Render Unto Caesar...

Deacon Bruce Maltzen's
Homily for October 19, 2008
29th Sunday in Ordinary Time Cycle A
readings here

In our Gospel for today, as he does so often in the Scriptures, our Lord speaks to those who were in his time, and to every age, to those who become ensnared in competing loyalties and forget that power and authority belong to God whose is omnipotent. Those in power rule at God's good pleasure, as indicated in our first reading

I have called you by your name,giving you a title, though you knew me not.I am the LORD and there is no other,there is no God besides me. It is I who arm you, though you know me not,so that toward the rising and the setting of the sun people may know that there is none besides me.I am the LORD, there is no
other.

And John in his Gospel chapter 19 verse 11 lays it out even clearer, when he quotes Jesus as saying, "You would have no power...unless it had been given you from above." Jesus Christ is the universal king; we are blessed to share in that authority.We may then ask, “What obligation do we have to the state and what obligation do we have to God?” For the first part, Christ tells us, "give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar." We have a civic duty to support our government. We have a civic duty to the country in which we live.

For example, it's O.K. and right to pay taxes. Of course it is, Jesus did not say – don’t pay Caesar anything. One of the things tax money does is builds roads. The street in front of your home and Hanson Boulevard right out front of our church was paid for by taxes. So was Highway 10 and I-94. It also pays for a lot more, such as Medicare and Social Security, Police and Fire, Health services, and our physical security.

It's also O.K. and right to serve in the military. When our government calls us for the armed forces, it is our civic duty to serve. While today no country is strong enough to directly attack the United States, some countries around the world greatly dislike our country. We’ve lived through the terrorist attacks of 9-11. Our Armed Forces are engaged in combat. We have a right to defend ourselves and those who cannot defend themselves, and the military does that, it defends us.

It's O.K. and right to be responsible citizens. When chosen for jury duty, we disrupt our daily routine and hear the evidence and render a verdict on the guilt or innocence of a person charged with a crime. Some seek public office, serving on the city council or the board of education or even higher offices. Taking time from our personal lives to answer a public need is OK. Everyone needs to exercise their rights as citizens by voting on Election Day. It is part of our responsibility as citizens.As Christians, we have an obligation to shape our city, our state and our country into something pleasing to God. To applaud and support the good our government does and to criticize the bad in our government.

We have in our own day an abundance of conflicts between the Church and the state. The question often is, “Is the issue a matter of political importance or a religious issue?” If it's deemed political, many believe, the Church should have nothing to say. Attempts to squelch the word of God go back to the beginning of salvation history. The prophets were put to death for speaking God's truth long before the Pharisees and Herodians of today’s Gospel tried to entrap and silence Christ.

As October is Respect Life Month, I would like to take the respect life issue as the current issue of social justice which is in the debate between the Church and the state. As Catholics, we value all human life from the moment of conception to natural death because we are all created in God's image, redeemed by Christ, and called to everlasting life. Therefore every human being, no matter what our condition in life, whether handicapped, advanced in age, unborn, unable to take care of themselves, abused or neglected, EVERY HUMAN BEING is sacred and precious in God's sight because we were molded with His image.

In a culture that legalizes taking the life of an unborn child, we see our obligation to God, to form human prayer chains on the streets, to stand across from abortion clinics and pray for the unborn, to assist those who cannot take care of themselves, to defend those who by themselves are defenseless, to care for those who receive no care. In the midst of a society that debates assisted suicide, we proclaim that all life is precious and we seek laws to defend all life.

I would like to say that I am preaching to the choir, but I have received multiple letters from Catholics that say abortion is an issue that the Church should stay out of, or at least not talk about during an election cycle. They say that the Church should stop trying to convince voters to vote one way or another. It is said by them that the Church should be silent on this issue.
The Church however says that respect for human life, in fact, is a moral issue, and when the laws of the country are immoral, and they attack the laws of God and the sacredness of human life, then Godly people should shout from every rooftop, priests and deacons should preach from every pulpit, and every believing man and woman should speak out and protest. "Render...to God the things that are God's."

All human life is sacred, from the hands of the creator. Psalm 139 says, "For you formed my inward parts, you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you, for you are fearful and wonderful, wonderful are your works O Lord!" When Caesar's laws are an abomination before God, then it is Caesar who must change.

The Catholic Church strives to be a prophetic voice, speaking out to protest injustices and indignities against the human person. Catholics will continue in this work, whether our words are popular or unpopular.

From the “Declaration on Procured Abortion”,by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (1974), paragraphs 11-12.

"The first right of the human person is his life . . . It does not belong to society, nor does it belong to public authority in any form to recognize this right for some and not for others; all discrimination is evil. . . Any discrimination based on the various stages of life is no more justified than any other discrimination. . . . In reality, respect for human life is called for from the time that the process of generation begins. From the time that the ovum is fertilized, a life is begun which is neither that of the father nor of the mother; it is rather the life of a new human being with his own growth."

The Catechism of the Catholic Church states:

“Since the first century the Church has affirmed the moral evil of every procured abortion. This teaching has not changed and remains unchangeable. Direct abortion, … abortion willed either as an end or a means, is gravely contrary to the moral law” (from Paragraph No. 2271).

Whether opposing the culture of death, the Catholic must give first allegiance to the laws of God. According to our faith, the Catholic citizen is obliged by their conscience not to follow the directives of civil authorities when those directives are contrary to the demands of the moral order, contrary to the fundamental rights of persons or contrary to the teachings of the Gospel.

We find justification for this in the distinction between serving God and serving the political community. Jesus says 'Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's.' (Mt 22:21) Peter says 'We must obey God rather than men.' (Acts 5:29)

When we approach this altar at communion and say Amen to the raised Host and Cup, we proclaim that it is Christ who is before us in his flesh and his blood. We are saying “Amen” not only to that, but to the understanding that He died on the cross for us when we were not worthy of it, and that he established the Catholic Church here on earth with Peter as its first pope and declared that it would never waver or be deluded.

Therefore when we hear the Church state as it has in the past that all human life is sacred, when bishop’s such as Bishop Quinn of Kansas City Missouri along with Archbishop Naumann of the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas write:

“Our country is at the edge of the precipice concerning the protection of the life and dignity of the human person. A significant new attack on innocent human life will likely send us into a moral freefall that would rival any financial decline. The price for such a “walk over the cliff” is millions of human lives lost for many more years to come.

A(ny) candidate who asks us to add our weight to such a destructive momentum in our society, asks us to be participants in their own gravely immoral act. This is something which, in good conscience, we can never justify. Despite hardship, beyond partisanship, for the sake of our eternal salvation: This we should never do.”

we need to listen and to heed the Church’s words.

As we, in the United States, prepare to vote in national elections, it might be good for us to sit down and draw up two lists--one, with all we owe to God, and one with all we owe to our country and its leaders. What we place in those columns will be determined by the depth of our faith and its moral and spiritual values, by our understanding of justice, by thorough and intelligent forming of a right conscience, and by our courage in voting according to that conscience.

Jesus says 'Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's.' Let us hope and pray that what Caesar asks us to render is not 30 pieces of silver, the cost of a soul.

Your brother in Christ,
Deacon Bruce

On Becoming Humble

Deacon Bruce Maltzen's
Homily for August 29th, 2004
22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time Cycle C

We've seen over and over where what Jesus says has a tendency to be pushy or "over the edge". I mean, when you decide to have a meal, its usually because you want to have your friends over, right? You want to invite them because your comfortable with them. You know that they won't embarrass you unless its meant to be just some kidding around, right! And you know that you can talk to them with out searching for things to talk about. You know what they're interested in and they know what you are interested in. Besides, didn't they just have you over a couple of weeks ago and its about time you repaid them? I mean you know they will root for the Vikings with you (put Packers in here if you aren't Vikings fans) and not get you angry. Besides, you'll feel comfortable in front of them and they won't make you feel self conscious.

But invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind? Why I'd be serving them rather than enjoying the meal. Right! RIGHT! Its funny, but Jesus (and therefore God) has this idea that we are here to serve the lowly and cater to the poor? Well I don't know about you but isn't that pushing it a little. I mean , I give to charity and can't they get a meal down at Sharing and Caring Hands? Isn't that what charity is for?

And what's this bit about "blessed indeed will you be because of their inability to repay you"? I don't have that much money that I could feed a bunch of poor people all the time. I mean, I need time with my friends and family. Aren't I supposed to invite them over too?

When's the last time that you went to someone's house and sat at the "other table", you know the one that the kids are relegated to, or went and sat on one of those folding chairs, leaving the table and good chairs for the others that came later? When's the last time that you were asked to move from those chairs and come up next to the host and sit with his family and talk to him.

Maybe there's something here for both friend and host? Maybe as a host we need to review who we always sit with, maybe we've lost the art of hosting - that is the walking around and making sure everyone has been fed and has had their needs met BEFORE we tend to our own needs?

From the Merriam Webster Online Dictionary:
Humility - the quality or state of being humble

"Humble"
from the Latin humilis low, from humus earth; meaning
1 : not proud or haughty : not arrogant or assertive
2 : reflecting, expressing, or offered in a spirit of deference or submission

It seems that this word has a teaching all in its own. From the earth. Low, not haughty or arrogant. Well - No one wants to be arrogant, but do we want to seem to be humble? Do we? Maybe we need to understand what being humble is?

Lets look again at the definition: Not proud or haughty, that is not thinking that you are greater or more important than anyone else, for that leads to a downfall when you meet those who are really strong and wise. We should, if we want to be humble, listen to the truly wise, and make their thoughts our own. Not arrogant or assertive, that is not taking your own rights first but making sure others needs are met before attending to our own. Taking the position of serving versus receiving or being served.

Think of some truly humble people. Pope John Paul II, Mother Theresa, are a couple that come to mind. Their acts of kindness and concern for others both great and small are almost legendary. Their humility was self evident in the way they lived their life. Their lives were and are about others.

But I know that some of you know people close to you that example that type of humility. Perhaps it was your mother or father, serving the family at all times without thought to their own needs. Or maybe an uncle or aunt continually giving to others, perhaps even unseen in their acts of kindness by others except you. Perhaps a true friend who left what was important to them to take care of you or someone else when they needed help. Funny, you know it when you see it. It doesn't really even need teaching. It stands out so well because it is so "other" than the world. It is the viewing of everyone else as a gift from God, and in realizing this that then brings about an acting upon that realization. In that we become humble.

Jesus said, "Rather when you are invited, go and take the lowest place so that when the host comes to you he may say, "My friend, move up to a higher position". Then you will enjoy the esteem of your companions at the table. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted."

So when is it that we need to take the lowest place? It is when we recognize the presence of God in all that surrounds us and we tend to that presence.
Humility is not a faked humility, that is we are not humble to draw attention to ourselves. It is an understanding of our position before God and others. Humility is practiced out of joy and love for each other, being unselfish and giving of ourselves to those that we find needier than we are.

Saint Paul says it quite eloquently in his letter to the Phillipians:
1 So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any incentive of love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, 2 complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. 3 Do nothing from selfishness or conceit, but in humility [there's that word again] count others better than yourselves. 4 Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. 5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, [now listen closely]6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, [listen to what Saint Paul indicates is the servant form] being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross. 9 Therefore [and here's the promise attached with humility] God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name which is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

When we finally come to that great banquet in heaven, let alone this banquet set here now before us, do we wish the host, the King of Kings to say to us, "come my friend, move up to a higher position"? If we claim to be Christian, one who professes belief in the teachings of Jesus Christ, one who is a follower of Christ, an imitator of Christ, then we who profess that, BETTER learn humility, for surely Christ has exampled it to us.

Your brother in Christ,
Deacon Bruce

Justice or Mercy?

Deacon Bruce Maltzen's
Homily for September 21, 2008
25th Sunday in Ordinary Time Cycle A (readings here)

I used to work at a job where I managed about 15 software and electrical engineers. It was my job not only to oversee their work, but also to determine their pay raises each year. I worked hard at being equitable, making sure that each person was paid according to their competence, quality, amount of work and number of years of experience. I tried to be equitable. I graphed out each person on a pay scale and then tried to determine from their effort and quality where they belonged on the scale in comparison with each other. If they were worked harder, smarter and more diligently than someone else more highly paid, I attempted (within the limits placed on me by the company) to make it more equitable, giving more to the harder worker and a little less raise to the one who wasn’t working up to the level I felt they could. I was trying to be just in the area of pay.

Needless to say when I read this Gospel, I feel a little worried for the ones who started work in the morning and got paid the same as the one who only worked one hour. It didn’t seem to make sense in my terms of equitable pay for equal work. Actually I thought that if this guy kept this up, he’d go broke as most people would wait for work at the last hour, now expecting to get paid the same amount as those who worked all day.

But then I started to ask, just what is God trying to teach us here. He can’t possible mean that we should pay everybody the same no matter how much they work? Could he? There has to be something much more to this than that.

We, especially we Americans, who work so hard to be just in all our dealings, always look to see if someone is not getting his “just dues”. We are all about equality and justice. But then I thought, God is also about mercy and love. So therefore he must be telling us something about that, especially when he ends the parable with

“Are you envious because I am generous?’
Thus, the last will be first, and the first will be last.”

And remember that he started this parable with:

“The kingdom of heaven is like a landowner

who went out at dawn to hire laborers for his vineyard.”

So he IS talking about the Kingdom, not about our being just, but the landowner then represents God and the workers represent those who were listening, his disciples, the Jews and also us. Now if we go back just a couple of verses into chapter 19 of Matthew, we find out the following:

Then Peter said to him in reply, "We have given up everything and followed
you. What will there be for us?"
19 Jesus said to them,
"Amen, I say to you that you who have followed me, in the new age, when the Son
of Man is seated on his throne of glory, will yourselves sit on twelve thrones,
judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And everyone who has given up houses or
brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands for the sake of my
name will receive a hundred times more, and will inherit eternal life.
20 But many who are first will be last, and the last will be
first.

So Jesus was speaking about the kingdom. And if we take the first reading into account, where Isaiah states:

For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
nor are your ways my ways, says the LORD.
As high as the heavens are above the earth,
so high are my ways
above your ways
and my thoughts above your thoughts.

We begin to realize that he is stating how God understands things and how he sees them and how he works with us. This isn’t about justice, it isn’t about how we see things, but about mercy and grace. Jesus is telling us that God’s grace cannot be earned, it is a gratuitous gift. It isn’t about earning it by doing things, but about God loving us so much that he gives us what we need when we do His will. Not how much of His will we do, but just for doing His will when we find it. We are like the laborers standing in the middle of town, hoping desperately that someone will hire us today, so that we can go home with at least something. And along comes God who asks us to work in his vineyard. All we need to do is say, “Yes” and go out and start to do the work. We needn’t worry as the first laborers hired, if we will be paid justly, as God is merciful. We will get what we need.

Too often we look over our shoulder to see if what we are given is better than, or at least as good as, what someone else has made. Often we compete with each other to see who will get the most, whether its money, love or even graces. But Jesus does give us this parable for us to follow. We are to live our lives as the master, seeing the needs and living according to a life of mercy, which is more than justice.

We are so fortunate to have a God who is more than Just.
Justice or Mercy – which would you have?

In talking about mercy and justice, it is the church’s duty and obligation to teach us on matters of faith and morals. As the United States Bishop’s have recently spoken in union on a topic, and which our local Archbishop John Nienstedt has also spoken on, and Fr. Zehren has so eloquently written about in our bulletin and which I have been asked about so many times by members of our parish, I would like to read something from the United States Catholic Council of Bishops*1 which deals with an issue very dear to the Catholic Church. It is an issue that many of you have told me needs to be taught to us directly, so I quote from the Bishops -

[There have been claims recently from prominent Catholics] that the beginning of human life is a “personal and private” matter of religious faith, one which cannot be “imposed” on others, this does not reflect the truth of the matter. The Church recognizes that the obligation to protect unborn human life rests on the answer to two questions, neither of which is private or specifically religious.
The first is a biological question: When does a new human life begin? When is there a new living organism of the human species, distinct from mother and father and ready to develop and mature if given a nurturing environment? While ancient thinkers had little verifiable knowledge to help them answer this question, today embryology textbooks confirm that a new human life begins at conception. The Catholic Church does not teach this as a matter of faith; it acknowledges it as a matter of objective fact.

The second is a moral question, with legal and political consequences: Which living members of the human species should be seen as having fundamental human rights, such as a right not to be killed? The Catholic Church’s answer is: Everybody. No human being should be treated as lacking human rights, and we have no business dividing humanity into those who are valuable enough to warrant protection and those who are not. This is not solely a Catholic teaching, but a principle of natural law accessible to all people of good will. The framers of the Declaration of Independence pointed to the same basic truth by speaking of inalienable rights, bestowed on all members of the human race not by any human power, but by their Creator.

I digress for a moment to quote that to you from the Declaration of Independence-

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that
they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that
among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

And back to the Bishops –

Those who hold a narrower and more exclusionary view have the burden of explaining why we should divide humanity into those who have moral value and those who do not and why their particular choice of where to draw that line can be sustained in a pluralistic society. Such views pose a serious threat to the dignity and rights of other poor and vulnerable members of the human family who need and deserve our respect and protection.

While in past centuries biological knowledge was often inaccurate, modern science leaves no excuse for anyone to deny the humanity of the unborn child. Protection of innocent human life is not an imposition of personal religious conviction but a demand of justice.

The next quote is from the Bishop’s recent article *2:

Respect for Unborn Human Life:
The Church’s Constant Teaching

From earliest times, Christians sharply distinguished themselves from surrounding pagan cultures by rejecting abortion and infanticide. The earliest widely used Documents of Christian teaching and practice after the New Testament in the 1st and 2nd centuries, the “Didache” (Teaching of the Twelve Apostles) and “Letter of Barnabas,” condemned both practices, as did early regional and particular Church councils.

Modern science has not changed the Church’s constant teaching against abortion, but has underscored how important and reasonable it is, by confirming that the life of each individual of the human species begins with the earliest embryo.

Given the scientific fact that a human life begins at conception, the only moral norm needed to understand the Church’s opposition to abortion is the principle that each and every human life has inherent dignity, and thus must be treated with the respect due to a human person. This is the foundation for the Church’s social doctrine, including its teachings on war, the use of capital punishment, euthanasia, health care, poverty and immigration. Conversely, to claim that some human beings do not deserve respect or should not be treated as “persons” (based on changeable factors such as age, condition, location, or lack of mental or physical abilities) is to deny the very idea of inherent human rights. Such a claim undermines respect for the lives of many vulnerable people before and after birth.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church states (No 2271):

“Since the first century the Church has affirmed the moral evil of every procured abortion. This teaching has not changed and remains unchangeable.
Direct abortion, that is to say, abortion willed either as an end or a means, is gravely contrary to the moral law”.

So, as we attempt to form our conscience and to do the will of God, we need to read and include the teaching of the Church. Just as in the Gospel, Jesus told us a parable that we might learn about the way of God (which is and can be so high above our way), the Bishop’s have given us a teaching so that we might understand the way of God and how it is carried out in His church and his people. The way of God is justice and mercy, but mostly mercy, he gives us what we need, and we need this teaching.

*1 “Bishops Respond To Senator Biden’s Statements Regarding Church Teaching On Abortion”, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, www.usccb.org
http://www.usccb.org/comm/archives/2008/08-129.shtml

*2 “Respect for Unborn Human Life: The Church’s Constant Teaching”, Fact sheet by the USCCB Committee on Pro-Life Activities, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, www.usccb.org
http://www.usccb.org/prolife/constantchurchteaching.shtml