Monday, August 11, 2025

 

Memorial of Saint Clare, virgin

(Deuteronomy 10:12-22; Matthew 17:22-27)

In today’s gospel Jesus gives his disciples important lessons on freedom and on charity.  The temple tax discussed in the passage was permitted by the Roman authority.  It seems to be a modest amount, perhaps the price of a cup of coffee.  Most Jews of Jesus’ time paid it, but religious teachers often considered themselves exempt. Jesus likewise sees himself as exempt, but not for the same reason as the rabbis.

The example that Jesus gives needs to be drawn out to explain his rationale for claiming exemption.  “Kings of the earth” exempt their sons from taxes, not their subjects as the passage reads.  Jesus, the Son of God, then is exempt from the tax for God’s house.  So too are his brothers, the disciples. The exemptions do not end here but are extended to other ritual and dietary laws. 

Jesus provides for the payment of the tax out of love for others.  As Paul in I Corinthians abstains from meat sacrificed to idols, Jesus does not want to cause scandal.  He will pay the tax in solidarity with those who see it as the duty of all faithful Jews.  We too claim exemption from Jewish dietary and ritual laws, but not from charity.  Jesus actually multiples our obligations of charity with his death on the cross.

Monday, August 9, 2021

( Optional) Memorial of Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, virgin and martyr

(Deuteronomy 10:12-22; Matthew 17:22-27)

In today’s gospel Jesus proves himself to be an earnest Jew.  He might have avoided the Temple tax.  After all, he is a rabbi and rabbis sometimes do not pay the tax.  He is also the Son of God who should not be even asked for the tax.  But he is also a pious Jew who loves his people.  Rather than give scandal, he has the tax paid.

Today the Church honors a saint who was martyred because of her similar Jewish origin.  St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross became a Christian as an adult and then a Benedictine nun.  Living in a monastery in the Netherlands during World War, the Gestapo came to send her to Auschwitz with other Jews.  She did not resist but gave herself up.  She told her sister, who was with her, “Come; we are going for our people.” Like Jesus she loved her people so much that she was willing to die to show solidarity with them.

Christianity has been accused of giving root to anti-Semitism.  Pope Pius XI challenged that assertion the year before World War II broke.   “Spiritually,” he said, “we are Semites.”  He explained that our reference to Abraham in the liturgy and our union with Jesus make us common descendants of Abraham with all Jews. (He might have added Muslims as well.)  Jews are still persecuted for their faith.  We should stand in solidarity with them.

Monday, August 11, 2014

Memorial of Saint Clare of Assisi, virgin              

(Ezekiel 1:2-5a.24.24-28c; Matthew 17:22-27)

Next to St. Francis himself, St. Clare was responsible for the Franciscan revolution of the thirteenth century.  Their innovations, along with those of St. Dominic, transformed religious life.  They rejected the privilege to which monks and nuns at the time had long been accustomed.  In its place they begged for the food they ate to conform themselves radically with the gospel.  Interestingly, their rules of religious life were not spurned by contemporaries but attracted phenomenal numbers of adherents.  In today’s gospel Jesus shows himself to be an even more daring innovator.

People think of God with such a powerful persona that suffering for Him would be contradictory.  Yet Jesus, accepting the title of Christ or Son of God, openly announces his imminent passion and death.  The passage also has Jesus humbly paying his taxes.  He refuses any privilege of office as he has come exclusively to serve. 

In a world that still pays great homage to power, we must remember who our Savior is.  He did not crush foes but allowed himself to be executed as an innocent person.  We follow him by rendering humble service to others and by refusing to be impressed by displays of force.

Monday, August , 2010

Monday of the Nineteenth Week in Ordinary Time

(Ezekiel 1:2-5.24-28c; Matthew 17:22-27)

Justice is the virtue by which we give to others their due. It is essential for harmonious social life. Love is the virtue by which we join ourselves spiritually if not physically to others. Family life would be inconceivable without it. Both virtues have natural and supernatural dimensions. Natural justice, for example, assures that we compensate properly those who work for us. Supernatural justice moves us to secure the rights of all people, whether or not we owe them anything personally. Pursuing supernatural justice, which is bestowed only through God’s grace, we merit everlasting life.

Parents, of course, love their children. Because they naturally identify their children’s welfare with their own, they make it a priority. Supernatural love moves people to identify with and to seek the good for God and others, beyond family and friends. We see supernatural love operative in the lives of the saints like Katherine Ann Drexel who spent her fortune and her life on the construction of missions for poor minorities in the United States.

The gospel today presents a negative instance of natural justice and a positive instance of supernatural love. Jesus instructs Peter that justice does not require him to pay the temple tax because he is the son of God for whom the temple was constructed. However, because supernatural love moves him not to give scandal to tax collectors, Jesus provides for the paying of the tax. In paying the tax voluntarily, Jesus demonstrates in a rather banal way that he is indeed of divine origin.

Homilette for Monday, August 11, 2008

Memorial of St. Clare, virgin

(Matthew 17:22-27)

Justice is the virtue by which we give to each person his or her due. It is absolutely essential for harmonious social life. Love is the virtue by which we join ourselves spiritually if not physically to others. Family life would be inconceivable without it. Both virtues have natural and supernatural dimensions. Natural justice, for example, assures that we compensate properly the person who works for us. Supernatural justice moves us to secure the rights of all people, whether or not we owe them anything personally. Pursuing supernatural justice, which is bestowed only through God’s grace, we merit everlasting life.

Parents, of course, love their children. Because they naturally identify their children’s welfare with their own, they make it a priority. Supernatural love moves people to identify with and to seek the good for God and others, beyond family and friends. We see supernatural love operative in the life of St. Clare of Assisi who exhausted herself in prayer and charitable works.

The gospel today presents a negative instance of natural justice and a positive instance of supernatural love. Jesus instructs Peter that justice does require him to pay the temple tax because he is the son of God for whom the temple is constructed. However, because supernatural love moves him not to give scandal to the tax collectors, Jesus provides for the paying of the tax. In paying the tax voluntarily, Jesus demonstrates in a rather banal way that he is indeed of divine origin.