“Give therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” These words at the end of today’s Gospel are about far more than whether or not it is lawful to pay taxes to the Government. At their core, they are an invitation for us to reflect on our nature as human beings, by asking the question: “whose image do we bear?”
The answer to this question is given to us in the first chapter of Genesis, when it says: “ God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.” Because of this, we all bear the image of God in our bodies and on our souls. Do we respond to this reality by giving ourselves freely to God? Or do we allow other things to get in the way?
We live in an age where there are so many voices clamouring for our attention, and so many people telling us that we need this label or that label to be truly “happy.” We try to find happiness by conforming ourselves to an image that the world gives us, only to realize that something is still missing: something isn’t complete. There is a God-shaped hole in all of us, and no matter how hard we try, nothing else can fill that void. St. Augustine summed this up the best when he said in his Confessions that “You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you.”
Giving ourselves completely and freely to God seems like a very scary thing, because we do not know where the journey will lead. However, that is precisely what we are called to do as Christians, and as disciples of Jesus. When we struggle with this, perhaps we can find strength in a prayer written by St. Ignatius of Loyola, which asks God for the grace to surrender everything to him. I encourage you to pray with this prayer throughout the coming week.
Take, Lord, and receive all my liberty,
my memory, my understanding,
and my entire will,
All I have and call my own.
You have given all to me.
To you, Lord, I return it.
Everything is yours; do with it what you will.
Give me only your love and your grace,
that is enough for me.
Sincerely in Christ,
Fr. Steven Huber, CSB