AMERICA
 

ELECTION DAY

November 7, 2012:

“Every kingdom divided against itself shall be made desolate: and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand.”
(Saint Matthew 12.25)

As Catholics, What is our Way Forward after Obama's
 

Re-Election?

What we have encountered in the recent presidential election on November 6, 2012, is not simply troubling, but ominous. And yet it should not be so. We have seen it coming. It is the culmination of the deterioration of the spiritual, moral, and social fabric of American society and culture that began 50 years ago in the opiated and licentious “Age of Aquarius” that began in the 1960’s and the 1970’s — the purulence of which continues to suppurate in the now necrotic body politic and cultural fabric of America. It has become a quilt of many patches of many colors loosely stitched — no longer interwoven — along racial, ethnic, and linguistic lines that now define us not as who we are, but who we are not. We are not “the other”. The “other” is not your neighbor, but your competitor for a politically conferred dignity that should be equally accorded all, but which has devolved — by policy — into enclaves of self-interest, identity-politics, enclaves clearly delineated by complexion, ethnicity, and most absurdly of all, gender.

The Metamorphosis

We are arguably a more divided country than we have ever been — ever. And we have just elected the greatest Lever of Division to the highest political office, together with a greater multiplicity of fulcrums used to his advantage and at his disposal in Congress. We have gone from “E pluribus unum”, to “E unum pluribus”, from “the many to one”, to “the one to many”, from unity to division among the most execrable lines. It is literally the dissolution of America, the devolution of unity into multiplicity — it is the fulfillment of the liberal dream and mantra of the long discredited notion of multiculturalism; a country no longer at one with itself because it has eschewed the cooperative selfless unity of one for the self-interested plurality of the competing many. This is how Obama won. Divide and conquer. Pit the one against the other and the other against all, and in this sense the “Great Communicator”, Obama, has become the “Great Facilitator” — of the demise of America as we have known it, even as it was becoming less and less recognizable to us in the slow but inexorable mutation we had witnessed with growing uneasiness for the last 50 years. The metamorphosis is now complete.

What is at Stake for Catholics?

What is at stake for the half of the country that did not vote for Obama and his Democratic fulcrums in Congress — more to the point, what is at stake for American Catholics (apart from the many “Catholics” who approve of, and agitate for issues distinctly contra Fide — that is to say, against the Faith — the legalization of infanticide (abortion), same-sex “marriages”, the promotion of the homosexuality in our schools and places of employment (and the concurrent prohibition of religion in our schools and places of employment), the criminalization of the word God — and most especially Jesus Christ — in public discourse, the freedom of conscience itself, the freedom of the Church from government intrusion and coercion, the freedom to express ones religious convictions without fear of reprisal or jail time … you are familiar with the litany).

The most fundamental values that we hold as Catholics have been attacked remorselessly by a hostile and militantly secular culture, society, and government … that is intolerant of Jesus Christ and those who take up their Cross daily and follow Him.

Take Heart, Christian!

“If they have persecuted Me, they will persecute you”, our Blessed Lord told His followers (St. John 15.20). Christ Himself promised us persecution — and it has come to pass. So what are we to do as Catholics who cleave to Christ and His Church?

In a country that has no tolerance for, and stridently rejects God, His Holy Catholic Church, and Christianity in general we must recognize more clearly than ever, what Saint Augustine famously said, “Here we have no lasting home.”

No home — and now no longer a refuge from persecution in a country founded as a refuge from persecution. We are now confronted with a question, a vital question, more existential then we have ever confronted in our lives before November 6, 2012: of what “polity” are we really the citizens? Of Heaven! (Philippians 3:20) — not of a world ... and now an America ... that rejects Christ, His teachings, His Church, and the very value of human life and dignity. Do you doubt it? Here in Massachusetts a referendum on Physician Assisted Suicide was defeated in this same election only by a narrow margin. In Boston, it is clearly Planned Parenthood at the beginning and Physician Assisted Suicide at the end. Such a lust for death!

To Whom, then, is our first and utmost obligation? To the State or to God? To God, of course!

Hold fast to Him, then, and do not be discouraged by the November 6, 2012 elections that enthroned Obama as the savior of the decadent secular world.

Remember the Third Temptation!

Remember the Third Temptation where the evil one says: “To thee will I give all this power, and the glory of them; for to me they are delivered, and to whom I will, I give them.” (Saint Luke 4.6).

And look now to our present American government — to the very highest level …

Take heart, Christian, and remember something far greater still: “These things I have spoken to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you shall have distress: but have confidence, I have overcome the world.” (Saint John 16.33)

Fight the good fight

To the very end, against all odds, at every peril, no matter the cost, knowing that we are “surrounded by a cloud of witnesses” — not those who would perjure themselves for their gain, or bring us to the courts of men because we will not compromise and will not disavow Christ — but witnesses in Heaven itself! (Heb. 12.1)

Keep to our holy Faith more strongly than ever, with the greatest tenacity ever; to our Holy Mother the Church who baptized us and will one day bury us; to Jesus Christ Himself Who is the Beginning and the End, the Alpha and the Omega. The empires and kingdoms of evil men have fallen as a concatenation of so many dominoes throughout history. Only God remains.

A Kingdom Divided — and a House within a House

“Every kingdom divided against itself shall be made desolate”, our Blessed Lord warned us.

This present election does not bode well for us. Obama won by a mere 1.05% of the popular vote.¹  One percent! If that does not constitute a divide nation, nothing does. Fractionally, as many people voted against Obama and his divisive and destructive policies as voted for him — 1%! Many of them were nominally “Catholic” women and men (by far, more women), both laity and Religious. In fact, 51 %. ²  That is to say, as many “Catholics” voted for Obama, as against him. In other words, another house within a house was equally divided: Fully 1/2 of all Catholics voted for Obama, despite his well known animosity toward the Church and Her teachings, especially concerning abortion, the dignity of human life, homosexual “marriages”, freedom of conscience, and the deference of the Catholic will to God rather than to the state. American Catholics by half turned to Obama and against the Church and God. Half of all Catholics chose the Civitas Mundi over the Civitas Dei. ³ Half! What does that tell us about the primary allegiance of the Catholic Church in America? A completely split allegiance between the State and God, however much liberal Catholics would speciously conflate the two, insisting that the one is the nuanced articulation of the other. It is not. Christ is very clear about this:  “Who is not with Me is against Me. Who does not gather with Me, scatters”. (St. Matthew 12.30)

When Israel turned away from God too, God gave it into the hands of its enemies, sent it into captivity and exile and not a stone was left standing in Jerusalem. Do you think America will fare better? Who denies God, Christ Himself will deny before His Father and the Holy Angels in Heaven. (St. Luke 12.9) It is a hard saying. But Christ Himself promised it.

This life passes in a breath — and with it the petty powers and the perpetual arrogance it presumes to hold. What will you answer to God Who accepts no excuses? That it was expedient, when it was not? That you did not know better when you did? That you were not clear about His most holy will, when you were —and like the angels who became demons chose to rebel against it? For or against God, you have pronounced your allegiance at the polls on November 6, 2012. Remember this year well, and your complicity in all that follows. “The Buck” does not stop in the Oval Office. It stopped in the vestibule of your own free will where you chose, without constraint, on November 6th, whom you will henceforth follow.

For the “other half" of the Church Militant on Earth — who chose the promises of God over the blandishments of politicians — your duty is clear. You became a Soldier of Christ in your Holy Confirmation. Soldier on! Nothing has changed in your duties, and your orders still stand. Follow Christ — not the world. The world passes away, but not the Word (St. Mat. 24.35) You know what is expected of you. In case you are confused, Mary, the Most Holy Mother of God, put it most succinctly:  “Quodcumque dixerit vobis, facite” — “Whatever He tells you, do.”  

Whom we serve has already conquered, and the Company of the Holy Martyrs surrounds us, to testify to things to come.

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¹  http://boston.com/news/special/politics/2012/general/us-president-election-results-2012.html

²  http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/11/08/us-usa-campaign-religion-idUSBRE8A71M420121108

³  The City of the World over the City of God (St. Augustine’s famous treatise, De Civitate Dei, http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf102.toc.html )

Editor
Boston Catholic Journal