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The Time After Pentecost
and in Communion we return to the tasks of the day and give “to Caesar the things that are
Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”
“Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are
God’s.” In the first place we owe to God the service of piety, a life lived for God. “Godliness is
profitable to all things, having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come” (1 Tm
4:8). The life of God makes us strong and versatile in solving the problems of the community
and of the state. It makes us stronger, more self-sacrificing, more patient, more generous, more
conscious of our duty, and more trustworthy in its execution. It teaches us to do all things with
calmness and self-assurance. It gives us strength for the tasks that lie before us, courage for
self-denial and sacrifice, energy for a fruitful life. If man does not give to God the things that are
God’s, if he works without God, without religion, without Christ, the word of the Scriptures
will be fulfilled in him: “Cursed is the earth in thy work” (Gn 3:17). How can he give to Caesar,
to society, those things that are Caesar’s? Christ demands absolute justice in our thoughts, our
speech, our actions; He expects us to act properly toward our friends and our enemies, toward
individuals and society.
Prayer
O God, our refuge and strength, the very Author of godliness, hear the devout prayers of Thy
Church and grant that what we confidently ask we may efficaciously obtain. Through Christ
our Lord. Amen.
Wednesday
With renewed earnestness the liturgy reminds us of the approaching “day of Christ” (Epistle).
During the present week it is absorbed by the thought of the return of the Lord. It wishes us
to perform all our actions on earth keeping in mind the thought of death, eternity, and the life
that is to come. “In all thy works remember thy last end, and thou shalt never sin” (Ecclus 7:40).
The day of judgment is approaching. “If Thou, O Lord, wilt mark iniquities, O Lord, who
shall stand?” (Introit.) If Thou didst not pour out Thy mercy upon us during our earthly
life; if Thou should not defer judgment upon our sins until the last day, who, O Lord, would
escape Thy anger? If we were to be judged only by the world with its loose morals and flexible
moral standards, if judgment were left to our enemies and those who slander us, if we
were to be judged only by our superiors or our confessors, who are usually indulgent and
lenient, if we were to be judged only by men, then we might say with St. Paul: “But to me
it is a very small thing to be judged by you or by man’s day; but neither do I judge my own
self. . . . He that judgeth me is the Lord, . . . who both will bring to light the hidden things of
darkness and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts” (1 Cor 4:3 ff.). “For we shall
all stand before the judgment seat of Christ” (Rom 14:10), both in the particular judgment
and at the Last Judgment. “And in the end of a man is the disclosing of his works” (Ecclus
11:29). “For nothing is covered that shall not be revealed, nor hid that shall not be known”
(Mt 10:26). “For we must all be manifested before the judgment seat of Christ, that every
one may receive the proper things of the body, according as he hath done, whether it be
good or evil” (2 Cor 5:10). This much is certain: “He that judgeth me is the Lord,” the
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