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29th Sunday of Ordinary Time

Readings for Sunday’s Liturgy

Meditation Reflection: Matthew 22:15-21

Consider the value and meaning we place on money. First, there’s the cultural pressure to value ourselves based on our bank account. We call name brand clothes, luxury vehicles, the size and elegance of a home, or exotic vacations “status symbols” because they reflect our monetary power and therefore our personal value. Consider how many people struggle with low self-esteem, no matter what age, because they lack the apparent wealth of others.

Our perception of the value of our work can also be tied to the numbers. How many decisions do we make based on how much money it pays rather than based on whether it’s God’s will? How many opportunities do we miss because we are afraid of having less and worry that we will thereby be less?

Currency further identifies our national ties. Each country has its own currency with images of its leaders and heroes.  To buy or sell in another nation requires exchanging your local money for the proper foreign coins.

These habits of mind might belong in the kingdom of fallen man, but not to the Kingdom of God. God created everything from nothing and continues to govern it and hold it in existence. He imprinted His image on man and woman and placed a value of infinite worth on each. The only way to devalue this currency is to distort God’s image within us, which we all do through sin (except Jesus and Mary) since Adam and Eve. Jesus came to restore God’s image within us, and even elevated it to a higher degree and dignity by uniting our human nature with His divine nature through His Incarnation.

Jesus doesn’t condemn Caesar’s image on Roman coins because it’s an earthly currency for an earthly political system. Rather, Jesus reminds us that our citizenship in His kingdom transcends our human institutions.

God desires that we revere Him as the King of kings, worship Him as Creator, and love Him as Father and Redeemer. He has bestowed His royal dignity upon us and urges us to return to Him His image. We don’t earn heavenly currency, we become it and we receive it.

Jesus says that we are God’s treasure. If we want to chase the dollar, we should chase God’s dollar. Through deeper union with the Lord, His grace transforms us more and more into His likeness. We also begin to see God’s image in others and their corresponding value and beauty. Thus one person, no matter how broken, is worth more than as many images of Ben Franklin you could stack.

I was reminded of this truth again when my sister and brother-in-law welcomed my new baby nephew into the world. From everyone’s reaction you would have thought they had won millions of dollars in the lottery and just told us they would share it with everyone – from the grandparent’s jubilation down to the youngest of their newborn’s siblings and cousins. The mark of status for us became who got to see him first!

Love sees the whole person. When a family member or loved one becomes ensnared in a serious sin, addiction, or suffers under mental illness, we feel sorrow because we see how these things distort the image of the true person we know, and all they could be. We want the ones we love to flourish. We value them for simply them, not anything they have accomplished or not. I love family reunions just because I enjoy being around those I love. I have grown up with my brother, sister, and cousins for many years now.  I have seen us all go through ups and downs, great strides and tough struggles.  I love them all when they are doing well, and just as much when they are struggling. I hate anything that would hold them back from the fullness of Christ’s joy, and I also know that God can work all things together for good.

Money can buy temporary pleasures and momentary experiences. However, the more we image the Lord, the deeper we experience a well-spring of joy, and far richer experiences than we can find anywhere else. It can hardly be described in words, so I won’t even try. Christ doesn’t explain it either.  He simply says, “Come, and you will see” (John 1:39).

Come and see Jesus, and see your true worth in His eyes.

Consider:

• Think of the people you love the most. Why do you love them? Why do their failings not make you love them less? How do you see them differently than they may see themselves?
• We make decisions based on our priorities. Make a priority list based on what you value
• Prayerfully ask God to show you how He sees you. Take 5 minutes of silent listening. (If distractions pop up just push them away. If you need an image to look at, meditate Then, compare the decisions you have been making to that list. How well do they match up? Where does there need to be some adjustments? What worldly values or fears are compromising your freedom to choose the higher good?)
• Prayerfully consider, with the help of the Holy Spirit, if you tend to value things more than people, or people more than things? Do you take your identity in what you have or your job title, or in being a child of God and a brother or sister of the Savior?
• Pray for Christ to give you His vision. Ask Him to enable you to see yourself and others as God

Make a Resolution (Practical Application):

• Each morning, “give to God what is God’s” – His image in you. Pray the Disciple’s Prayer by Cardinal Newman 
• This week try to see yourself and others as God does. Pray for their freedom and yours from sin, fear, or addiction, and the gift of Christ-filled  joy.

Disciple’s Prayer by Cardinal Newman   God has created me to do Him some definite service. He has committed some work to me which He has not committed to another. I have my mission. I may never know it in this life, but I shall be told it in the next. I am a link in a chain, a bond of connection between persons. He has not created me for naught. I shall do good; I shall do His work. I shall be an angel of peace, a preacher of truth in my own place, while not intending it if I do but keep His commandments. Therefore, I will trust Him, whatever I am, I can never be thrown away. If I am in sickness, my sickness may serve Him, in perplexity, my perplexity may serve Him. If I am in sorrow, my sorrow may serve Him. He does nothing in vain. He knows what He is about. He may take away my friends. He may throw me among strangers. He may make me feel desolate, make my spirits sink, hide my future from me. Still, He knows what He is about.

~ Written by Angela Jendro © 2019

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