As Jesus and his disciples were gathering in
Galilee, Jesus said to them, “The Son of Man is to be handed over to men, and
they will kill him, and he will be raised on the third day.” And they were
overwhelmed with grief.
When they came to Capernaum, the collectors of the
temple tax approached Peter and said, “Does not your teacher pay the temple
tax?” “Yes,” he said. When he came into the house, before he had time to speak,
Jesus asked him, “What is your opinion, Simon? From whom do the kings of the
earth take tolls or census tax? From their subjects or from foreigners?” When
he said, “From foreigners,” Jesus said to him, “Then the subjects are exempt. But
that we may not offend them, go to the sea, drop in a hook, and take the first
fish that comes up. Open its mouth and you will find a coin worth twice the
temple tax. Give that to them for me and for you.”
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Reflection:
Do you generously give to your church?
The gospel speaks about the payment of the temple
tax. Even if they were exempted from paying the temple tax Jesus still
instructed Peter to pay the temple tax. Perhaps Jesus did this for the reason
that He wants to contribute something for the maintenance of the church and its
facilities.
This generous payment of the temple tax by Jesus invites
us to examine our generosity to our church as well. Are we generous to
our church? Do we give generously at Holy Mass during offertory?
We have to be generous to our church so that it can
have funds not only for the maintenance of its facilities. But also for the
welfare of those who are working for the church. The money that we give to the
church is not only for the church it is also for the poor.
We may not know this but the church takes care of
the poor, the church doesn’t blare it but it silently helps the poor and those
who are in need. Therefore, we have to generously give to our church and
whatever we give to our church will come back to us a hundredfold.
What may come back to us may not necessarily be
through financial rewards. It can be peace and harmony in the family; it can be
good health and many more blessings that does not involve money.
Do you generously give to your church and to those
who are doing something to spread the words of God? – Marino J.
Dasmarinas
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