor.<\/strong><\/p>\n<h4>Reading 2<a href=\"http:\/\/www.usccb.org\/bible\/1thessalonians\/1:1\">1 THES 1:1-5B<\/a><\/h4>\n<p>Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy to the church of the Thessalonians<br \/>\nin God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ:<br \/>\ngrace to you and peace.<br \/>\nWe give thanks to God always for all of you,<br \/>\nremembering you in our prayers,<br \/>\nunceasingly calling to mind your work of faith and labor of love<br \/>\nand endurance in hope of our Lord Jesus Christ,<br \/>\nbefore our God and Father,<br \/>\nknowing, brothers and sisters loved by God,<br \/>\nhow you were chosen.<br \/>\nFor our gospel did not come to you in word alone,<br \/>\nbut also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with much conviction.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"bibleReadingsWrapper\">\n<h4>Gospel <a href=\"http:\/\/www.usccb.org\/bible\/matthew\/22:15\">MT 22:15-21<\/a><\/h4>\n<div class=\"poetry\">The Pharisees went off<br \/>\nand plotted how they might entrap Jesus in speech.<br \/>\nThey sent their disciples to him, with the Herodians, saying,<br \/>\n&#8220;Teacher, we know that you are a truthful man<br \/>\nand that you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth.<br \/>\nAnd you are not concerned with anyone&#8217;s opinion,<br \/>\nfor you do not regard a person&#8217;s status.<br \/>\nTell us, then, what is your opinion:<br \/>\nIs it lawful to pay the census tax to Caesar or not?&#8221;<br \/>\nKnowing their malice, Jesus said,<br \/>\n&#8220;Why are you testing me, you hypocrites?<br \/>\nShow me the coin that pays the census tax.&#8221;<br \/>\nThen they handed him the Roman coin.<br \/>\nHe said to them, &#8220;Whose image is this and whose inscription?&#8221;<br \/>\nThey replied, &#8220;Caesar&#8217;s.&#8221;<br \/>\nAt that he said to them,<br \/>\n&#8220;Then repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar<br \/>\nand to God what belongs to God.&#8221;<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"powerpress_player\" id=\"powerpress_player_8625\"><audio class=\"wp-audio-shortcode\" id=\"audio-2900-1\" preload=\"none\" style=\"width: 100%;\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"audio\/mpeg\" src=\"http:\/\/catholicpreaching.com\/newhomilies\/20111016.mp3?_=1\" \/><a href=\"http:\/\/catholicpreaching.com\/newhomilies\/20111016.mp3\">http:\/\/catholicpreaching.com\/newhomilies\/20111016.mp3<\/a><\/audio><\/div><p class=\"powerpress_links powerpress_links_mp3\" style=\"margin-bottom: 1px !important;\">Podcast: <a href=\"http:\/\/catholicpreaching.com\/newhomilies\/20111016.mp3\" class=\"powerpress_link_pinw\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Play in new 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Roger J. Landry St. Anthony of Padua Church, New Bedford, MA Twenty-ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time (A) October 16, 2011 Is 45:1 4-6, Ps 96:1 3-5 7-10, 1Thes 1:1-5, Mt 22:15-21 To listen to an audio recording of today\u2019s homily,\u00a0please click at the bottom of the page.\u00a0The following text guided\u00a0this homily: &nbsp; GOD\u2019S GOOD [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1081,1063,3,6],"tags":[1240,1221,8718,921,923,1239,902],"class_list":["post-2900","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-2011-year-a","category-audio-homily","category-homily","category-year-a","tag-1thes-11-5","tag-1221","tag-audio-homily","tag-is-451-4-6","tag-mt-2215-21","tag-ps-961-3-5-7-10","tag-st-anthony-of-padua-parish"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>God&#039;s Good Servants First, Twenty-ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time (A), October 16, 2011 Audio Homily - Catholic Preaching<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/catholicpreaching.com\/wp\/twenty-ninth-sunday-in-ordinary-time-a-october-16-2011-audio-homily\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"God&#039;s Good Servants First, Twenty-ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time (A), October 16, 2011 Audio Homily - Catholic Preaching\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Fr. Roger J. Landry St. Anthony of Padua Church, New Bedford, MA Twenty-ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time (A) October 16, 2011 Is 45:1 4-6, Ps 96:1 3-5 7-10, 1Thes 1:1-5, Mt 22:15-21 To listen to an audio recording of today\u2019s homily,\u00a0please click at the bottom of the page.\u00a0The following text guided\u00a0this homily: &nbsp; GOD\u2019S GOOD [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/catholicpreaching.com\/wp\/twenty-ninth-sunday-in-ordinary-time-a-october-16-2011-audio-homily\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Catholic Preaching\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-10-16T08:00:44+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-06-19T19:15:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/catholicpreaching.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/DefaultImage-FB.png?fit=1200%2C628&ssl=1\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"628\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Fr. 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