📅 18 October 2026  |  👤  Fr Fiorello Mascarenhas SJ

In today’s Gospel, the Pharisees are trying to trap Jesus, who was a most famous and wise Teacher at the time. But Jesus escaped the trap by saying, “Give to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and give to God the things that are God’s.” 

In our own day, 2000 years later, we are faced with a similar problem: when the Power and Authority of a dictatorial Government tries to force us to act in ways that maybe opposed to the teaching of our Lord Jesus Christ.

To bring about peace and prosperity for all citizens is what any good Government should legislate about, and the disciples of Jesus must cooperate fully with such a Government - “Give to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s.” But when faced with Government policies and dictats which are unfair and obviously meant to benefit only local and small groups of the rich or sectarian groups, then the disciples of Jesus must “give to God the things that are God’s,” in other words, they must peacefully oppose the obviously wrong policies that discriminate against some sections of society and favor only the majority.

This situation has arisen many times in the historical past, and is probably true today as well in India. It is a glaring truth that day by day the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer, that chauvinism is now rampant, and that privileged groups of people are thriving at the expense of real democracy. In such a case, according to the overall Gospel message of Jesus, we may not resort to violence to “set things right.” Jesus’ main command is that we all work for the Coming of God’s Kingdom on earth, a Kingdom of justice and peace, with concern for the well-being of all, but at the same time not forgetting his way, the Way of the Cross!

The history of the Church shows that, though truly difficult and unwise in a worldly (and temporary) way, hundreds of thousands of martyrs have chosen to determinedly follow Jesus. The enduring gift of holiness is costly, but not impossible, in the power of the Holy Spirit. Jesus’ serious question to all of us is still relevant: “what does it profit a man to gain the whole world but to lose his soul, that is, his eternal happiness?”

To be a Christian, that is, to be a person of right judgment and right action, requires character, even heroism. Thankfully, such people are not lacking today. We too can be in that number if we become a people of prayer, praying the Our Father meaningfully and sincerely, and fellowshipping daily or often for work and recreation with like-minded persons (including people of other Faiths). Participating regularly in the Eucharist in a personal and voluntary way, and feeding ourselves with the word of God daily, together with practicing an authentic Marian devotion, are the guaranteed ways how we will grow in faithful discipleship of Jesus, and be courageous in our daily life in this world. We will not ostentatiously belong to this world but we will be “the salt and light” Jesus wants us to become for the world at large. This is what Mission Sunday reminds us about annually.

Here now is a prayer from the Divine Office that I recommend we pray often: “Almighty and ever-present Father, your watchful care reaches from end to end, and orders all things in such power that even the tensions and tragedies of sin cannot frustrate your loving plans for us… The love you offer always exceeds the furthest expression of the human heart. Direct each thought, each effort of our life, so that the limits of our faults and weaknesses may not obscure the vision of your glory, or keep us from the peace you have promised. We ask this through Christ our Lord, Amen.”