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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." (St. 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,
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.
_________________________
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
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