MORAL DECADENCE IN OUR SOCIETY: A PASTORAL SOLUTION

MORAL DECADENCE IN OUR SOCIETY: A PASTORAL SOLUTION
Fr. Marcel Divine Emeka Okwara CSsR

As a little boy growing up in Dikenafai, a village of Nigeria, my favorite TV program was Tales by Moonlight which was shown on NTA. It was a program that I and some of my peers yearned to watch. And when there is no electricity to watch it, we greatly missed it. For those who still remember this program, it was a story telling one through which ancient stories involving the ever cunning Tortoise, the king of the jungle- Lions and other animals were used to represent the Nigerian and African values, morality, norms and commendable behaviors of our society. It was a very simple program that was designed to teach the young and probably the disappointing adults that which the voice men condemn and uphold. Through Tales by Moonlight, we learnt about the virtues of respect and obedience to our parents and elders. We learnt good manners, love for the other, honesty and trustworthiness, maintenance of peace and being assiduous with one’s studies or training as an apprentice. Through the program, we learnt that every action has a corresponding consequence. If you sow good, you will reap good, and if you sow bad or evil, you will reap evil. Tales by Moonlight promoted African values, moral sanity, healthy living, love and decent lifestyle. It promotes generally, the African virtues- which is our way of life.
But a critical look at the society today, a look at the “signs of times” easily suggests a gradual disappearance of these values. Everybody is moaning and grieving about the emerging morally decadent age. From the traditional rulers, religious leaders, preachers of Christian message, parents, teachers, to political leaders, everybody is lamenting over the emerging atrocities of this age. And our world has been variously described by many experts as the most rash and hostile world. Others describe it as a very wicked world, a perilous world and a wicked generation.
All the unspeakable descriptions of the world are not targeted to the geographical space called the earth. When we say ‘it is a wicked world, a perilous world, a harsh and immoral world, a wicked world’, we are not talking about the planet earth. We are talking and describing about the people who live on it; we are passing judgment on human beings created in God’s image and likeness. We are describing ourselves, God’s reflection of himself. Everybody is shedding tears about the trend of things in our world today. The older generations are greatly concerned about the future of their children. An elderly woman once complained, “Fr. I am very scared! The future seems to be bleak.” She is worried and troubled by the direction the nowadays generation is taking.
The issue here is moral decadence in our society. What then is moral decadence? Simply speaking, moral decadence is a flight from moral virtues. And moral virtues according to St. Thomas Aquinas are good habits which incline and allow their possessors to make good moral choices. And without virtue, argues Bernard Haring, “everything is hollow and dull. Indeed, without virtue, men and women are good for nothing and public dangers.”
Moral decadence is the corruption of moral consciousness. Moral decadence is a flight from fides et ratio (faith and reason). It is attitudes that disregard the Christian theological and moral virtues and in many dimensions debase mankind. For the morally decadent, nothing is condemnable, and nothing is evil; nothing seems atrocious. A morally decadent society upholds the philosophy of “anything goes”.
Several factors contribute to the moral decay evident in our society. One of the factors is secular humanism. Whatever else is responsible for moral vacuity, this movement called secular humanism is the most culpable for most of the moral crisis plaguing our society. Simply speaking, secular humanism is a worldview. It is a non-religious worldview that stresses human values without any reference to God or religion or spirituality. Theologically, secular humanists are atheists. According to them, there is no God. God does not exist; he has never existed, and would not exist. For humanist Paul Kurtz, representing other humanists argues “humanism cannot in any fair sense of the word apply to one who still believes in God as the source and creator of the universe.” They believe that instead of God or gods creating the cosmos, the cosmos, in the individualized form of human beings giving rein to their imagination, created the gods or God. In other words, God did not create; rather he was created by human beings. The only thing that exists therefore is nature; the material world is all that exists. There is no God, no spiritual dimension, and no afterlife. The universe, they stress, is all that is or ever was or will ever be. Human life according to them is as result of a purely natural phenomenon. Man, his body, his mind and his soul were not supernaturally created but are all products of evolution.
The atheism of secular humanism leads most of them to adopt ethical relativism. Ethical relativism is the belief that there is no absolute moral code; therefore man must adjust his ethical standards in each situation according to his own judgment. Morality is not discovered, it is made. Ethical relativism says there is no moral right and no moral wrong. In other words, nothing is praiseworthy and nothing is condemnable. No human action should be commended, and no human action should be blamed or condemned, because its right and wrong are based on social norms. What is considered as wrong in one place might be seen as right somewhere else. And what is considered wrong today might be upheld as right tomorrow. Therefore, no human action should be judged.
Just like every other dangerous teachings, the teachings of secular humanism spread like wild-fire. Through articles mostly found on the internet, Magazines, Newspapers, etc, they spread their message. They also organize seminars, lectures, conferences and talks. And through this avenue, they confuse the society especially the young people. They want the world to believe that no matter what we do, it is acceptable as long as it makes us feel good. They ask us not to be judgmental. Don’t judge your feelings. Obey your passions and emotions. Follow your feelings. If you feel like having sex, any form of sex, go ahead and do it. And do not judge whether it is wrong or right. As long as you feel cool doing it, go ahead. If you feel cool getting married to another person of same sex, it is in order, after all, that is how you feel.
The teaching of “do not be judgmental” is the reason why all forms of despicable acts are committed around the globe especially in Europe and North America. Sexual perversion is becoming so pervasive in our reprobate society, that one must be very careful about what he sees or hears. The degraded, dissolute occupants of the sodomite world are no longer in their hiding caves. They have come out from their closets with a raucous and unashamed insistence that decent, moral people accept them as being normal. Look at how in Europe and North America, those in positions of authority tolerate homosexuality and homosexuals and even make laws accommodating their disgusting and unholy unions. The biblical teaching that says “from the beginning, God made them male and female” is regarded as a fable from a mindless religion. Note that they are now even receiving the protection of law in many venues as if they were a minority class of citizens that has experienced discrimination. And those who speak out against these perversions are attacked ad hominem as homophobes, hate-mongers and intolerant.
The central message of secular humanism is secularism. And of course, secularism leads to loss of sense of the sacred, loss of sense of God, loss of sense of morality, loss of sense of moral sanity, loss of sense of shame. It leads to moral anarchy, moral vacuity and moral decadence. Secularism leads to loss of sense of moral excellence. Anything can be done as long as it is cool for the individual. As a result of this, people even have sexual relationship with animals, and even with the dead.
Another factor responsible for moral decadence is the apparent absence of role models. In times past, there were prophets who act as the conscience of the people; there were martyrs who died for their beliefs; there were virgins who died protecting their virginity. In times past, there were honest elders. In those days there were honest leaders- both in small communities, and in the society at large. In those days, there were preachers of the message of Christ. In those days, there were so many honest and straightforward parents. In those days, there were assiduous teachers in schools either in the primary schools, secondary schools or in the university. In those days, there were Amos, Jeremiah, Hosea, Isaiah etc. In those days, there were Archbishop Oscar Romero of El-Salvador; there were Martin Luther King Jn. In those days, there were highly moral traditional rulers. In those days, there were healthy families. But the question today is “Where are the prophets”? By prophet, I don’t mean the prophets of the Bible alone. By prophets I mean speakers of the truth. I mean those the younger generation can look up to and learn virtuous living. The absence of role models in our modern society once made the Lagos based legal luminary, Gani Fawehimi to say “I will never respect any traditional ruler in Yoruba land, because they have deposited their crowns in the shrine of money.” The same can also be said of other traditional rulers in other parts of the county. If the traditional rulers, the custodian of customs and values are so morally deficient as not to deserve Gani Fawehimi’s respect, then the future is bleak. Where will the younger generations learn righteousness and upright living? If the leaders are morally bad, then from where will the led learn decent living? The Igbo aphorism that says, “An elder does not stay at home and watch a goat tied to a stake suffocates to death” is no longer the case. Today many elders are watching as many needy ‘goats’ die unassisted. Come to think of it, who are the elders? Do we still have elders today in our society? Who are those encouraging the youths to take the shortcuts to riches? The elders encourage the young people to acquire riches by any means by conferment of chieftaincy titles to public crooks and land grabbers. In my community, a particular rogue known to everyone became wealthy overnight. And in order to gain relevance, he went to another community, bought his way through, and was given a chieftaincy title. All that matters today is wealth. Nobody questions the source of wealth. A young lady can return home with an expensive car or cars from her sojourn in Italy or elsewhere in Europe. And her homecoming will be lavishly celebrated by all and sundry. Of course nobody is interested in what she does for a living. It is a known fact that a good number of our girls are into prostitution, drug trafficking and other forms of wild living. But as long as she is bringing hard currency, it is alright. Even some parents are selling their valuables like lands and houses just to sponsor their daughter or daughters abroad. If there is no money to send their daughters to school, there will be money to send her to Italy or any other part of the world. With no good education and trade, what do people think these girls do abroad? Again, in time past, there were honest parents, godly parents, and virtuous parents.
Hard work or the virtue of industry is no longer appreciated by many young people; they prefer shortcuts to becoming rich. Everybody- leaders, parents, preachers, teachers, traditional and religious leaders, political leaders etc are all racing towards the so called ‘Trend of Time.’ In the Tertiary institutions, professors and teachers ought to be role models to the students, but some of them are disappointedly showing them how to be corrupt, how to be morally deficient. Some teachers demand sex from some female students before they can pass whatever subjects they teach. The male students are not left out; some are asked for monetary compensation to pass a paper, thereby teaching them that the shortcut to success is not only thinkable but also possible. Some students kill themselves for worldly reasons. Of course, the issue of student-prostitution is longer a news. The virtue of chastity is considered today as archaic, obscure and impossible. The issue of rape, stealing, child-trafficking, bribery and corruption is on the increase.
If our society is short of role models, then good examples will also not abound. Role models show good examples. And when role models are lacking, good examples will also be lacking. From head to toe, the system appears to be dirty, unkempt, and grossly corrupt and messed up. There is moral decadence in every sector of our life. Anything and everything seems possible. Nothing is considered an eye-sour again. In the midst of all these, some conclude that the end-time is very close at hand. Some even argue that nothing can be done to remedy this situation. But as a man of God, I believe there is a way out. Something can be done to remedy the society and human life from moral crisis.

PASTORAL SOLUTIONS TO MORAL DECADENCE
As a Catholic Priest, I want to remind my fellow workers in the Kingdom- Bishops, Priests, and Deacons that as chief guardians of religion and the chief dispensers of what pertain to the Church; we cannot possibly keep silent in the face of moral vacuity that is gravely threatening human life and society; because by keeping silence we will be neglecting the duty incumbent on us. The prophetic task of the Church calls us to action. As men of God, working for the ‘enthronement and expansion’ of the kingdom, we are to challenge everyone including ourselves to pay attention to his sanctuary (conscience) where God speaks to us “do good and avoid evil.” We are to challenge God’s people to wake up and live out the true meaning of their dignity and origin.
We should be the voice of the prophets, a vehicle through which God speaks to the community and to the world. We should become contemporary prophets, a voice that has to emerge from the society in which we live; a voice that must call all men and women to be what God has meant them to be in a world burdened by moral crisis and inordinate ambitions. As we preach from different pulpits, let our voice compel the people to listen because we are addressing a reality that is urgent. We must become prophets! It is our duty in history to lend our voices to Christ so that he may speak, to lend our feet to Christ so that he may walk today’s world, and to lend our hands to him to build the reign of God. The tough mission that Christ has given us is to uproot evils from history, to uproot sins from the political order, to uproot sins from the economy, to uproot immorality from the society and wherever they are.
As we passionately preach the word of God from our different Churches, we should not be too comfortable, too intimidated, and too timid to name these morally decadent behaviors. Our preaching should make evil doers feel bad and remorseful for their evil deeds. Our preaching should be able to bring about conversion and change of lifestyles. And as we preach we should not be afraid of persecution.
We should not allow ourselves to be caught up by this immoral web. The Church, the society and the world are in dire need of role models. We should be able to practice what we preach. By the way we live; we should be able to convince people that it is possible to live above the standard of the society. Both our preaching and our lifestyle should be prophetic and life-changing.
I have so far been addressing my fellow workers in the Lord’s vineyard. But the onus of changing our society does not lie in their hands alone. Every Christian, every human being is saddled with the task of transforming our world because we all live in it. The task of bringing about a meaningful change in our world should begin in the family. The family is the domestic Church where moral, religious and cultural values should be inculcated in the life of the young ones. To be able to do this, parents, guardians and upright elders of the community should do everything possible to teach and encourage the younger ones of the importance of virtuous living. The society is in danger today because the family life is in shambles. Many children grow up without knowing who their fathers are; some grow up with morally underprovided mothers who only drink, smoke, and invite different men to spend the night with them. Again, Bishops, Priests, Deacons, Religious men and women, Catechists, Seminarians etc. should be in the forefront of repairing the damages already done, and educating our people on how to live decent lives.
In our schools and colleges, moral lesson should be re-introduced, and if possible be made a compulsory subject. Real efforts should be made to balance academic excellence and moral uprightness. A concerned mother here in USA told me that she has consistently told her 14 year old daughter that academic excellence minus virtuous lifestyle is absolutely nonsense. That should be the approach today in all our schools, at all levels.
To those who engage in all sorts of immoral behaviors because of hardship, the Church should repeatedly tell them that possession of wealth and material goods is of no importance for eternal life. They should also be reminded that there is no disgrace in poverty, and that the “true dignity and excellence in men reside in moral living, that is in virtue.” In doing this, the Church should constantly remind the political leaders of the long consequences of not improving the quality of life of its citizens; by failing to create job opportunities, adequate housing scheme, and other social amenities, people suffer untold and unspeakable hardship which in turn ‘force’ some people into taking short-cuts to survival. The Justice, Development and Peace Commission (JDPC) should become more gospel oriented, more prophetic, more active and more powerful in this regard.
To save the Nigerian society from sliding into moral anarchy which is obviously responsible for all the evils and crimes in the society, the Church which has always been the “voice crying in the wilderness” should cry even louder now than ever. The Church should seek new ways to educate the people by her teaching and forms them by her discipline. The Church’s hierarchy in Nigeria should become more charismatic, more prophetic, more eloquent and more exemplary in proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ. If the society is to be saved and healed now, in no other way can it be healed and saved save by a return to Christian life and Christian institutions. “Whoever is thirsty”, says Jesus Christ, “let him come to me and drink.” In our dryness- moral dryness, spiritual dryness, social dryness, psychological and emotional dryness, a return to Jesus Christ, the Lord of life and Prince of peace becomes inevitable.

Note: This article of mine has already been published in a Magazine Pentiful Redemption of the students of the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer, Nigerian Vice-Province.

Abortion: The Only Issue to Consider before Voting?

According to a report published in the Memphis Local News, Thursday, October 23, 2008, our dearly Bishop Terry Steib says he “is not telling Memphis area Catholics how to vote in this presidential election, but he is asking them to avoid casting their vote based on one issue.” In furthering his argument, he said “If our conscience is well formed, then we will make the right choices about candidates who may not support the Church’s position in every case.” I cannot agree more with the Bishop’s argument and position. His comments on the forthcoming presidential election is coming on the heels of some Catholic Bishops here in USA urging the Catholic faithful to ignore voting for any candidate that supports abortion. Put differently, the candidate’s position on abortion should be the sole criterion or the prerequisite of getting votes from the Catholics. Two Catholic Bishops in Dallas and Fort Worth co-wrote a letter stating that it is immoral to vote for a candidate who supports abortion. Wonderful! According to the Local News Newspaper of Memphis, the Bishop of Scranton, Pennsylvania circulated a letter through the diocese stating that a “candidate’s abortion stance supersedes all other issues. Public officials who support abortion should be denied Communion.
The reason for this write-up is not to argue with the Bishops. My target here is not to enter into dispute with the Church’s hierarchy. I am a simple and a loyal servant of God and the Church. I also want to state here that I do not support abortion. I am a strong believer and a promoter of culture of life. But I have some concerns and worries with the arguments of Bishops of Dallas, Fort Worth and Scranton. First, the two bishops in Dallas and Fort Worth states that it is immoral to vote for a candidate who supports abortion. What they are saying in essence is that anyone who votes for a pro-choice candidate is culpable. First, it is important to point out here that what the two Bishops had done appears to be partisanship which the Church’s leadership should not get involved in. It is not the duty of the Church to tell her members who to vote for and who to vote against. At best, the Church can help its members in the discernment process without being overly partisan. What the Bishops of Dallas, Fort Worth and Scranton had done is obviously a public endorsement of a candidate or a group of candidates which is a violation of the American law. Such an act can cause a deep division within the Church because within the Church are members of the Democratic and Republican party who naturally will support their candidates either in presidential election or senatorial election etc. Within the Church are also Independents who listen to the issues being discussed and may be drawn to a particular candidate. When such division occurs, it will in a long run hurt the Church. We can be political without being partisan.
The argument of the two Bishops of Dallas and Fort Worth that “It is immoral to vote for any candidate who supports abortion” can lead to another argument. In 2004, shortly before the presidential election took place before the incumbent president, George W. Bush and Senator John Kerry, the present Pope, as Cardinal Ratzinger warned in a letter sent to the American Bishops that voting for any politician that supports the 1973 US Supreme Court judgment Roe vs Wade or back abortion rights of women would make the voter immorally culpable in the sin of abortion. In the letter, he speaks of how the people become responsible for the actions of those they choose to support. It is the same argument that the two Bishops are putting forward today. But here is the problem with that logic: Since Pope Benedict XVI, as Cardinal Ratzinger was speaking about how the people become responsible for the actions of those they choose to support, shall we also claim that the Pope should consider himself morally culpable in the many sins of President George W. Bush as the President of United States as from 2004: whether it is the immoral invasion of Iraq or the Guantanamo Bay or his endorsement of torture as instrument of State policy? Can one wildly claim that all the US Catholic Bishops and probably all the Catholics and Evangelicals who supported and voted for President George W. Bush are morally culpable in the many sins and errors of the president in the last four years? Or is it only in the case of abortion that culpability becomes possible?
My contention may be attacked by another argument that a pro-choice politician is a manifest sinner; a known sinner whose moral position regarding abortion is a public knowledge. While he is viewed as such, the one who claims to be pro-life is supported on the basis that he will be a proponent of culture of life. But history and events have proved us wrong. For many politicians, pro-life agenda is just an ideology, an instrument of winning election; a tool to corner votes from Catholic, Evangelicals and Conservatives. While speaking against abortion, they are thinking of another nation to invade and bomb down. Unfortunately, most of us ignore or forget that both abortion and wars or torture ultimately kill. They do not promote life! They violate the sanctity, the integrity and the dignity of human life. Not a few moralists even claim that war is the worst of all human crime and evil.
The position of the Bishop of Scranton that “a candidate’s abortion stance supersedes all other issues” amounts to reducing all the nation’s problems in healthcare, education, infrastructures, economy, jobs, energy, gas hike, immigration, housing etc to just one moral issue- abortion. At a time when the wealthiest and the most powerful nation is seriously threatened by economic collapse, everything should be put on the table. It is not enough to have a President who is pro-life but a president whose socio-political, economic and ethical policies will actually promote life. We need to examine his ethics of war too. In the last eight years, we have had a faith-based presidency; we have had a president who is pro-life. But has the number of abortions in America reduced? No! And I want to state that pro-life begins from the womb to the grave. To say that a candidate’s stance on abortion supersedes all other issues is to profoundly ignore what an average American is going through at this difficult time in history. It is denying the fact that there are millions of people who have no healthcare insurance; it is denying the fact that more than seven hundred thousand people have lost their jobs this year alone, it is denying the fact that many people are presently facing foreclosure; it is a denial of what has been happening in the Wall Street and the anxiety and panic that have gripped our people who stand and watch as their retirement security plunges. Being a pro-life politician is not enough to be elected a candidate for any political office. We have a president who is pro-life; what have we got from him for the past eight years? We have got unjust war in Iraq, huge deficit, rampant loss of jobs, financial crisis etc.
I cannot agree more with my Bishop, Terry Steib who has urged the Catholics in Memphis not to vote for a candidate based on one issue. There are varieties of issues that deeply concern our people. Asking them not to consider those issues is asking them to become irrational. We may never have a presidential candidate who will entirely agree with the Church’s teachings. But looking at varieties of issues, we can come to some sort of agreement in choosing a candidate who agrees more with the Church. Abortion should not be the only issue of consideration; it is just one moral issue. There are other moral issues like war, torture, capital punishment, gay marriage etc. What about socio-political and economic issues? Asking Catholics to vote based on one issue (abortion) is asking them to ignore myriads of problems people are facing presently. It is asking them to pretend that all is well.
I want to respectfully disagree with the argument that voting for a candidate who supports abortion is immoral and any Catholic who votes for such a candidate is culpable. If that argument holds and in fact is true, then the Church in US should come out publicly to confess and apologize for the many sins of President George W. Bush because she supported his election and re-election on the ground that he is pro-life. The Church should be careful when entering into politics. Our chief aim is to educate our people to take a close look at all the issues, to help them form their consciences. We should guard against a direct or indirect endorsement of a candidate. Doing that can cause a painful problem of division and hatred in the house of God.

Beautiful Prayer of Cardinal Newman

Prayer of Cardinal Newman

My God, you have created me to do you some definite service. You have given me some work to me, which you have not given to any other. I have my place in your plan. I may never know what it is in this life, but I will be told it in the next. Therefore I will trust you in all things. If I am sick, my sickness may serve you. If I am worried, my sorrow may serve you. You do nothing in vain; you know what you are doing. You may take away my friends; you may put me among strangers, you may make me feel forgotten, you may make my spirits sink, you may hide my future from me- still, you know what you are doing, and I trust you. Amen

I thank my friend Ebele Okosi for sending this beautiful prayer to me.

Homily of the Twenty-Ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A

Your Entire Life To God

Rev. Marcel Divine Emeka Okwara, CSsR

Homily for the Twenty-Ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A

Your entire life to God, your honor to the Emperor Before this today’s gospel, Jesus had been on the attack. He has been launching series of attacks against the Orthodox Jewish leaders. He had spoken three parables in which he indicted them. In the parable of the two sons (Matthew 21: 28-32), Jesus presented the Jewish leaders as the disobedient son who never went to his father’s vineyard to work. In parable of the wicked tenants (Matthew 21: 33-46), the Jewish leaders are the wicked tenants who killed the several servants sent by the owner of the vineyard, and when he finally sent his own son, thinking they would spare his life, they also killed him.

In the parable of the wedding feast, they are the condemned guest who was not wearing his wedding clothes and was thereafter thrown out of the wedding hall where he will weep and gnash his teeth. So with these parables which Orthodox Jewish leaders understood as a direct attack on them, they plotted for a counter- attack against Jesus by asking a carefully formulated question meant to bring him down. Before I forget, they asked this question in the public, before the watchful eyes and the listening ears of the crowd. The aim was to set a trap for Jesus so that he could discredit himself with his own words. By the way, what was the question? The question is “Is it lawful to pay census tax to Caesar of not? Why is the issue of taxpaying so dicey and risky? Palestine was an occupied country and the Jews were subject to the Roman Empire. Being subject to the Roman Empire, they were subjected to three different kinds of taxpaying. So the question here is “Is it lawful or not to pay tribute to Rome? The 3 taxes are:

1. Ground tax: Under this, a man must pay to the government one tenth of his grain, and one fifth of the oil and wine he produced. Now, this tax is partly paid in kind, and partly paid in money.

2. Income tax: here, a man pays one percent of his income.

3. Poll tax: This is a tax paid by every male person from the age of 14 to the age of 65, and by every female person from the age of 12 to 65.

So the question the Pharisees asked Jesus was a very risky one. It sets the Lord in a real dilemma. It was so dicey because if he says it was unlawful to pay tax to Rome, they would immediately report him to the Roman government officials as a seditious and unpatriotic person and they would immediately arrest him. And if Jesus said it is lawful to pay tax, he would stand discredited in the eyes of many people who are bearing the crunch of paying these taxes. It is worthy to note to that when the Jewish people resent paying taxes, the reason is not purely materialistic. They don’t resent paying tax because they want to keep their money. The reason is spiritual and religious. It goes beyond “Joe the Plumber” reason. To a Jew, God was the only King; their nation was a theocracy; therefore to pay tax to an earthly king was to admit the validity of his kingship and it was an insult to God. Jesus’ attack on them so hurt them to the extent that strange-bed fellows like the Pharisees and the Herodians joined together for the first time to fight a common enemy. For knowledge sake, the Pharisees were the fanatical Jews, the supremely orthodox who consider payment of tax to a foreign king as an infringement of the divine right of God. The Herodians were party of Herod, king of Galilee who owed his power to the Romans and who worked hand in hand with them. So the Pharisees and the Herodians were enemies, they don’t agree. They held different views on taxpaying just like Barak Obama and John McCain. But today, they find a common ground; they set their differences aside with the sole desire to eliminate Jesus. Mind you, any man or woman who insists in doing things his or her own way will surely hate Jesus. But in his answer, Jesus demonstrated he was wiser and smarter than all.

To the question, “Is it lawful to pay census tax to Caesar or not?” Jesus replied, “Show me the coin that pays the census tax”. “Whose image is this and whose inscription?” Of cause it is Caesar’s. Then the Lord directed, “Repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and to God what belongs to God.” Brethren, today’s Gospel taken from Matthew 22: 15-21 calls for faithful citizenship. It reminds us of our double citizenship. Every Christian is a citizen of the country in which he or she happens to live. Because the Christian is a man or woman of honor, he or she must be a responsible citizen; failure in good citizenship is also failure in Christian duty. Today Jesus says, “Give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and to God what belongs to God.” Caesar represents our leaders, political leaders to whom we owe a duty in return for the privileges which their rule brings to us. A lawless and chaotic human society risks being extinguished from the global map.

We give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar by being faithful citizens who keep the rules and laws of the land that Caesar swore to protect and uphold. The Christian is also a citizen of heaven. Remember we have dual citizenship: citizenship of the earth and citizenship of heaven. To give back to God what belongs to God means to give your very life to God. It means offering yourself as a living sacrifice, holy, and pleasing to God (Romans 12: 1). It means offering your life to God and everything you are, everything you have, and everything you have been through, and asking him to use it for his own glory. It also means offering your days to him as a pleasing sacrifice.

Now, the two citizenships should not clash. The demands of the State and the demands of God may not clash. God ultimately will never ask us to do what will obstruct or destroy the human family; after all, he is the Origin. But when a Christian is so convinced that complying with a particular demand of the State will ultimately violate the demand of God, he should resist it. One thing is so clear in today’s Gospel, and that is “A genuine Christian is at one and same time a good citizen of his or her country and a good citizen of the Kingdom Heaven. He or she belongs to two cities: city of the earth and the city of God. He or she will strive not to fail in his or her duty to God and to the human society. Remember the injunction of St. Peter in 1 Peter 2: 17 “Fear God. Honor the emperor”. Today, let’s ask our Dearest Lord, Jesus Christ to help us as we struggle daily to be faithful citizens of earth and that of the Kingdom of Heaven. May our Mother of Perpetual Help support us, and may St.

Alphonsus pray for us!

The Kingdom of God is already here with us

Brethren, for the past three weeks the issue of “the kingdom of heaven or the kingdom of God” has been so central and so emphasized in the gospel readings. Last Sunday, the Lord urged us to be steadfast in faith, faith that is demonstrated in the childlike obedience to the will of God. He warned that “tax collectors and prostitutes” may enter the Kingdom of God before us because they acknowledged their sinfulness, realized how much they need God’s mercy, and repented of their sins, while we, the so called sons and daughters of the kingdom holding unto past glory do not update or renew our faith in Him on a daily basis. Holding unto the past glory- the time we manifested great faith in God, the time we showed great love for him and fellow humans, the time we used our talent, treasure and time in building up his Kingdom, we consciously or unconsciously think we have arrived. We think we are saints already. We no longer watch and pray! We no longer work out our salvation with fear and trembling (Philippians 2: 12). We forgot the warning of St. Paul “Whoever thinks he is standing, be careful, lest he falls” (1 Corinthians 10: 12).
In today’s Gospel, taken from the Matthew 21: 33-43 the Lord warned “The kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that will produce its fruit.” The Kingdom of God is already here with us. The Kingdom of God is “whatever is true”; it is “whatever is lovely”; it is “whatever is gracious”. The kingdom of God is “anything excellent”; it is anything “worthy of praise”. Those who produce what is true, what is lovely, what is gracious, what is excellent, what is worthy of praise produce the fruits of the Kingdom. They produce sufficient wine from the vineyard. They are the Children of the Kingdom.
Today is our parish picnic! Let us go out to socialize with each other; let us go out to familiarize with each other; let us go out to celebrate, relax and enjoy the gift of each other and the friendship we share. May the celebration of this present age, reminds us of that sublime celebration in the Kingdom of God. May the enjoyment of now, reminds us of the full enjoyment of God in the Kingdom to come. May the relaxation of this earthly life, reminds us of the sublime uninterrupted rest and relaxation in God’s Kingdom. As we enjoy the gift of one another, may it remind us of the indescribable fellowship in heaven. As we appreciate the beauty of this present age, may it remind us of the sublime Beauty, the Ancient Beauty, the beauty of uninterrupted peace, joy, satisfaction, fulfillment and realization in God. May this picnic remind us of the ultimate and sublime gathering and celebration that awaits us when we will ultimately be perfectly reunite with the One who “loves us with an everlasting love” in his Kingdom. May the already of God’s kingdom that is with us constantly remind us of the not-yet of God’s kingdom.
Enjoy yourself! May God bless us all!