Brothers and sisters

May the Lord give you peace!

A question comes to me spontaneously: what would happen if we really listened to the Word of God? And I apologize if I ask yet another question: have we really listened to the Word of God today, here in this Mass? Have we understood something? Yes, brothers and sisters, if this Word of God, which is life, and is alive, entered our hearts now, many things would change in our lives… and Jesus speaks to us, and speaks to us today… the great danger is that we think that the Word of God is something of the past, not of the present….

And he speaks to us in the Gospel we have heard. However, to understand the Gospel of this Sunday of Saint Matthew it is necessary to understand the context. Today’s Gospel passage proceeds a series of Parables… Where Jesus revealed the “face of God”. And who is God: he is patient, he seeks us, he loves us and wants our salvation. He revealed to us that Salvation is for everyone. Yes, the Church is for everyone. However, to enter the banquet it is not enough to show up, but you need the “garment”, and the garment is charity. The message of Jesus is Truth, and it is a liberating message.

However, not everyone liked this message. The Pharisees and Herodian didn’t like it. Interesting: they were enemies, but to go against Jesus they united. And they try to make Jesus fall into a trap and then condemn him. And they ask: “Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not?” (i.e. to the Romans). If Jesus had answered: “yes”, he would have been condemned as a traitor to his country; if he answered: “no” he could have been reported to the Romans. But it’s interesting how fake they are. And they show kindness, but it’s all falsehood. And Jesus raises the level of the response. He doesn’t remain in the trap.

Pay attention brothers and sisters, in the method with which Jesus answers, the details are important. Before answering, he asks another question. He asks: whose inscription is on the coin. There was the image of Caesar, the emperor. And Jesus replies: “render to Caesar what is Caesar’s”, therefore his money. “And to God what is God’s”, that is, yourselves, your heart, your worship. Pay attention: He does not use the verb: to give. He uses the verb: to render. Yes, we don’t give anything… we are not the owners. The world is not our property. Life is not our property… the Church is not our property.

Brothers and sisters, the coin bears the image of Caesar. Man bears the image of God (cf. Gen 1:27). Giving back to God what is God’s means rendering to him a humanity. We are the image of him and resembling him. Yes, in every man there is his imprint, the image of God. Sad when we believe that our image, our happiness lies in money, in things, in power, in politics, in interests. We must be good citizens. To use things and money well… but remember that we are in transit. When we think we are the masters, the owners, the destruction begins. The destruction of the planet. When we want to decide on human life: by accepting and approving the abortion law. Human life is not our property. It is a gift from God… Giving back to God what is God’s means that we belong to him and that our joy is knowing that we belong to him as children. Yes, God truly loves us, and every man, every woman has the dignity of him, because they bear his image.

And I would like to conclude with the words of Saint John Bosco: May the Lord help us to live well, giving to each his own: to the State what belongs to the State, to God what belongs to God, so as to be “good Christians and honest citizens ”, Good Christians, witnesses of Christ. Amen