Image of God

Jesus was asked whether it was lawful to pay taxes to Caesar and he asked to see the coin that pays the tax. “Whose image is on it?" He asked, and they answered, "Caesar's." 

"Then repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God." 

(Mark 12:17)

Whose image is on us? Are we not stamped in the image and likeness of God? If we belong to God, we should give Him what is His due- honor, obedience, service.

Saint Thomas More was asked to sign a document declaring that it was all right for King Henry VIII to make himself the head of the Church of England and to remarry even if his legal wife was still alive. Thomas More refused and he was arrested and tried for treason. On his way to his public execution, his last words were "I die the King's good servant, but God's first."

Today's gospel shows that although we are citizens of this world, we are first citizens of Heaven. If ever there is a conflict, we must choose to do as St. Thomas More did, and put God first!