By Chris Sparks
Put no trust in princes,
in children of Adam powerless to save.
Who breathing his last, returns to the earth;
that day all his planning comes to nothing (Ps 146:3-4).
The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has launched their “Civilize It: Dignity Beyond the Debate” campaign this month, “a year-long initiative that invites Catholics to model civility, love for neighbor, and respectful dialogue” in this forthcoming election year.
It’s a great idea, and an important call for us all to hear (myself included).
We’re Catholics before we’re members of a political party, after all, and the obedience we owe to God runs deeper than the patriotic love we owe our countries. The loyalty and love we owe to Jesus needs to undergird, guide, and shape how we live our lives, including our political lives.
What does that mean? Well, first and foremost, it means we need to work hard to always maintain “peace of soul,” to borrow Venerable Fulton Sheen’s phrase. It means that no earthly disaster, no electoral loss or military defeat, no tragedy of any sort is greater than the hope we have in Jesus. It means that no loss here below is ultimate, since the crucial turning point of the cosmic war has already been won. Our Lady is the Immaculate Conception, the uniquely holy woman who said a steadfast, complete, lifelong yes to God that allowed the Incarnation to take place. And Jesus, the Son of the Father, won the war through His life as an incarnate human being, culminating in the drama of His Passion and death. Our hope is in Christ, not in earthly rulers or political systems.
The war has been won. Good has won. Everything before or since? A mere battle; a lesser skirmish; a lesser engagement in the great war of reconquest waged by Heaven against hell.
So no matter how dire the issues at stake in modern politics (and yes, there are certainly dire issues at stake); no matter how seriously misguided, misinformed, wrong, or evil we may believe the positions of our political opponents to be; no matter how important we may believe any individual vote, piece of legislation, or electoral contest to be, we must handle victory and defeat like Christians. We must abide in faith, hope, and love. We must live faithfully and well the prayer, the slogan, the lifelong aim: Jesus, I trust in You.
That means the civility campaign is perfectly appropriate, especially for those of us with a special devotion to the Divine Mercy. After all, we know that Jesus told St. Faustina, “The greater the sinner, the greater the right he has to My mercy. My mercy is confirmed in every work of My hands” (Diary of Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska, 723). God, perfect Goodness Himself, says that confronted with sinners, the worse we are, the more mercy He extends. How can we do any less? We are to imitate Jesus, being the face of the Lord’s mercy to those whom we encounter, no matter whether they are liberal or conservative.
So let our mercy guide our political participation. Let’s become outstanding in our civility, and so witness to the Gospel teaching on the inalienable dignity and rights of all human beings, including those who are in error. I challenge myself as much or more as I challenge anyone else by saying this, because there are certainly times when confronted by a factual error or something I think is a violation of logic, Christian charity, or simple common sense, I am certainly tempted to give way to snark and invective (and I suspect my friends, family, and neighbors could identify times where I’ve given in to the temptation!). But we are called by Jesus, the Divine Mercy, to have more faith in Him and love for neighbor than that. Matters are never so dire that Christians can justify a lack of charity toward our neighbor. After all, we are called to love even our enemies and to do good for those who persecute us (see Mt 5:44). And as the Church teaches, "The Lord asks us to love as he does ... to make ourselves the neighbor of those farthest away ..." (Catechism, 1825).
So we must oppose policies or politics that we believe are wrong. We must vote for the good and speak, write, and otherwise stand against evil. But we must also pray for all our political leaders. We must ask God’s grace on them, interceding for the salvation of their souls. We must love them — that is, we must always will the good for them.
And no matter where we stand — left, right, or center — we must always stand with Christ. We must root ourselves firmly in Scripture and Tradition, in the worldview conveyed to us through the Liturgy, the Magisterium, and the wise words of saints and Doctors of the Church. We must recommit ourselves to defend and promote the fullness of Catholic social teaching, especially those teachings with which we personally struggle the most. We must always put principle before party for the sake of our souls and to serve Christ.
We must always be willing to be a voice crying in the wilderness, challenging our political allies just as strongly or more so than our political opponents to repent, to reform, to recommit themselves to perennial truths. We must not accept or excuse evil done by those with whom we agree. One of the most ancient teachings of the Church is that we are forbidden from doing evil so that good may come from it (see Rom 3:8; 6:1). We must be willing to hold our leaders, our preferred media, and our closest of political allies to account when they have done wrong, and never seek to justify our side’s bad behavior by pointing to the bad behavior of our opponents. If our standards are that we can do anything the other side is willing to do, then politics will be nothing more than a race to the bottom. We are forbidden from this as Catholic Christians.
We are called to a higher standard of faith, hope, and love, to a standard that we hold on to even if that means earthly defeat. We are challenged to the chivalry of Christ, of fidelity even unto the Cross; to the chivalry of the Man of La Mancha, the dreamer of impossible dreams. We are obliged by God to be voices for the voiceless, chivalrous protectors of the defenseless, and to see through eyes enlightened by the Holy Spirit, by merciful love, not by partisan politics or by self-interest. And when we fail to live up to this high standard, we must repent, turn to Jesus, the Divine Mercy, for forgiveness, and penitentially seek to do better next time.
We are members of the Mystical Body of Jesus, the Divine Mercy, first and foremost before we are Americans, before we are Democrats or Republicans, Libertarians or Independents, or members of any other political entity. Our first loyalty is to the Gospel, which then grounds us in adhering to and promoting human dignity, rights, and responsibilities. Our tradition, purifying and strengthening right reason by the grace of God, guides us in adhering to and defending the natural law, and pursuing a political order structured by that natural law.
And we are called by Jesus, the Divine Mercy, to ensure that in our political order, justice and mercy are one.
So let us embrace and take part in the USCCB’s campaign for civility in our nation in this and every other election year to come. Let us practice loving our neighbors, even when our neighbors include political opponents. Let us abide in the peace of soul that comes from Christian faith, hope, and love, and thereby be able to be patient with those who disagree with us, loving toward those we believe to be in the wrong, and trusting that in the end, good will win out, no matter the fortunes of the times.
Finally, take time to pray and meditate on Psalm 146, keeping in mind that in Jesus, we live and move and have our being. We Christians are called to live life in the Spirit, which means that, in the state of grace, when we act, God acts; when we love, God loves; and when we do works of justice and mercy, the Lord does works of justice and mercy.
Chris Sparks serves as senior book editor for the Marian Fathers. He is the author of the Marian Press book How Can You Still Be Catholic? 50 Answers to a Good Question.
Photo by Nina Strehl on Unsplash
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