Homily: October 18, 2026, Sunday of the Twenty-Ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time (All to God )

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 “Then repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God.”

Three weeks before the election, we hear these words of Jesus in today's Gospel. you may wonder whether the Church intentionally chose this Gospel because of the upcoming election. The answer is no. It is simply a coincidence. The readings we hear at Mass are proclaimed throughout the world, not just here in the United States. They are not chosen according to political events.

And I am not here to speak about the election. That is not the purpose of a Sunday homily. Rather, I want to reflect on the spiritual message Jesus gives us today.

“Repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar.”

Caesar was the Roman emperor. Jesus reminds us that, as citizens, we have certain responsibilities and duties toward our country and society. We have a responsibility to contribute to the common good, to respect others, and through our good deeds, to make our country and our world a better place.

In another Gospel passage, we even see Jesus paying the temple tax for himself and Peter with a coin found in the mouth of a fish.

But I want to focus more on the second part of Jesus' words: “Give to God what belongs to God.”

What belongs to God?

The answer is very simple: Everything.

Our body, our soul, our life, our talents, our families, everything we have and everything we are belongs to God.

In the time of Jesus, Roman coins carried the image of Caesar. Therefore, Jesus said, give Caesar what belongs to Caesar. If the coin bears the image of Caesar, we bear the image of God. We were created in his image and likeness. Therefore, we belong to God.

And what does God want from us? Not simply our Sunday attendance, or a few minutes of prayer. God wants our hearts. He wants our love. He wants to be part of our entire life.

In the Act of Contrition, we pray, “My God, I am sorry for my sins with all my heart,” and we acknowledge that God you deserve all my love.

Yes, God deserves all our love because everything we are comes from him.

But sometimes, without even realizing it, we give God only what is left over. We give our time to work, our attention to our phones, our energy to our worries, and then, if we have a little time left, we give it to God.

And when God is no longer at the center of our lives, something else takes his place. It could be money, success, fear, pride, or even our worries. And these things can slowly take away our peace.

But when God is at the center of our lives, it does not mean that all our problems disappear. It means that even in the middle of our problems, we have someone to hold on to.

In today's first reading, God says, “I have called you by your name.”

The God who created the universe knows each of us by name. He does not want to be a stranger in our lives. He wants a personal relationship with each one of us.

God is not asking us to give him something that we do not have. He is asking us to give him what already belongs to him: our hearts, our love, and our lives.

So today, as we hear Jesus saying, “Give to God what belongs to God,” let us ask ourselves one simple question:

Am I giving God the first place in my life, or am I giving him whatever is left over?

The more we open our hearts to God, the more we allow his peace, his love, and his joy to fill our lives.

Amen.


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