A Homily for the 22nd Sunday after Pentecost

+ Our Blessed Lord’s response to the plotting Pharisees in the Holy Gospel of this Mass—“Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s”—is most certainly deft, but, then as now, it is not particularly easy to put into practice. For as the first Christians found very quickly, Ceasars often wish to concern themselves with matters that pertain to God (indeed, some considered them[-selves] to be gods); and as the history of the Church has shown down to our own day, those who should be concerning themselves about the things of God are often quite preoccupied by the things that pertain to Ceaser.
 
In reality, of course, the distinction is not absolute. As members of a society who benefit from the services and protections provided by those who govern it, we are rightly expected to contribute to it, then as now, normally through taxation. We may legitimately voice our opinions on matters of policy and work for their acceptance, etc.
 
Yet, when governments use their resources to provide services that are inimical to the things of God, as we see in the increasing pursuit of the culture of death by more an more Western countries with the voluntary abortion of one’s child now regarded as a fundamental human right and euthanasia becoming a more and more socially acceptable, if not yet the preferred, manner of ending suffering and life, we rightly recoil. The sanctity and inviolability of innocent human life is fundamental if we believe that human beings are created in God’s image and likeness. How can we cooperate with a system that treats unwanted children as inconveniences to be disposed of at will? How can we sit back and allow our governments to permit those who are suffering to kill themselves, or have someone do so for them? How long will it be before others, even the government, decide that someone who is elderly or gravely ill cannot benefit from health care any longer, and therefore must be euthanised?
 
Rightly, we say must say “No.” The God-given right to innocent life from conception to natural death must be respected and protected. Equally, we must say no to the distortion of human sexuality we have had thrust upon us by the abuse of the term “marriage” to describe unions that simply are not marriage, regardless of whatever fiscal concessions a government may wish (even fairly) to grant such persons. So too we must refuse the progress of this ideology in respect of all that comes under the banner “gender fluidity”, for human sexuality is not an a la carte commodity we can order online at will: it is an integral and unchangeable element of our identity as children of God whom He has created out of love. Ceasars, by whatever name they go or through whatever institution they operate, have no business in attempting to alter the fundamental God-given realities of our very being. Neither the positive acts of even a duly constituted authority, nor a so-called democratic majority can create (or re-create) Truth, howsoever rightly competent they may be in other matters.
 
Rightly do those whose vocation is to teach the Truth revealed by God for our salvation publicly deplore such cancerous regressions in any society and call on all who hold to the Truth to social and political action and witness against the Ceasars whose vanity leads them to believe themselves to be the equals of God. Many heroic lay men and women have given of themselves in the defence of Truth and have even shed their blood rather than renounce it—foremost amongst them the great English lawyer, St Thomas More—a saint who can teach us a great deal in the miry political malaise of our own times.
 
Certainly, we must respect legitimate political differences in matters not pertaining to revealed Truth. There are different ways of running the economy, health care, defence, education, transport, etc. and we may freely support those whom we think most capable of organising them for the common good provided such policies themselves respect the fundamental truths of God. If these are respected, ecclesiastical authorities have no ultimate competence in such matters, even if they may have important perspectives to contribute to the development and implementation of policies. Some governments are better than others. Some politicians have greater insights and capacities. But no government or political leader has the right or indeed the competence to annul the Commandments, or to rewrite them. Even the divinely given authority of Kings was (and is) seen as just that: given by Almighty God and to be exercised under Him.
 
Certainly, we give to God His due in worshipping Him here at Mass every Sunday, and through our daily prayer and perseverance in striving to live according to the teaching of His One True Church. But as we know only too well from recent memory, at times secular authorities believe they can forbid us from assembling for Mass and even prevent priests from ministering to the dying.
 
The principle that Our Lord is teaching us is clear but its application in our day is complicated to say the least. Let us beg Him this morning for the clarity and courage we each need to be faithful to it, even as it shall surely cost us in the eyes of the world. For in this world “we have here no lasting city.” (Heb. 13:14) It is only in giving unto God that which is rightly His shall we find salvation. +