the role of government

Homily

Tuesday of the 9th Week in Ordinary Time

Mardi Gras 2011

8 March 2011

St. Lawrence Catholic Campus Center at the University of Kansas

St. John of God, pray for us

JMJ AMDG +m

Daily Readings

Money. Sex. Politics. Sports. Weather. Crime. Am I missing anything? This litany takes up most of an evening news cast, and most of our lives as well. People care much more about taxes and benefits, are much more willing to get upset if you mess with their money, than they do about contemplation of the highest things, and things that will never pass away. The Pharisees and Herodians tried to show how paying taxes to Caesar could be against God's will, since the Romans were occupiers of the Holy Land. Jesus in his flippant reply indicates that taxes and politics are the least of one's worries, when there is still hatred of others and love of money in one's own heart. Jesus is interested in healing people from the inside out. He knows well that the Romans are occupiers, but He points out that it is less of a crime to pay to Caesar what is Caesar's in terms of money, than to give one's soul over the tyranny of sin that destroys a human heart.

This is not to say that government should never be opposed. Perhaps in our day we need even more civil disobediencein the things that matter to God, more outrage when our government fails to protect the basic right to life, and fails in its ability to see and to know and to choose the common good of all people, so that human persons may not just exist minimally but may have life in abundance. It seems that politics is in dire need of saints, who can cut through old rhetoric and inspire Americans beyond the stale conversation that is all too often a concern over money alone.

Yet as great as our country is and can be and should be, it is not the American way of life that produces saints. It is the mission of the Church to do this, and since a Christian lives his life from the inside out, being concerned with purity of heart before attending to money or any other external thing, then it is the Church who must seek to change the world more than money or politics or war or weather ever can, through the lives of her saints. The Church must produce new saints today. It is her great privilege and mission to do so, now as much as ever.

For the Church, that she might be a light to all nations who wish to seek the common good of their peoples, we pray to the Lord.

For the world, that leaders may never lose sight of the highest common good of their people as they strive to solve the everyday problems of man, we pray to the Lord.

For the mission of the St. Lawrence Catholic Campus Center to the University of Kansas, that we might bring the truth of the Gospel to bear on the formation of the future leaders of American society, we pray to the Lord.

For the intentions of our Holy Father, and for all those who suffer unjustly because of violence, injustice, poverty, disease or ignorance, we pray to the Lord.

For our own personal intentions, for those for whom we have promised to pray, and for those to whom we wish to offer the fruits of this Mass, especially for the lonely, the sick and the doubtful, we pray to the Lord.

Heavenly Father with a deep trust in the love that flows from the heart of your Son, and by the gifts of your Holy Spirit, give to the seminarians, novices and all young people of this Archdiocese, the courage to respond generously when you call them to the priesthood and religious life. Give them strong examples of holy priests and religious, and may they be helped by the intercession of the saints, and by our prayers, to pattern their lives after Mary, who was not afraid to let is be done unto Her according to your Word. we ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.

JMJ AMDG +m