Whose Image Is This?

Brother,

In today's Gospel they come to trap Jesus with a question about taxes.

He asks for a coin. Then he asks one question of his own. "Whose image and inscription is this? They say to him: Caesar's. Then he saith to them: Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar's; and to God, the things that are God's." (Matthew 22:20-21, Douay-Rheims)

The trap closes on nothing. And a harder question is left on the table.

The image you carry

The coin went back to Caesar because it bore his image. So what bears God's?

The first page of the Bible answers. "And God created man to his own image: to the image of God he created him: male and female he created them." (Genesis 1:27, Douay-Rheims)

You. Your wife. The kids asleep down the hall. The man at work you cannot stand. Every one of them carries it.

The Catechism draws the line plainly. Because we are made in God's image, each of us has the dignity of a person. Not a thing. Someone. (CCC 357)

Your daughter is not something. She is someone. So is your son. So is your wife. So are you.

And it says what the image is for. By grace, God calls each of us into covenant with himself, to answer him with faith and love as no other creature can (CCC 357).

That answer is yours to give.

Two debts

Jesus does not wave off the first debt. Be honest with every man. Keep your word. Do honest work.

But it is easy to be good at the first debt and behind on the second. It is easy to give the best hours to whoever signs the paycheck, and hand God whatever is left. Today is a good day to turn that around.

Today's psalm says what is owed: "Bring to the Lord glory unto his name. Bring up sacrifices, and come into his courts" (Psalm 95:8, Douay-Rheims; Psalm 96 in modern Bibles).

Bring. Not a tip. An offering, and a glad one.

What a father can render

Here is the part a husband and father can do with his own hands.

The Catechism names the home as a privileged place for the priesthood every baptized Christian shares. Father, mother, children, everyone in the house lives it out there (CCC 1657). It is not Holy Orders. It does not set a man over his wife. It belongs to the whole family.

And the Church teaches that blessing flows from that same baptismal priesthood. Each baptized Christian is called to bless, and to be a blessing to the people around him (CCC 1669).

So bless. The people under your roof bear God's image. Hand them back to him, out loud.

First, look at them. Really look, tonight, and see whose image they carry.

This week

One act. Tonight, before your children sleep, trace a small cross on each forehead with your thumb and say: "God bless you. You belong to him." Ask your wife if you may do the same for her, and let her do it for you. If you live alone, make the Sign of the Cross and say it of yourself.

This is not a sacrament, and you do not need a priest for it. It is the blessing a baptized man is free to give.

Then do it every night this week. Same words. Same thumb.

The Sanctum is built on reps.

Altar. Arms. Allegiance.

— The Sanctum Dispatch

On the channel

The short films are on YouTube — subscribe at youtube.com/@1765Sanctum so they find you.

P.S. — Did anyone ever bless you like this when you were a boy? A father, a mother, a grandmother? Tell me who. Hit reply — I read every reply.

One last thing this week. If you want a month of small acts like tonight's blessing, the free 30-day program The Priest of Your Home sends one a day, for leading prayer in your house — the priesthood of the baptized, lived at home (CCC 1657), not Holy Orders: 1765sanctumco.com/priest-of-your-home

For God.  For country.  For the fight.

In Christ and Our Lady,
Will
1765 Sanctum Co.