#LaudatoSiSunday

Peace be with you! A blessed #LaudatoSiSunday, everyone! Today is the 29th Sunday in Ordinary Time!
Matthew 22:15-21
In the Gospel, Jesus said: pay Caesar what belongs to Caesar -- and God what belongs to God.
Give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar. What belongs to Caesar is from the toils of the peoples. The fruit of the toils come from nature, with nature, our common home.
Our common home is entrusted to peoples, and also to Caesar. Our common home is for all, for the common good, for other living and non-living beings, and the next generations.
For our common home to sustain peoples, regeneration restoring balance is necessary. When Caesar causes imbalance and destruction, he ceases to own anything. The Uncaused Cause, the Unmoved Mover, owns, we (including Caesar) are stewards.
Jesus teaches us how to show dissent when there are injustices to peoples and nature. When compassion is lost and justice is denied, nothing belongs to Caesar, he must admit his fault, and be held accountable. He must ask for forgiveness and forgive himself, then conversion.
Pope Francis, in his encyclical Laudato Si’, On Care for Our Common, number 157, says:
"Underlying the principle of the common good is respect for the human person as such, endowed with basic and inalienable rights ordered to his or her integral development."
Let us all be stewards of our Common Home, sisters and brothers. There are many Caesars who unjustly claim what really are entrusted to all of us, for the common good, for all, so that no one is left behind.
Painting: Caesar's Coin, by Peter Paul Rubens (1612-1614)