Put on the Armor of God

So Obama wins again. A few of my friends are ecstatic, but many more of them are heartbroken. Some are downright afraid of what will come to pass over the next four years. I had a feeling all along that he would win a second term, but maintained hope that I would be proven wrong. Although I am not a huge Romney fan, I did cast my vote for him. I went to bed last night pretty much knowing it wasn't looking good for Romney and awoke this morning to the headline Obama wins on the front page of The Washington Post. Not surprised, but I nevertheless uttered an audible ugh as I read it while my dachshund peered up at me begging to be let out. And so, life goes on. The dog still has needs. The dishes still need to be washed. My laundry still needs to be folded and put away. And most of all, God still deserves our praise and thanksgiving - our love. 

I've been thinking about a lot of things this morning. First of all, I feel oddly energized as I consider the election results.As a faithful, practicing Catholic (not the cafeteria kind, or the Christmas & Easter type, or the non-church-going-but-still-call-myself-Catholic Catholic) I am highly concerned about what lies ahead regarding the HHS mandate and I sincerely hope and pray that the U.S. Catholic bishops don't cave on this issue. As I was trying to fall asleep last night, the following encouraging passage from Ephesians popped into my head: Put on the armor of God so that you may be able to stand firm against the tactics of the devil. (Ephesians 6:11). I am honored to put on the armor of God and will continue to fight until my dying day. With Obama in the White House for another four years, we know what we're up against (well sort of, who knows what he currently has up his sleeve?). We are surely disappointed, but we should be fired up now more than ever to continue the fight! Actually, a part of me wonders if Romney had been elected, would we have become a little too relaxed in our effort to defend the Church? Maybe become a little too trusting that he would actually work hard to upend the injustice against the Church? Perhaps - and maybe I'm just cynical - it really would not have been as important to him as it is to us. Not sure if he wouldn't have placed the rights of the unborn on the back burner, instead focusing all his energy on creating new jobs and balancing the budget.

I hate to say it, but most of us realize that we didn't just arrive here overnight. The rising tide of secularism has been here for many years. There are reportedly more people today who describe themselves as non-church goers as ever before. People are saying they want to move to another country ... but where would you go? We are becoming more and more like western Europe and have been on that path for quite awhile. We've allowed the news media (the mainstream media wins the prize for campaigning most effectively for Obama), the entertainment industry, and the institutions of higher learning to shape who we are and to carve the path we find ourselves traveling.

Sadly, and I've said this before, I don't think the U.S. bishops as a body were effectively doing their job for a long, long time and now that we're faced with the imminent erosion of our religious liberties they have finally started to band together and speak out. Why have they been silent for so long? Until recently, we've heard little from them  - sure there have been a few voices crying out, but not enough! Now that their (our) backs are up against the wall? Well, better late than never, right? I just can't help but wonder about the 49% of Catholics who cast Church teaching aside and voted for Obama. Had the bishops been doing their job all these years, would that have happened? Ultimately, of course, we are all individually responsible for learning the truths of our faith and informing our conscience, but the fact remains - the shepherds are our teachers and must lead the faithful unerringly and uncompromisingly to Christ. It is imperative that we keep our bishops and priests in our daily prayers. We need to pray that they continue to speak up for us and for the most defenseless members of the body of Christ. Pray that they remain holy men of God. May He grant them the wisdom and fortitude to speak the truth and act on it. And lead the faithful along the paths of righteousness.

Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (Pope Benedict XVI) said many years ago that the Church is going to become small and ultimately more pure. I think we're seeing that come to pass. 

“The church will become small and will have to start afresh more or less from the beginning. She will no longer be able to inhabit many of the edifices she built in prosperity. As the number of her adherents diminishes . . . she will lose many of her social privileges. . . As a small society, [the Church] will make much bigger demands on the initiative of her individual members…. It will be hard-going for the Church, for the process of crystallization and clarification will cost her much valuable energy. It will make her poor and cause her to become the Church of the meek .

. . The process will be long and wearisome as was the road from the false progressivism on the eve of the French Revolution — when a bishop might be thought smart if he made fun of dogmas and even insinuated that the existence of God was by no means certain . . . But when the trial of this sifting is past, a great power will flow from a more spiritualized and simplified Church. Men in a totally planned world will find themselves unspeakably lonely. If they have completely lost sight of God, they will feel the whole horror of their poverty. Then they will discover the little flock of believers as something wholly new. They will discover it as a hope that is meant for them, an answer for which they have always been searching in secret.

And so it seems certain to me that the Church is facing very hard times. The real crisis has scarcely begun. We will have to count on terrific upheavals. But I am equally certain about what will remain at the end: not the Church of the political cult, which is dead already, but the Church of faith. She may well no longer be the dominant social power to the extent that she was until recently; but she will enjoy a fresh blossoming and be seen as man’s home, where he will find life and hope beyond death.”

 - Joseph Ratzinger (Benedict XVI), from his book Faith and the Future

I find myself, today, overcome with joy in knowing that I am a member of Holy Mother Church! The same Church to whom Jesus entrusted Peter with her keys and proclaimed, "And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it." (Matt. 16:18)  It excites me to know that God has placed me and you here, in this moment of history, for a reason. I'm not always sure I know why, but I trust Him and humbly pray, every day, that I become the person He created me to be. May I be open to his will for me, here and now.

Finally, we must view the world and all that transpires through the lens of ETERNITY. Jesus has already proclaimed VICTORY. We are not of this world. We cannot put our hope in earthly governments and politicians - ultimately, our hope is in Him, our true joy! That doesn't mean we sit back and do nothing. We have a responsibility to help bring about His kingdom on earth, to be salt and light, to serve Him by serving others, to do our part to bring about the common good. The difficulties, persecutions, struggles and hardships that may accompany us along the way will pass away, just as one day, all the world will pass away. 

And at the end of my time here, after I've done all I can for Him, despite being hated by the world --  

“If the world hates you, realize that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, the world would love its own; but because you do not belong to the world, and I have chosen you out of the world, the world hates you. Remember the word I spoke to you, ‘No slave is greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours." (John 15:18-20)

-- I hope to hear those loving words, "Well done, my good and faithful servant. (Matt 25:21) Welcome home."

O most Holy Trinity,
I adore you
who dwell by your grace in my soul.
Sanctify me more and more,
make me love you more and more,
abide with me evermore
and be my true joy. 

Amen.