Author: admin

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Gospel: Mark 12: 13-17

Some Pharisees and Herodians were sent
to Jesus to ensnare him in his speech.
They came and said to him,
“Teacher, we know that you are a truthful man
and that you are not concerned with anyone’s opinion.
You do not regard a person’s status
but teach the way of God in accordance with the truth.
Is it lawful to pay the census tax to Caesar or not?
Should we pay or should we not pay?”
Knowing their hypocrisy he said to them,
“Why are you testing me?
Bring me a denarius to look at.”
They brought one to him and he said to them,
“Whose image and inscription is this?”
They replied to him, “Caesar’s.”
So Jesus said to them,
“Repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar
and to God what belongs to God.”
They were utterly amazed at him.

The Gospel of the Lord.

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“Is it lawful to pay the census tax to Caesar or not?”

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The Pharisees know how much their Jewish peers hate paying their taxes to Rome. They want their own land and their own government; they want to rule themselves.

If Jesus tells the Jews it’s lawful to pay their taxes to Rome, then he’ll appear to be a friend of the occupying empire, and in opposition to the Jewish cause.

But if he tells the Jews not to pay their taxes, then he can be arrested as an enemy of the State.

It’s a catch-22.

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“Bring me a denarius to look at,” Jesus says.

Where else will the Pharisees draw a Roman coin from but their very own pockets?

As much as they hate to admit it, they, too, pay their taxes. “So, repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar,” Jesus says.

Pay your taxes, because that funds secular causes like building roads and cisterns for water.

But, “give to God what belongs to God.”

So, what belongs to God?

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Our very selves.

In one of the first verses in the bible, God says, “Let us make man in our image and likeness.” 

Every human being bears the image – not of Caesar – but of God. And if we bear his image, then we belong entirely to him.

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Pay your taxes. 

But offer your life to God.

In what ways do I offer the Lord my time and heart? And what would that look like today?

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Image credits: (1) Got Questions (2) The Getty Museum Store (3) Michelangelo, Sistine Chapel

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Gospel: Mark 12: 1-12

Jesus began to speak to the chief priests, the scribes,
and the elders in parables.
“A man planted a vineyard, put a hedge around it,
dug a wine press, and built a tower.
Then he leased it to tenant farmers and left on a journey.
At the proper time he sent a servant to the tenants
to obtain from them some of the produce of the vineyard.
But they seized him, beat him,
and sent him away empty-handed.
Again he sent them another servant.
And that one they beat over the head and treated shamefully.
He sent yet another whom they killed.
So, too, many others; some they beat, others they killed.
He had one other to send, a beloved son.
He sent him to them last of all, thinking, ‘They will respect my son.’
But those tenants said to one another, ‘This is the heir.
Come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’
So they seized him and killed him,
and threw him out of the vineyard.
What then will the owner of the vineyard do?
He will come, put the tenants to death,
and give the vineyard to others.
Have you not read this Scripture passage:

The stone that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone;
by the Lord has this been done,
and it is wonderful in our eyes?”

They were seeking to arrest him, but they feared the crowd,
for they realized that he had addressed the parable to them.
So they left him and went away.

The Gospel of the Lord.

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This is a very pointed parable aimed at human responsibility.

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The landowner acted first. 

He provided the tenants with everything they needed to produce good wine:  he bought the land, put hedges around it, built a tower, and planted the choicest vines.

Then he left, entrusting the future of his vineyard to his tenants.

He set them up for success, expecting good results. But the tenants only produced sour grapes.

Understandably, when the landowner returned, he held them accountable.

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Like that vineyard, the Lord has entrusted the future of Saint Pius X to us – and, understandably, he expects good results. 

We have the opportunity become a spiritual home for hundreds, if not thousands of people; this can be a place where hearts are changed, and God is praised week after week.

Together, we can – and I believe will – do great things for the Lord. We are doing great things!

Consider the different ministries we have growing on the vine: Faith Formation, Outreach, Welcome and Hospitality, Beyond Soup, the SPX Café, Music, the Knights of Columbus, SPX Playtime, and so on.

This vineyard produces “good wine,” because God has given us everything we need to succeed. We have his grace, a beautiful church, generous parishioners like you, and a clear vision and mission: Building Community. Worshiping God. Making Disciples.

One day, one person at a time.

This growth has taken a village. Each of us is part of that.

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Looking around our “vineyard,” in ways might we continue producing “good wine” for God today?

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Image credits: (1) Download Youth Ministry (2) JW.org (3) Travis Agnew

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Gospel: John 3: 16-18

God so loved the world that he gave his only Son,
so that everyone who believes in him might not perish
but might have eternal life.
For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world,
but that the world might be saved through him.
Whoever believes in him will not be condemned,
but whoever does not believe has already been condemned,
because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.

The Gospel of the Lord.

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By a show of hands, how many of us have heard about or even read Dante’s Inferno, the first book in his famous trilogy, The Divine Comedy?

The Divine Comedy is the story of Dante’s journey to God. He begins in hell, but eventually he makes his way through purgatory into heaven.

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In hell, Dante descends through nine different circles, each representing a gradual increase in wickedness: lust, greed, anger, and so on. Finally, when he reaches the very bottom, he encounters that ancient beast, Satan. 

Surprisingly, Satan isn’t breathing fire as many of us might have imagined. 

He’s frozen, trapped waist-deep in ice. Above his waist, his furry bat-like wings flap restlessly as he torments himself eternally.

That’s where the Evil One chooses to be – stuck in the darkness, frozen in ice, completely separated from the outside world.

For Dante, that’s hell; being isolated.

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Alone.

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Loneliness is something we’ve all felt.

It creeps in after a heated family argument; after scrolling through social media for hours on end; after a breakup; or losing a loved one. 

Why is loneliness so painful?

Because we were made in the image and likeness of God, who is relationship. 

Today we celebrate Holy Trinity Sunday, our belief that God is Father, Son, and Spirit. Three distinct Persons who live in such perfect harmony that they are One.

This is what Dante discovers as he ascends from the icy darkness of hell, through the purification of purgatory, into the glory of heaven.

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Heaven is a place of welcome, light, and love. The angels and Saints swirl around the throne of God in praise. The higher Dante climbs the brighter it becomes, until finally he beholds God Almighty.

Unlike Satan, God isn’t alone. He isn’t flapping furry bat-like wings.

God is living in communion. Or, we might say, community as Father, Son, and Spirit.

Dante discovers that this is the secret to his own happiness – living the way that God does, in perfect harmony with others.

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It’s an amazing Christian insight: 

The more we live in harmony with our neighbors, the more we reflect the inner life of God.

As Saint John writes, “God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them.”

Wherever there is love, God is found.

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God is found when couples exchange their vows. God is found when parents behold their newborn child. Or watch them grow.

God is found when neighbors are reconciled; when the hungry are fed; when the naked are clothed; when the weak are cared for; and when the sick are cured.

God is also found in our brokenness. His Spirit is that healing balm that slowly pieces us back together.

As Dante writes at the end of The Divine Comedy, God is, “the love that moves the sun and the other stars.”

God is everything that is good.

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If hell resembles being alone, then heaven means being together. 

This is what God desires for us – to live as one, just as the Father, Son and Spirit are one. 

On this Trinity Sunday, we pray that God would strengthen the bonds we hold so dear – our connection to our family, to our friends, to this community, and to God. 

Doing so gives us a taste of heaven, even while here on earth. 

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Image credits: (1) All Saints Mills River (2) NIV Bible (3) Divine Comedy, Dante, Amazon.com