Dear Parish Family,

The trap that was laid for Jesus was one that could destroy him  "Is it lawful to pay tax to the Romans or not?"  If he said "yes," they could have declared him a traitor and a Roman sympathizer. He would be a Jew telling people to support their oppressors.  If he said "No," then they would have run to the Romans telling them that he was preaching sedition. Jesus settled the question with a simple, but profound answer: "Render to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God's." This passage leads us to consider how we carry out our responsibilities to our country and to our God.

We are Catholic Christians. We are Americans.  We take our citizenship in our country extremely seriously.  We begin our school days with the Pledge of Allegiance. Every sporting event, in fact, all major gatherings of Americans, begin with the National Anthem. Men and women in uniform put their life in harm’s way to defend our country and our freedom. They are putting their lives in danger for the sake of the rest of us. That is patriotic.  That is noble. Patriotism is a virtue. We are also citizens of the Kingdom of God.  Our responsibility to God is infinitely greater than our responsibility to our country. Will we ever be forced to choose between country and God?  Hopefully, no, but for us there is no choice. The bottom line is that we are Christians first and forever.
      
We have great examples in history of saints of character who stood firm in the face of a choice between their Faith and allegiance to a king. Thomas More was a friend of King Henry VIII of England.  Thomas was a brilliant lawyer and a man of deep faith.  The king had a deep respect for Thomas. He named him to be the country's Chancellor. Then the whole problem of Henry's marriage came up. When the Henry’s request for an annulment was denied, Henry declared himself to be head of the Church. All in England were then required to sign the oath of supremacy rejecting the authority of Rome in religious matters. Thomas would not. For this he was first stripped of his position as chancellor, then he was imprisoned and finally he was beheaded. Thomas' last words were: “I die as the King's faithful servant, but God's first.”  Given the choice between following his conscience or rejecting the truth, Thomas saw no choice. Given the choice of choosing king or God, he chose God.
As citizens who care deeply for our country, we need to work hard to direct our country's paths to morality.  We have a responsibility to support God and country. But we also believe that a priority must be kept: God first, country second.  We need to do all in our power to help our country make good, moral laws so that we might always be "one nation under God." There are many, many ways that we can guide our country to being one that serves God in its care for all our citizens. We have a responsibility to fight against laws that destroy life, change a system that allows the mentally challenged to be homeless and be active in helping our country make moral choices, support noble ideals and care for the underprivileged.

We are reminded to today that we have to be active, courageous and moral citizens of this great nation. That is how we can ‘Render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s and unto God what is God’s’. And in fact, rejecting the illegitimate demands of the state is an act of true patriotism. For any nation that demands of Christians that they violate their consciences in the service of the state is acting in a destructive manner. By refusing to follow these unjust commands, the Christian calls his/her country to a higher ideal.

Fr. Tom Kunnel C.O.