WE should never dare to deceive God. In the gospel, there is a part where some leading Jews dared to trap Christ in his speech. (cfr. Mk 12,13-17) They asked if it was lawful to pay census tax to Caesar.

Of course, Christ knew what was behind that question. He therefore asked them to show him a denarius. And since the image of Caesar was in that coin, he just dismissed the whole issue by telling them, “Repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God.” So, their “gotcha” question completely backfired.

The same thing happened when they accused Christ of casting out demons by the power of the ruler of demons. (cfr. Mk 3,22) That’s when Christ pointed out the inconsistency in their logic. “How can Satan drive out Satan?” he asked. “If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand.” (Mk 3,23-25)

Clearly, when one is driven by unbelief and hatred, his reasoning can go off the rails, even the simplest of logic is thrown out. We need to do everything to always strengthen our belief in God, the very cause, origin and pattern of unity amid the vast and increasing diversity and variety of elements we can have in this world.

Nowadays, we are seeing the intriguing phenomenon of asserting what is right and moral as wrong and immoral, and vice-versa. What is clearly an expression of true freedom is now called slavery, and vice-versa. What should clearly be considered as taboo is now regarded as a human right. The forms of self-contradictions go on and on.

To correct this situation or, at least, to deal properly with it, we need to take care and strengthen our belief and our charity. We cannot take this duty for granted, especially now when the world is sinking in confusion and error as it distances itself farther from God.
In many places in the world today, people are now legalizing and inculturating outright immoralities and perversions, rationalizing them as part of their human rights, their freedom, or as a gesture of tolerance on a multiplicity of preferences, etc.

This is a big challenge for all Christian believers who want to be all-the-way consistent with their faith and with humanity itself, for the issues at hand are not just a matter of a particular religion but rather that of our common humanity.

And the Christian faith is not meant only for a few. It is for all, though it obviously is not meant to be imposed on everyone. It has to be accepted knowingly, freely, lovingly, that is, with charity.

Instead of responding to evil with evil, hatred with hatred, we should rather respond to evil with good, hatred with love. That way we turn things around, rather than plunge into the spiral of evil and hatred.

This was specifically articulated by St. Paul in his Letter to the Romans where he said: “Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: ‘It is mine to avenge; I will repay,’ says the Lord. On the contrary: “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.” (Rom 12,17-20)

We have to try our best to erase whatever disbelief, doubt or skepticism we can have as we consider this teaching, since most likely, our first and spontaneous reaction to it would precisely be those reactions.

Wealth and power great concealers of one’s true personality. These characteristics could be used to produce a make-believe image or situation too different from the real one. In many instances, the wealthy and powerful could easily conceal, chiefly their riches as they can make it appear that they are not wealthy and do not own the riches they really own. They have the capacity to publish tales on all media platforms to convince the public on how rich they really are. Even the records of their wealth are easily kept under fictitious names to ensure that they could not be held liable under the law.

What is appalling is their use of such tactics to evade their responsibilities, chief, from the payment of the right taxes. They too are able to get rid from paying the rightful wages and salaries of their workers. They have that ready excuse that they are incapable to giving what is due their workers for they are not earning enough from their businesses where their workers are working with their sweat and blood. They have the connection to influence the government offices tasked to enforce workers’ wages.

In times when workers are begging even for a meager increase in their wages, the rich would easily deny the workers’ plea and show them how they too are hard-up financially. With such story, workers could never expect any positive response to their asking. It would even make the workers believe the story of make-believe and pity their employers who are in dire financial condition, hoping that the condition will be true as told so that they may see the day when their employer are really in great sufferance.

Seldom do rich people who are greedy change their story that they are in poverty, poorer that they hapless workers. When such turnaround happens, the employer would give some pittance in the form of cheap tokens that they think will assuage their sufferings. The token in kind will be brandished to the public to show that the employers are good and kind to their workers.

But the kindness is just for show so that the public would praise the employers for their purported kindness. It would reinforce their tale that they are truly impoverished but are empathic to their workers’ needs. People would then retell their story are commend such employers who kept their secret of wealth and influence. These people have the temerity of using God in their show of piousness and religiosity. But before the eyes of the true omnipotent and omnipresent God, their acts are nothing but a master’s show.
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