Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew 17, 22-27
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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Prudence
1. Grief. The apostles feel grief when Jesus tells them what He will go through. That is what happens to you when you start the week, and you know that it is going to be hard; you feel depressed or overwhelmed. You know that sooner or later you will have to make a decision. Or when you say, “I don’t want to spend my whole life living like this,” and you don’t know how to get out of that situation. This kind of distress or anguish that you feel deeply in your heart does not allow you to think straight; you feel as if you were lost. The only thing I can tell you, and the best thing I can say to you is that there is “resurrection”.
2. Yes, pay. Something that the social doctrine of the Church teaches is that we have to move from being inhabitants to citizens. For example, you cannot say that you go to Mass every Sunday and yet not respect the traffic laws. True believers must be responsible citizens and comply with their civil obligations. Love your country, take care of it, and be a good contributor. What kind of country do you want to leave to your children? We all complain, but what can we do to make this world a better place? We must pray, but also act. You can start today. Be a good citizen by not littering in the street, take care of it instead, for example.
3. To offend. We see Jesus’s prudence. Today, I invite you to work on prudence so as not to scandalize or offend others. We live in a world that buys and sells scandals; just take a look at TV shows and you will see how full of gossip and scandals they are. Be careful and be prudent in what you say and do. You may be right – Jesus was right too – but you must also be careful not to scandalize. A gesture or an action of yours can destroy a life.
Always remember that something good is on the way!
God bless you and be with you in the name of the Father, of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
