Ordinary Time, 18th Sunday (C) What's in God's wallet? Certainly not cash, credit cards, receipts, or insurance cards. The only thing in God's wallet is photos of his kids. Lots and lots of photos, because God has lots and lots of kids. And he knows each one's name and their story. God loves every child like an only child.
The Catholic Church believes that every person has a dignity and value that comes from God himself. There are so many temptations not to recognize the dignity and value of every human being. There are many obvious ways that human dignity is attacked: genocide and racism, abortion, suicide, and eugenics. Then there are less obvious ways, such as IVF and surrogate motherhood. Lying, gossip, the exploitation of workers, and the mistreatment of immigrants all attack human dignity. "There can be no true democracy without a recognition of every person's dignity and without respect for his or her rights." (Pope St. John Paul II)
"Holy Spirit, show me the true value of every person, starting with myself."
"Holy Spirit, how are you calling me to uphold the dignity of every person in my community, state, country and world?"
(3 Aug 2025)
Going Deeper: Thank you Fr. Paul Timmerman for helping with this homily. Reflect on the following quotes:
Pope Francis in Fratelli Tutti
"The dignity of others is to be respected in all circumstances, not because that dignity is something we have invented or imagined, but because human beings possess an intrinsic worth superior to that of material objects and contingent situations. This requires that they be treated differently."
Declaration of the Infinite Dignity of Human Dignity (2024)
"Every human person possesses an infinite dignity, inalienably grounded in his or her very being, which prevails in and beyond every circumstance, state, or situation the person may ever encounter. This principle...underlies the primacy of the human person and the protection of human rights. ...the Church resolutely reiterates and confirms the ontological dignity of the human person, created in the image and likeness of God and redeemed in Jesus Christ. From this truth, the Church draws the reasons for her commitment to the weak and those less endowed with power, always insisting on "the primacy of the human person and the defense of his or her dignity beyond every circumstance."
Vatican II Gaudium et Spes #27:
"Furthermore, whatever is opposed to life itself, such as any type of murder, genocide, abortion, euthanasia or wilful self-destruction, whatever violates the integrity of the human person, such as mutilation, torments inflicted on body or mind, attempts to coerce the will itself; whatever insults human dignity, such as subhuman living conditions, arbitrary imprisonment, deportation, slavery, prostitution, the selling of women and children; as well as disgraceful working conditions, where men are treated as mere tools for profit, rather than as free and responsible persons; all these things and others of their like are infamies indeed. They poison human society, but they do more harm to those who practice them than those who suffer from the injury. Moreover, they are supreme dishonor to the Creator."
St. John Paul II in the encyclical the Gospel of Life (pp 101):
"There can be no true democracy without a recognition of every person's dignity and without respect for his or her rights."
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