' . . . to Caesar what belongs to Caesar . . .' 29th Sunday in Ordinary Time Year A

Sto Niño Church, Lianga, Surigao del Sur, Philippines
 

Readings (New American Bible: Philippines and USA)

Gospel Matthew 22:15-21 (NAB)

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."

Another view of Sto Niño Church

I was parish priest of Lianga from June 1993 till May 1994, my two-year assignment cut short so that I could become Columban vocation director for the Philippines, an assignment I had till 2000. The parish patron is the Sto Niño, the Holy Child. The town is located on Lianga Bay on the east coast of Mindanao, looking straight across the Pacific Ocean at Colombia in South America. It has some fine beaches and provides a livelihood for many fishermen.  

However, when I was there Lianga was a relatively remote, sleepy town on a provincial highway that stretched the meaning of the word 'road' to its limits. The big promise of the mayor at the time was 'Next year we will have a telephone'. The lone telephone was to be in the town hall. Now everyone has a mobile phone and I couldn't believe the difference a new highway made to the whole province when I visited in May 2010 to do a wedding, my first visit in ten years. It had transformed the lives of the people.

During my time in Lianga the mail came in and went out three days a week, Monday, Wednesday and Friday. The postmistress was Mrs Rose Sanchez, an official who took great pride in her work and who was trying to persuade the powers that be to have the mail delivered and collected five days a week. I don't know if she ever succeeded. But everything was done efficiently and with courtesy. Rose had a sense of being a public servant, making sure that the service, limited though it was compared to bigger centers, helped improve the lives of the people in the town itself and in the hinterlands.
At the time I used to write a weekly column for The Freeman, a daily published in Cebu City and wrote about Rose one week. I gave her a copy of the article, a copy of which she sent to her superior who congratulated her. She was delighted to have her sense of service recognized.

The partly enigmatic answer that Jesus gave to the Pharisees and Herodians in today's gospel is often referred to in situations of conlfict or apparent conflict between Church and State. But it isn't always a matter of conflict.

Rose, who is retired now, was a servant of the State. She is also a member of the Church. I'm certain that her sense of service came largely from her Catholic faith. She served all the people, Catholic and others, with care. In 'giving back to Caesar' as a servant of the State working for its citizens, she was also 'giving back to God' by serving his people.

Rose was widowed last August. Perhaps you can remember her and her late husband 'Nonoy' in your prayers.

The interior of Sto Niño Church
 

Photos courtesy of Benjie Otagan, A Lianga Diary