Making Friends With The Lord Jesus Fr. Edwin

Roman emperors were seen as divinities during the Roman times. They printed their faces on coins. So, in reply to whether he was for paying taxes to the Romans or not, Jesus asked to see denarius coin. He asks whose inscriptions and head appear on the coin. “Caesar's” Jesus tells them, “Give back to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God." He succeeded in getting Himself out of the trap His questioners prepared to catch Him in. So, we need to check ourselves how we give to God what is His. This means absolutely everything. What we can ever own is still His because He created them, and He keeps them in existence. They are His. Hence, Jesus condemns selfishness and covetousness.

The Lord used parables to preach and teach His listeners. He employed stories to help in understanding certain concepts and practice of virtues. The ones listening could see themselves in these narratives, and thus they could learn more about themselves. When His enemies wanted to arrest Jesus, they plainly were guilty of being someone in the parable who wanted to murder the heir of the owner's vineyard and appropriate it to himself and his gang. But, instead of accepting this realization, they reacted against it and looked at Jesus as the culprit or the one at fault. He was only narrating a story. Their bad dispositions came to the surface. Isn't checking our attitudes helpful in becoming aware of our recklessness, pettiness, superficiality, and the evil in our hearts. Only with this awareness can the process of rectifying it be undertaken.

Our Lord Jesus Christ, on the night before He was to be crucified, instituted the Holy Eucharist. He commanded us to do this in memory of Him. This is how we remember Him. The words of consecration are uttered by the priest in Holy Mass and the miracle of the Transubstantiation occurs, i.e., the bread and wine are converted to the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity. He wants us to eat His Body and drink His Blood, as nourishment. Thus, the salvation that He accomplished on Calvary is made available throughout history, availing every one of it. We need to praise God for this. We need to show our appreciation for this by attending Mass and receiving Holy Communion worthily.

The religious authorities in the Temple of Jerusalem confront Jesus and demand from Him the authorization He has for preaching and teaching the people. They did not like this outsider. Anyhow, Jesus tries to help them face themselves by asking them first whether the baptism that St. John the Baptist had with the people was from heaven or only man-made. They did not think properly. Instead of reasoning out properly from the evidence at hand, they thought only like this. If we say it was from Heaven, then they could be asked by Jesus regarding the reason they did not believe him. If, on the other hand, they say it was only a product of man, then they feared being stoned by the people because everyone thought John's baptism originated from God. So they tell Jesus they did not know where John's baptism came from. Jesus told them that neither would He tell them where His authorization comes from.

The Gospel narrates to us what happened when Mary visits her cousin Elizabeth. We are given words inspired by the Holy Spirit. First, we have the second part of the first part of the Hail Mary we usually recite. Then, we have the awesome prayer of Mary called the Magnificat. Here, we should appreciate Mary's humility.

The Gospel today tells us about Bartimaeus, the blind man, who shouted asking for God's mercy from Jesus who was passing by. He persisted in calling out His Name and asking for His Mercy. Although the people surrounding him tried to hush him, he cried all the louder. Jesus was observing him, although He feigned not hearing him the first time he called him out. Finally, He asked for Bartimaeus to come to Him. He asked Jesus to give him his sight. Our Lord granted him that miracle by saying that his faith saved him. His faith could be seen in his behavior. He persisted in prayer. He left behind his cloak as he sprang up to approach our dear Savior. And he asked with faith. Let us imitate the faith of Bartimaeus.