Fr. Paul Weinberger
St. William’s Roman Catholic Parish
Greenville, Texas
10 / 16 / 2005 29th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s and unto God what is God’s.
In the Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit
Amen
I mentioned the events of 9/11 last week. There was another 9/11 in 1777 that was very important for this country though many in this country did not realize until years later. September 11, 1777 was the anniversary of a battle near Philadelphia. This battle is called the Battle of Brandywine. The Continentals, the American rebels had fought bravely at Saratoga and were victorious. On 9/11 in 1777, Brandywine turned out to be more of a draw with more casualties being on the American side. That was September 11, 1777.
Weeks later word had gotten to Europe about Saratoga and along with it, Brandywine. For the first time our country was recognized by a foreign power as existing; France recognized America as separate from Britain. This is no small point in American History but not everyone understood it. There was a man who made his way to Paris to relate the battle of Brandywine and its events to Benjamin Franklin, who always seemed to be in Paris for one party or another. The man was telling Franklin how the British had taken Philadelphia and told about the battle that had taken place near by at Brandywine. He said,
”Mr. Franklin, Mr. Franklin the British have captured Philadelphia.”
This man was very nervous and the thermostat of Ben Franklin was set real low so he didn’t get excited. He said,
“No, no, no! Philadelphia has captured the British”
It was to prove correct that the general who’d gone there, General Howe, was messing up the British plan to seize the American colonies. The plan was to use the Hudson River to separate the area to the north of the Hudson from the area south of the Hudson and to conquer both sections individually and not letting the American Continentals unite. So without difficulty, when the British took Philadelphia, General Howe was settling in for a long winters nap so to speak, while the American Continentals would take advantage of every weakness in the British line. Again, that was September 11, 1777.
Now we go forward ten years and you have the year in which our Constitution was drafted. So from 1776 to 1787, that is more than ten years. Finally by March of 1789 the colonies had approved our Constitution. It didn’t take place in a few months or years but over a decade.
The great experiment in democracy, which began in our Revolutionary War, has now endured over two hundred years; the first time in the history of the world such as our democracy and freedom on a scale never before experienced by any people was made possible through the blood, sweat, and tears of so many. And so yesterday is seen as an historic moment. The area formerly known as Iraq and in ancient times as Persia witnessed their people going out to vote on their country’s constitution. Both men and women voted after only a few months had passed when they voted for their provisional government. When they voted in January there were several hundred incidents of terrorists setting off bombs or disrupting the elections in some way. Yesterday there were only five in the whole of Iraq.
The democracy, which we hope will endure there, is a very perilous one. Democracy has never been planted there; in fact all around Iraq there are kingdoms; in other words they are countries ruled by kings or dictators or both. The only other democracy in the region is Israel and of course there are many who would like to push Israel into the sea and do away with the state of Israel. Israel came about as a result of WWII and a lot of blood, sweat, and tears. Iraq is now next on the block to experience democracy and they are pursuing freedom that has never been experienced there. Kings ruled the ancient Persians; in fact, you have an ancient Persian king mentioned in your First Reading. Look at the Book of the prophet Isaiah; the king’s name was Cyrus the great. He lived and ruled twenty-five hundred years ago.
The father of history was a Greek whose name was Herodotus. Herodotus writes of the Rule of Cyrus, King of Persia, which is Iraq today. As the father of history, Herodotus mentions that this prophecy contained in the book of the Prophet Isaiah, which come over a hundred years before the birth of king Cyrus, that his intervention in the life of Israel is readily anticipated. If you read the life of King Cyrus, it is like a “miracle sandwich”. His father had a dream or was told by some seers about what was going to happen to his kingdom.
He dreamed that his daughter gave birth to a son and he would rule Asia instead of her father. When this was made apparent to the father, he banished her to the very frontier of the empire and along with her he sent his most trusted servant and told the servant that the moment the child was born, he was to kill the child. The servant was dispatched along with the King’s daughter to the far reaches of the realm and when the baby was born he looked at it and could not bear to kill it. He took the child and handed it over to someone else and instructed him to take the child further from his site and dispatch the child there. The same thing happened and eventually Cyrus ended up in the possession of some shepherds. If you read the full chapter of Isaiah you hear how God calls Cyrus a shepherd. He was a shepherd but he was to govern Asia and to be known as one of the best kings of Persia.
The kings of Persia, who had gone before him invaded Israel, put Jerusalem under siege and destroyed the temple and Jerusalem. They robbed the temple of all its precious items. King Nebuchadnezzar took off the remaining survivors and this is known as the Babylonian captivity. For about seventy years they were taken to live in Babylon; the time where Israel reflects on how it was not living according to God’s will and how God punished Israel by leading her into exile into Babylon as a punishment so that she might learn from her time there.
When Cyrus comes to the throne, God uses this pagan king to send the exiles who were still alive, and their descendants back to Jerusalem and he would pay for their trip as well as the restoration of the wall around Jerusalem, the restoration of the Temple in Jerusalem as well as many other things. So King Cyrus is seen as in the service of Christ even though he does not believe in the God of Israel. He is seen in the service of the true God but he is not a believer. God can use even pagans to do His Will especially when those who He has called will not serve.
So, the land of King Cyrus, King of Persia, is now undergoing formal approval of its constitution in, not a matter of years or months. This is history in the making and has been of a tremendous cost; not material cost only but also blood, sweat, and tears.
Last week I mentioned that one of our parishioners, Martin Holsinger went off to Iraq with the Army National Guard. He left on the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary, October 7th. Apparently he arrived there in three days and they put him right to work. I figured there would be a transition time where he would get a little rest and get over jet lag, etc. evidentially he was put right to work. He and a squad he was with were injured on that first day at work there; he wasn’t killed or seriously injured, thanks be to God! He called his parents and let them know about his injury and he is doing better. So Martin is over there with many other American men and women doing something that is very necessary but very difficult, trying to take a country which was just moments ago was lead by a dictator, who will be put on trial very soon for all the world to see. Democracy is coming to this region that was formerly Christian but now is almost totally Muslim. This is a very difficult time for Iraq.
When you look at the Providence of God you see all of those Americans that are in Iraq are not merely corporals, sergeants, and privates but most of them are believing Christians. So they are able to do something; they are able to preach at least by example and possibly through discussions about their Christian faith. If they were to attempt something in one of these surrounding countries like Jordan or Syria, they could be expelled from the country, be fined and expelled, imprisoned or even killed. But, look at what is possible with the forces present over there, the possible conversion of the Iraqi people. Some of them are already Christian but many of them are Muslim.
The last words out of the mouth of Christ before He ascended into Heaven , which we hear in St. Matthew’s Gospel are,
”Full authority has been given to Me both on earth and in heaven by My Father. God therefore and make disciples of all the nations. Baptize them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Teach them to observe all that I have commanded you and know that I am with you always until the end of time.”
This is a command; this is a mandate. These are our orders by Christ Himself before He ascended into Heaven, yet much of the world remains pagan and non-Christian. We, for our part cannot relax …but we are relaxed. In fact some are too relaxed while there is work to be done.
Whenever we think of the Gospel today and what it tells us about rendering unto Caesar what is his and unto God what is His, too many times it appears that Catholics have heard this Gospel and have been told to reach automatically for their checkbooks. Writing large checks and this Gospel go hand in hand, as if the Lord is merely concerned about our Church’s bank balance. When Israel was led into exile they were still going forward with all of the requisite sacrifices in the Temple; when Israel was stormed and taken they were still sacrificing animals in the Temple everyday. But, God says again and again to Israel,
“I do not look for more sacrifices for I own all the beasts of the world; were I hungry I would not tell you because I won all the beasts of the field.”
In the same way that Israel could think that God just wanted more sacrifices of goats and bulls, we can easily be led to believe that…
Render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s and unto God what is God’s…
…because…. because it is so easy to be convinced that God is concerned about just this part of who we are. Instead, God has made us in freedom and as the Offertory Prayer says,
Not merely with the checkbook to freely serve Him but with our hearts and minds in unity and integrity serving God with perfect freedom; no constraint, no force, no being pressed into service or being drafted, but actually free to serve Him with our lives. The freedom that our Fathers saw was so precious that when the Boston Tea Party came about it was due to a tax, which was itty bitty…itty, itty, bitty tax on tea that came here from Britain. Our forefathers knew that if the king could tax such a small fraction, having lowered the price of tea and then applying a tax, the people knew that the tax could be raised. What a concept, raising taxes!Lord God, may the gifts we offer bring us your love and forgiveness and give us freedom to serve you with our lives.
“Of course that was back in the 1700s and taxes have not gone up since then.”
Where do you live? The people revolted against the King of England because they wanted to live free of taxation without representation. This democracy that is hopefully going to take root in Iraq under very precarious circumstances, will hopefully help these people understand freedom and the responsibility of freedom. In a sense we have captured Iraq and Iraq has captured us. It is now for us to teach them how to live in a democracy and in true freedom in service to God.
On October 13th we celebrated the feast of the last miracle of Our Lady at Fatima in 1917, which was on Thursday. That same day I went to visit a lady that is just a couple of years older than I am; she is 93. This lady was alive in 1917 when the Blessed Mother appeared at Fatima. One hundred years have not passed since our Lady visited those three children in Fatima, which began on May 13th. She told the children that in October she would give them a great sign that would attract many. When October 13th arrived there were over 70,000 people gathered in the middle of nowhere in what is still today in the middle of nowhere called Fatima, Portugal. These people were out among the scrub brush and small trees where our Lady appeared to the three children. The children could see Our Lady but the other couldn’t. So people flocked there on October 13th. Conservative estimates are 70,000 and more generous saying over 100,000. We will just stick with the conservative estimate of 70,000.
So 70,000 arrived early and they stood there waiting for Our Lady to come and also for the great sign she had promised. It rained and rained and rained and rained. It was a wet in Fatima on Oct. 13th 1917 as it is dry here in Texas Oct. 16, 2005. The people were soaked, every inch of their clothes were wet from standing in the torrential downpour. The Lady appeared to the children as promised to them before, and they called the attention of the multitude announcing that she was there. About 1:00 pm the miracle took place in the sky. One of the children, Lucia I think called attention to the sun. The other two children looked up at the sun as well.
All the people there could actually look up at the sun without having to wear glasses or using special equipment. We know that if you look directly at the sun for very long it can ruin your eyesight so don’t try looking at the sun without special equipment to protect yourselves. On that day the people could stare at the sun without damage to their eyes. After Our Lady appeared to the children she ascended up near the sun to the right of it and her hands were turned upward as if to reflect the sun back onto itself. The sun grew brighter and turned silver around the outside then began to spin like a windmill in place. You have had days when you were driving and witnessed this…uh, what is that you were drinking? Exactly! I have never seen that happen before; I have never seen the sun swirl in place.
The sun suddenly began to dance around the sky as all the people watched. I hate it when that happens, right? People were watching as it danced and before long it appeared to be breaking free from any celestial pinning and begin to plummet toward the people in Fatima. Well, the people were not pleased with that; it looked like they were about to be burned alive by the sun falling to earth. The people were afraid, believers and non-believers. They are tired and wet in the middle of nowhere and now the sun is going to fall on them and they start to scream out. Some of the words were recorded; here are some words from believers and non-believers.
Some were sayingI BELIEVE, I BELIEVE! JESUS SAVE US! GOD! FORGIVE US OUR SINS. MARY, SAVE US!
The sun stopped plummeting to earth and it appeared to be back in its normal constant roll. Everyone of the 70,000 who witnessed this all had the same story. There were also people stationed beyond the grounds of Fatima that witnessed this also. The different locations around the world that had observatories had no recognition that anything was going on. Their mechanical equipment did not pick it up; it was not registering on their Richter scale so to speak. Everyone at Fatima had the same story to tell. These days when you get 70,000 people together and they have a mass hallucination because they are all taking the same drug at the same concert, then they all agree that they had a good time doing whatever it was. That is a mass hallucination but that is not what was going on in Fatima.A MIRACLE!
One last detail; in some ways eclipses, eclipses the others…if I can say that. In that hectic time while the great sun hung in the cloudless sky the people who had been drenched and were soggy from the pelting unremitting rain were suddenly and completely dry. Their shoes, socks, skin, and clothes were dried as though Our Lady of the Rosary, with or without the courtesy of General Electric, had invoked the power of some new machine. You have had that experience where you are soaked to the bone, your shoes and socks are soggy and then all of a sudden you are dry. You’ve had that happen! No, I can’t think of a time that has ever happened to me. Everyone there experienced this miracle and even the secular newspapers wrote about it as well.
The beautiful Lady spoke to these three children and gave them a vision of Hell. Do you remember what she said?
Our Lady turned to Francisco, the only boy and said,Do not worry children; you will all go to Heaven.
But you, you will have to pray many Rosaries
He was only ten. Doesn’t this make the men here feel really good? It doesn’t make me feel any better.
On that day the Lady identified herself as Our Lady of the Rosary and the message of Fatima was not only to pray for the conversion of Russia but the conversion of sinners. So every day around the world every catholic has prayed a Rosary a day for the conver…no, I don’t guess we have, have we? Our Lady appears, the sun dances, the people are recipients of these great miraculous events and yet, it doesn’t get our attention. The 70,000 people composed of believers and non-believers were called to witness to what took place that day with Our Lady’s special intervention. The constitution, which was probably ratified yesterday in Iraq, if the polling is correct it is only the beginning of a re-evangelization of the area because where democracy is allowed to enter in and freedom is experienced, the prospect of spreading the Gospel there is possible.
However, we have a blockage whenever we hear this Gospel because we think of God wanting our material possessions. When He says to render unto Caesar what is Caesar's and unto God what is God’s, we probably give more time thinking of the things of this world, like what we are going to do, to wear, about our house etc. than we do to the things of God. We are told to render to Caesar what is his and to God what is His and it is as if we have flipped them around.
Speaking to just the men here… men, we can easily see that the emphasis in this life is not on purity and holiness and that we could all live lives of holiness and purity in service to the Lord. When we hear this Gospel it would be very easy to just write a check and be done with God, to just relegate Him to some corner in our lives. But, God is not content with just the leftovers and crumbs; He wants the lion’s share of our attention and our very freedom to be put into His service. There are only two teams we can belong to; there is God’s team, and I don’t mean Notre Dame. Then there is the other team. If Notre Dame IS God’s team then why did they lose yesterday? Right?
The fact is, He wants us in His service but we have so many slick answers as to why we are not in His service just as the slick Pharisees and Herodians are trying to trap Him with questions. The fact is, he has shared with us His Divine Life and He expects to use us for the salvation of the world. Just as Israel rejected that offer so can we do on a daily basis.
With the history of these great events staring us in the face, like the Responsorial Psalm says, to tell His glory among the nations and among all peoples His wondrous deeds, just as we can see Herodotus, a pagan talking about the prophecy of Isaiah over a hundred years before King Cyrus, we too are called to the Lord’s service to give Him what is His due and nothing more and nothing less will be aloud.
Render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s and unto God what is God’s.
In the Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit
Amen