Mary Immaculate Roman Catholic Church in West Palm Beach shared a gospel meditation on paying our taxes to Caesar.

While paying taxes is an unpleasant experience, it is something that we must do. Taxes give the government the funding it needs to provide a number of important services. Unfortunately, we do not serve an incorrupt government and therefore there will always be ways in which our money is used to fund evils and less-than-good projects.

“The inappropriate distribution and use of hard-earned monies can leave a person quite angry and disconnected," the meditation, published in the church's Oct. 18 bulletin, stated. "It’s bad enough the government wants something from me, now God does, too?”

The truth is that God really cares very little about our money. The intersection on our loyalty and our usage of money, though, can be a very telling connection. We tend to put our money toward things that we care about or desire, and in that way the money we possess can be a good metric for the state of our heart.

“As the payment of secular taxes speaks of our allegiance to the government, our return to God speaks of our allegiance to God," the message said. "All of creation, even the entire universe, is fashioned in the image and likeness of God. What speaks to God and has meaning and relevance to him? All of creation and indeed our very selves!” 

When we give our allegiance to God, we open the door for God to get our priorities straight. We see that God is the Creator and Author of life, and that it is He who we should be devoting ourselves to in our time on this earth.

“In giving back to God all that belongs to God, we set the axis of our lives correctly and put our priorities in proper order," the message concluded. "All of our relationships, especially with God, our brothers and sisters, and all of creation are perceived more clearly as they really are."