Dear Friends,

WOW! Did you really listen, today? Did you hear the profound words of the encounter between Jesus and the Pharisees in the Gospel? Here they are again:

The Pharisees went off and plotted how they might entrap Jesus in speech ... 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.”

With all our advancement, sophistication and technology … the sage words of Solomon the Wise in the Book of Ecclesiastes continue to ring true to this day: “What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.” (1:9) With that in mind, the Gospel takes us, once again, to the beginning … to the foundational story of human dignity as unfolded in the Book of Genesis. Just like Adam in Eden, Jesus, the New Adam, is being tempted by a trick, a lie, an attack on His dignity. Once again, mellifluous words that appear to be righteous, concerned and well-intended obfuscate the genuine deceit, hate and violence intended behind them. In our Catholic tradition, many have reflected on the psychology of sin as our ability to be attracted by the appearance of “good” and rationalize an intentional evil act and/or to participate in it directly or indirectly. Often times, evil first seduces by perverting our desire for God—the fullness of Life and all that is Good, Beautiful, True and One—in other words our desire for Genuine Love which is not of earthly origin. The deepest desire of the human heart can only be fulfilled in the Self-Gift of God Himself. We then settle for the particular good and a convenient fix; rather than seeking the deep truth and design of God for us. Fr. Richard Rohr reflects: “If evil depends on a ‘good’ disguise, cultural virtue and religion are the very best covers of all. The leaders of both religion and empire colluded in the killing of Jesus (Matthew 27:1–2). … Evil finds its almost perfect camouflage in the silent agreements of the group when it appears personally advantageous. Such unconscious ‘deadness,’ will continue to show itself in every age … If we do not see the true shape of evil or recognize how we are fully complicit in it, it will fully control us, while not looking the least like sin. Would ‘agreed-upon delusion’ be a better description? We cannot recognize it or overcome it as isolated individuals, mostly because it is held together by the group consensus.”

Jesus’ question in His conversation with the Pharisees rings through every generation of believers, even to our own time: “Whose image is this and whose inscription?” … “Then repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God.” Unlike Adam of old, Jesus (the New Adam), who humbled Himself to share in our humanity, introduces the New Creation by first recalling our original dignity and holiness as human beings as the “image of God” and then takes it beyond our imagining by inviting us to participate in His divinity by giving to God what belongs to God; thus , allowing God to fill us with His Life and Love. As the prophet Isaiah reminds us in the First Reading: “I have called you by your name, giving you a title, though you knew Me not. I am the LORD and there is no other, there is no God besides Me.” In the 14 January 1911 edition of The Illustrated London News, G.K. Chesterton wrote: “The true soldier fights not because he hates what is in front of him, but because he loves what is behind him.” In every age, we are in a spiritual battle for our souls; will we be satisfied with the promise and Word of God or will we allow ourselves to be enslaved with a desire of some “thing” that is not real, simply because we allowed ourselves to be seduced by the appearance of good? These are tough questions and there are no easy answers; however, each of us will be responsible for the choices we make when we appear before the God in whose image and like we were created.

Be of good cheer and have a blessed week!

Msgr. Grous