DELICATE BALANCING ACT
The
Gospel passage today puts us face to face once more with the act of the
Pharisees that earned for them the moniker “hypocrites.” They started
with a classical act of flattery, followed by a question that was
designed to entrap the respondent.
It was a question that was meant to enrage either the Roman or the
Jewish authorities. It was, in effect, a question that could have
sounded like: “Take your pick and declare your choice: Is it God or
Caesar?” The Master was immediately thrust in between the classical
horns of a dilemma, but He managed to skillfully put the burden on the
questioner.
The questioner may well be each one of us, confused and torn between so
many conflicting allegiances that pull us from all sides. There’s the
pull of the ultra-liberals, who preach about believing while not
belonging, being avowedly pro-God while being out and out pro-choice
(read: for themselves). There’s the pull, too, of the
ultra-conservatives for whom the only important thing is correctness in
rote ritual. There, too, is the pull of postmodernity and globalization,
where truth is seen as never “out there” but in the hearts and minds of
everyone. Everyone creates or constructs his own truth. But there, too,
is the
pull of “technologism,” where solutions are believed to be within the
reach of everyone who knows how to google and use what technological
gizmos and gadgets can offer.
Welcome to the world in “cultural decline,” where the world of the
intangibles, the invisible realm of values and virtues, has been
effectively obliterated due to the onslaught of metaphysical and moral
materialism.
You and I are situated in such a world. Our faith is being challenged
on all sides, and our commitment to believe and belong translates into a
delicate balancing act, not unlike what the Lord faced. We need to
pledge allegiance to both cross and crown. Faith also means defining
where one’s duty to crown ends, and where duty to the cross begins. Fr. Chito Dimaranan, SDB
REFLECTION QUESTION: How do you balance your faith and the realities in your own world?
Lord, help me to achieve a healthy balance between being in the world and keeping my eyes focused on eternal life.
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