On January 20, 1961, John F. Kennedy in his inaugural address said: “…ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.” I thought of those words when I read today’s Gospel because we do a lot of asking God for things, but we don’t always ask what we can do for God. When we pray, we always remember our needs and ask God’s help. That could be health issues, financial troubles, relationship problems, or a host of other maladies. And so we petition God: help me; guide me; strengthen me; give me. But maybe, just maybe, if we ask ourselves what we can do for God, our own needs might be answered. We can give God our prayer of praise and thanks. In doing so recognize the richness of our life and the gifts we have received. We can give God our faith and trust. Then we might recognize the path the Lord has laid out before us and how he helps us when we stumble or get lost. We can simply spend time with the Lord. And then feel his peace in our hearts to give us strength to carry on with our duties in life.
Jesus said in the Gospel: give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, but give to God what belongs to God. So we pay our taxes, vote for good candidates on election day, fulfill our civic duties. But also give God what is God’s: sacrifice to help others as He did, forgive as the Lord forgives us, be merciful and compassionate and never, never forget to pray.