Daily Gospel Reflection

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October 22, 2023

Twenty-ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Mt 22:15-21
Listen to the Audio Version

The Pharisees went off
and plotted how they might entrap Jesus in speech.
They sent their disciples to him, with the Herodians, saying,
“Teacher, we know that you are a truthful man
and that you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth.
And you are not concerned with anyone’s opinion,
for you do not regard a person’s status.
Tell us, then, what is your opinion:
Is it lawful to pay the census tax to Caesar or not?”
Knowing their malice, Jesus said,
“Why are you testing me, you hypocrites?
Show me the coin that pays the census tax.”
Then they handed him the Roman coin.
He said to them, “Whose image is this and whose inscription?”
They replied, “Caesar’s.”
.At that he said to them,
“Then repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar
and to God what belongs to God.”

Reflection

Danny Strebar '23, M.Ed.
Associate Program Director, Teacher Recruitment for ACE Teaching Fellows
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Life is filled with uncertainty, doubt, and challenge. Sometimes, we attempt to minimize the feeling of these realities by trying to fit Jesus in a box, assuming that we know what’s best for our lives in the short and long term.

Over the years, I have intentionally and sometimes subconsciously struggled with fully trusting the Lord in giving up attempted control over the uncontrollable. As a result, it can be tempting to blame Jesus when things seemingly go wrong, not realizing that we are putting God in a box. Like the Pharisees who attempted to box in Jesus through entrapping speech, we may try to negotiate or even dictate our lives’ direction.

It’s easy to look at this passage and think poorly of the Pharisees. They wanted to trick Jesus into saying one should either not follow their worldly government, or that faith should not be their priority, which they knew either would lead to persecution or scorn. So, therefore, shouldn’t we distance ourselves and mock the Pharisees? After all, the passage directly states that they had malice in their hearts!

While we may not have intentional malice in our thoughts, overly controlling aspirations can be just as destructive. While facing ourselves in the mirror, can we say we’re any different from the Pharisees in this scenario? Life is difficult! We’re by no means perfect; we’re far from it. It is normal to want to control what causes anxiety or pain. No one wants to be hurt.

So, how do we try to fit Jesus into a box?

While Jesus responded to the Pharisees by saying, “Then repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and God what belongs to God,” so too can we continue to focus on only what we can control and surrender in hope the rest up to God.

Prayer

Rev. Vincent Nguyen, C.S.C.

God, you sustain us as we go about this day, but you don’t stop at giving us the bare minimum. You constantly give us an abundance of gifts each day. Help us recognize those gifts today and be grateful for them. Amen.

Saint of the Day

St. Pope John Paul II

Pope John Paul II helped define the Church’s engagement with the world after the Second Vatican Council. His abundant charisma was matched only by his immense intellectual gifts, which he put at the service of fighting for human dignity and freedom. As the turmoil of the twentieth century gave way to the twenty-first, John Paul II fought to keep Christ the center of the human race's yesterday, today, and tomorrow.

Karol Jozef Wojtyla was born in Wadowice, Poland to a faithful Catholic family. Tragically, the young Karol was an orphan by the time he was twenty-one, having lost his mother, father, and his older brother. During World War II, during oppressive Nazi occupation, Karol enrolled in an underground seminary in Krakow and ran a resistance movement of artists. After the war ended, Karol was ordained a priest in 1946. He was sent for further education in Rome, to study at the Angelicum under the tutelage of a famous French Dominican theologian Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange.

The Communist regime that occupied Poland after World War II kept an eye on the brilliant young priest but underestimated him as a harmless intellectual. Thus, they allowed his appointment as an auxiliary bishop of Krakow in 1958. Karol attended sessions of the Second Vatican Council and contributed significantly to the ecumenical discussion. The experience of the council changed him and deepened his commitment to renewing the Church. He was named archbishop of Krakow in 1964, elevated to a cardinal in 1967, and provided leadership to the faithful of Poland as they faced persecution under Communist rule.

When Pope Paul VI died on August 6, 1978, Wojtyla went to Rome to elect a new pope. The cardinals elected Cardinal Albino Luciani of Venice, who took the name John Paul to honor the two popes who preceded him and who had guided the Second Vatican Council (John XXIII and Paul VI) . When Pope John Paul died after 33 days in office, the cardinals gathered once again, and this time, they elected Wojtyla, who took the name John Paul II as a symbol of continuity. He was the first non-Italian elected as Supreme Pontiff in 455 years.

When he stepped out onto the balcony facing St. Peter’s Square, his first words were these:

"Be not afraid! Open up—no, swing wide the gates to Christ. Open up to his saving power the confines of the state, open up economic and political systems, the vast empires of culture, civilization and development... Be not afraid!"

In the midst of the trauma of the second half of the twentieth century, and in the wake of great changes in the Church in the Second Vatican Council, there was a deep need for a wise leader to guide the Church and the world through the chaotic decades of rapid change. John Paul II ministered to Catholics in Soviet Bloc countries and continued to expand the pastoral reach of the papacy into the global South and East. Aided by immense energy and unflagging evangelical enthusiasm, John Paul II traveled on apostolic journeys to 124 countries.

Like his predecessors, John Paul II worked to promote ecumenical and interfaith initiatives. In order to dialogue with the youngest members of the Church, John Paul II inaugurated the World Youth Day celebrations. A prolific writer and intellect, John Paul II wrote fourteen encyclicals and five books. Heeding Vatican II's call to highlight the universal call to holiness, John Paul II canonized 482 saints. The charismatic artist from Krakow became a world-famous evangelist, defender of human rights, a peacemaker, and a prophet reminding a world depressed by its own evil to rediscover the endless and indefatigable joy of Christ.

Image of Pope St. John Paul II from the museum of the Basilica of the Sacred Heart

In his later years, John Paul II struggled with Parkinson’s disease. Even though Parkinson's made it difficult for him to celebrate Mass and eventually impacted his mobility, John Paul II did not shy from his public pastoral duties. Thus, John Paul II presented himself to the world as an image of the great humility and dignity of a suffering human being. When John Paul II died in the spring of 2005, the Notre Dame campus community gathered at the Grotto to pray for him and the Church—the image below captures that moment.

The Notre Dame community gathering to pray after John Paul II's death

Pope John Paul II was beatified in 2011 and was canonized a saint on April 27, 2014, along with Pope John XXIII.

At the University of Notre Dame, John Paul II has been honored by several initiatives and monuments. The Center for Ethics and Culture honors leaders who promote the Gospel of Life with its Evangelium Vitae Medal, which they named after John Paul II’s landmark 1995 encyclical. The image of John Paul II shown above hangs in the Basilica of the Sacred Heart's museum on campus, which also displays several of his white papal zucchettos (the small caps worn by bishops), one of which is pictured below.

One of Pope St. John Paul II's papal zucchettos from the museum of the Basilica of the Sacred Heart

Saint Pope John Paul II, who taught us to be not afraid as we open wide the doors to Christ—pray for us!