Duties of Heavenly Citizenship

By Bishop Michael Warfel

We’d all do well to reflect on Matthew 22:15-21 while deciding on who to vote for in the next election and what issues should be of concern for a Catholic. The passage is about rendering to Caesar those things that belong to Caesar and to God the things that belong to God. There are strange bedfellows at work in the passage who work against Jesus. There are the Herodians who saw Jesus as a political troublemaker and there are the Pharisees of Jerusalem who saw Jesus as a heretic and blasphemer. Both groups saw Jesus as a threat. They ask Jesus a question about the legitimacy of paying taxes trying to trap him. Their true interest is just getting Jesus into trouble with the authorities. Jesus recognized their ploy, but instead of ignoring or humiliating them, he teaches them a lesson. Give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God. 

As Catholics, we hold a dual citizenship. Our birth in this country (for those actually born in the US) automatically makes us citizens of an earthly nation. Through our baptism we are born anew which makes us citizens of a heavenly Kingdom. The values espoused by both often overlap but sometimes may drastically collide. Only one has an ultimate claim on us, i.e., our heavenly citizenship. As I heard Cardinal George, former Archbishop of Chicago, once say, “God will not want to see our passport once we die. He’ll want to see our baptismal certificate.”

Through the centuries, many Christian saints and martyrs have taught us that if we are ever forced to choose between the two, we must be faithful first to our true and everlasting homeland, even if it means suffering painful consequences here on earth. St Thomas More provides a powerful example. St. Thomas was the Lord Chancellor for King Henry VIII. King Henry had the Parliament of England pass the Acts of Succession and Supremacy. It was a law which declared King Henry as head of the Church of England while denying the Pope’s authority. St. Thomas could not support the legislation and, as a result, was tried for treason, found guilty and beheaded. He did not seek death but could not in good conscience support the Acts of Succession and Supremacy. It was not only an unjust law, but also was a matter of placing God before Caesar.
In his second Encyclical Letter, Spe Salvi, Pope Benedict made a point that both citizenships are important, but that our Christian citizenship is more important. He noted that we do not live only for the future. We belong to a new society of faith that “anticipates” the course of our pilgrimage. “Hence, while we must always be committed to the improvement of the world, tomorrow’s better world cannot be the proper and sufficient content of our hope.” (Spe Salvi, #4, #30) While we live in hope now doing what we can to enliven our world with the truths of God, the fulfillment or our hope is not in this world but in heaven.

So, what are the duties of heavenly citizenship and what exactly belongs to God? The answer is everything. All that we are, all that we possess, and all that we can hope for belongs to God! Just as the Roman coin bore the image of the Emperor who made it, so the human soul bears the “image and likeness” of God (Genesis 1:26). And so too does everyone else bear this likeness. It is a key reason why Jesus connected the commandments to love God and neighbor. How we demonstrate our love of God best is through our love of neighbor. This plays out strongly within the political realm. Pope Francis wrote in his Apostolic Exhortation Gaudium et Exultate: “Your identification with Christ and his will involves a commitment to build with him that kingdom of love, justice and universal peace. You cannot grow in holiness without committing yourself, body and soul, to giving your best to this endeavor.”

We give to God what belongs to God by obeying his commandments, following the example of Christ, embracing the values of the Gospel and heeding the teachings of his Church. Because we do not live in a vacuum but rather in a particular country and society, tensions exist between people of good will. How we concretely express our faith within this context requires that we responsibly to witness to the values faith asserts.

As Catholics, we are called, not only to help maintain civil society, but also to help improve it, to help build up a civilization of Christian justice and love. It is how we express Christian hope. In a democratic society, we have a unique opportunity to do this by making good use of the many conversations that happen in an election year – conversations about social values based on Scripture and sacred Tradition. I believe most Catholic voters want to make right decisions as they vote, but that many voters do not distinguish between core issues and secondary issues. It is not sufficient just to vote on one political party’s line. It involves study and prayer as we learn about candidates and the issues. St. Thomas More said often to his children, “We cannot go to heaven in featherbeds.” As we study and pray about the issues and discuss them with family and friends, co-workers and colleagues, it is important to keep fundamental principles of Christian faith in mind.

The most fundamental principle is that of the dignity of the human person and the sacredness of every human life from conception to death. Without life, principles are pointless. St. John Paul II once wrote, “The right to health, to home, to work, to family, to culture – is false and illusory if the right to life, the most basic and fundamental right and the condition for all other personal right, is not defended with maximum determination” (Christifideles Laici, #38). At the same time, we cannot ignore or dismiss other serious threats to human life: racism, the use of the death penalty, resorting to pre-emptive strikes against other nations, the use of torture, the failure to respond to the millions without adequate shelter, food or access to health care or unjust immigration policies. These are serious moral issues that require our attention.

Matters about human dignity and the sacredness of life are not morally equivalent. At the most recent USCCB meeting, the bishops passed an introductory statement that asserted concern over abortion as a ”preeminent priority.” (I supported this) The rationale behind the phrase is simple and to the point. It recognizes that if a person is not alive to enjoy human rights, saying they have certain rights is pointless. At the same time, other issues may not be ignored as if they are unimportant. Pope Francis expressed this well in his Apostolic Exhortation, Gaudium et Exultate:

“Our defense of the innocent unborn, for example, needs to be clear, firm and passionate, for at stake is the dignity of a human life, which is always sacred and demands love for each person, regardless of his or her stage of development. Equally sacred, however, are the lives of the poor, those already born, the destitute, the abandoned and the underprivileged, the vulnerable infirm and elderly exposed to covert euthanasia, the victims of human trafficking, new forms of slavery, and every form of rejection. We cannot uphold an ideal of holiness that would ignore injustice in a world where some revel, spend with abandon and live only for the latest consumer goods, even as others look on from afar, living their entire lives in abject poverty” (Gaudium et Exultate, #101).

Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship was drafted to help Catholics vote responsibly. We are all urged to approach our responsibility to vote by keeping in mind the values of our faith. As we do so, may we remember the words of Jesus to give to God what belongs to God (and nothing less) and to Caesar what belongs to Caesar (and nothing more).