Give to Ceasar What Is Ceasar's

Continuing my series of posts on topics discussed at TMIY, I'd like to talk a little about money. There are so many of us who get caught up in making money. Paying our bills gets overwhelming at times. We have many wants on top of our needs that often go past the end of our dollars.

That being said, the three things I want to discuss are tithing, taxes, and tabling (it is kind of a stretch, but I wanted a third "T" word). There are a lot of really difficult points, but they are things that the program has discussed or thoughts I have on the subjects.

God calls us as Christians to support the Church. It can often be tough to consider that for every dollar you bring in, you give a dime to the Church. Giving this sacrifice each week (or monthly if you prefer) will not cause God to love you  more or less. I don't believe it is going to affect the eternal destination. But much as running a car for tens of thousands of miles without ever changing the oil is not good for the car, not tithing is not good for our souls. One of the quickest ways to feel good is to help someone else, and dropping that dollar in the basket is helping the Church to help others - thus it feels good and holy.

 "And all the tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land, or of the fruit of the tree, is the LORD'S: it is holy unto the LORD." (Leviticus 27:30)

Additionally, it helps to remember that this is God's money - much like the Parable of the Talents, God has entrusted us with the resources we have and we are not to squander them, but to use them as he would have us use them. Budgeting after the tithe has already come out makes things much easier as well.

While tithing has become much easier for me since we just set it up to be a weekly draw and wrote it into our budget, the second T (taxes) is a bit more difficult. I sit here in the heartland and do my best to elect officials who will spend wisely our hard earned tax money. However, when I look at what they are doing in DC, I wonder if I'm the only voter who thinks this way. I strongly disagree with a number of things congress supports and have other programs that I think could be run much more efficiently. In short, I think if our government was a business, it would have failed years ago. That being said, it is the law and to quote a man who is infinitely wiser than I:

"Then Jesus said to them, 'Give to Caesar what is Caesar's and to God what is God's.' And they were amazed at him." (Mark 12:17)

 The third T is tabling. As I mentioned earlier tabling is a stretch. I would have preferred to use saving, but it didn't work with my "Three T's". At any rate, we talked about how it is important for us to save money for the future. This way we can provide for ourselves in retirement and we can provide for our children. Additionally, we can use saving to avoid going into debt, which is a bad idea more often than not. Is it not better to save up and work hard to make a big purchase than to finance it and make payments with interest toward the same thing? At any rate, saving or tabling money for another time is a good thing.

Though money is one of those tricky things, it is important to not let it become the center of our lives. We still need to pay attention to it, but don't allow it to become an obsession. I've heard it said that Gluttony is not necessarily over-eating, but rather an obsession with food (so it can be overeating as well as under-eating to extremes). We need to be careful with money that it doesn't become an obsession for us, but also that we pay enough attention to it that we don't squander away what God has given us. We need to do with it as God asks so that in the end he comes to us and says:

Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness! (Matthew 25: 21)

 Now I'm back to my mission...

Journey...

Growing up, one of my favorite video games was one we borrowed from cousins. It was for the Nintendo and had a gold cartridge. It was titled "The Legend of Zelda". The premise of the game was that you were a lowly farm boy named link who was to become the Hero of Legend. As you progressed through the game solving puzzles, the main character, Link (or whatever name you chose for him) would gain skills, find tools, upgrade tools, and eventually the transformation would be complete. Since the original, there have been many Zelda games, each starting on same premise - Link is a relative nobody and he has to develop into something special. Some of the games do contain a bit of mysticism and on occasion there are pagan gods and goddesses mentioned, but the overall premise is the battle of good vs. evil, light vs. dark, etc.

Most recently, I've been playing the newest release in the series - "Skyward Sword". I find these games to be a great mixture of puzzles and action and enjoy spending a little of my spare time on them. This probably seems a little off my usual topic lines, but I'm getting there.

You see, in many ways, we are like Link. We start life as nobody special, except to our loved ones. We are born completely helpless. Then we begin to grow. We learn new skills and acquire tools that we can use in life. We solve problems and overcome obstacles. I know that very few of us will have the skills we acquire include sword fighting, and even fewer will ever find a special sword or shield as a part of our development, but just as these tools were vital to Link completing his mission, our tools will be vital to our mission. Being a software engineer, I had to come by the knowledge of writing software, a skill I continuously update through learning newer and better technologies. I had to acquire tools, such as the programs we use to write code. Finally, I had to learn to apply these skills to the new tools and those I'm not defeating a boss, I am solving puzzles daily.

Similarly, I had to learn skills in parenting (the art of discipline, patience with a small child, and knowledge of what was good for them). I had to acquire tools as well, such as diapers, baby clothes, and a crib. Marriage is much the same. We have to learn about our spouse and become better husbands/wives. We get tools that help our marriages thrive.

In short, the point I am trying to make is that our lives are journeys. God tasks us with solving the puzzles, by gathering the knowledge and tools, in order to get to the ultimate goal that he has set out for us. In essence, much like Link rescuing Zelda from whatever trouble she is in, we are tasked with doing the mission God asks us to do and in so doing beating the game of life to get to our heavenly goal.

And now, I'm back to my mission...

A Sower Went Out to Sow...

A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seed fell on the path, and birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky ground, where it had little soil. It sprang up at once because the soil was not deep, and when the sun rose it was scorched, and it withered for lack of roots. Some seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it. But some seed fell on rich soil, and produced fruit, a hundred or sixty or thirtyfold. Whoever has ears ought to hear.

Almost everyone has heard the parable of the sower and the seeds. One of our meetings recently talked about this parable and asked us to really look at how we APPLY the gospel to our lives. It was pointed out that many of us have aspects of each type of seed in different areas. Ask yourself the following questions:

• Is there somethings we don't hear because Satan swipes them up or we intentionally don't apply because we like our sinful ways? Is there a sin we just can't give up? What about the sin that you confess EVERY time you go to confession?
• Is there something that we are quick to stand up for, but then when we are challenged we quickly fade in our passion? Are we embarrassed of our faith? Did you brush off your ashes on Ash Wednesday before you went to work? Did you say something to a friend/family member/co-worker who was telling you about a view/action contrary to Church teaching?
• Are there thorns around you? What things distract you from what you should be doing? When is the last time you sat in quiet prayer for an extended period of time?
• Are there things you do well in? Things you are always strong about. Things you never back down on. Things that you don't let distractions get the better of you?

These are some of the questions that were asked in our meeting mixed with some of my own. I couldn't help but think, I've heard this parable at least 25 times in my life, and yet I never looked at it in this light. During lent, I plan to do my best to make sure that I do all that I can to have more of the seeds fall in good soil and less in the other areas. I plan to work on those sins that I repeatedly confess. I plan to stand strong against the pressures of society. I plan to avoid distractions as much as I can and really focus on prayer.

Before I close, I have a few thoughts on this last resolution. I find that going to Mass can be terribly distracting for me. I always feel the need to look around. It is a bad habit I've fallen into. So I will really focus on the altar for as much of Mass as I can. Additionally, I plan to take quiet time each morning. I know that while I have quiet time, I have a lot of thoughts race through my mind. So rather than try to fight these thoughts, I will take a journal with me and write them down to revisit them later.  Hopefully in doing this, I can have at least part of my prayer time be focused. With God's grace, this can be a very fruitful time in our spiritual year, and I hope that my plans come to fruition, so that when I come through this journey, I am a changed man.