On Saturdays, we pre-send the Sunday reflection for families - the same one Hearth & Altar subscribers receive at the table together.

Have a blessed Sunday - we'll be back Monday morning.

Sunday's Reflection — Twenty-Ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Is 45:1, 4-6; Ps 96:1, 3, 4-5, 7-8, 9-10; 1 Thes 1:1-5b; Mt 22:15-21

"Whose image is this and whose inscription?" Jesus asks, looking at a coin. "Caesar's," they answer. "Then repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and to God what belongs to God." The question was meant as a trap: answer one way and he offends the Roman occupiers, answer the other and he offends the crowd hoping he'll defy them. He answers in a way that dodges neither and satisfies no one looking for a fight.

It's a simple test that applies to more than money. Everything in a family's week carries somebody's image on it: the job, the schedule, the phone, the endless list of things to do. Some of it genuinely belongs to Caesar, meaning the ordinary demands of life that have to get handled regardless. The real question is whether God's own claim is still getting its fair share of the week, or whether Caesar has quietly taken over the whole thing while nobody was watching closely enough to notice the shift.

Today is also World Mission Sunday, a day the whole Church prays and gives specifically for missionaries around the world, people who've handed over nearly everything that carries Caesar's image, comfort, familiarity, home, in order to give what carries God's.

Universal Prayer

• That we'd know what actually belongs to God in our week, we pray to the Lord.
• For missionaries around the world, and the people they serve, we pray to the Lord.
• For countries where the Gospel hasn't yet been heard, we pray to the Lord.
• For the grace to give God his fair share of our time, not just what's left over, we pray to the Lord.

Faith in Action

Put a small box or jar on the table tonight for World Mission Sunday. Each person adds a coin and names one country to pray for this week, chosen from a map if you have one handy.

A Note for Parents

Ask your kids: what usually takes up the most of your day? Then ask what they think God would want to take up more room. There's no perfect answer here, and adults should be honest about their own answer too rather than only putting the question to the kids. The point is just to notice the gap honestly, without immediately trying to close it in one conversation.

World Mission Sunday has been kept by the whole Church since 1926. It's a good night to show your kids a map and point to somewhere far away where someone is trying to bring the Gospel to people who've never heard it, and to talk about what it might cost someone to leave home for that kind of work.

Ask, too, if your family knows any missionaries personally, even distantly, through the parish or an extended family connection. Praying for someone by name tends to stick with kids more than praying for a category.