PRAYER BEFORE AN ELECTION
King of kings, we come before you to ask for your help. Give us your wisdom to elect leaders who will stand for us and who will lead by example.
Open our eyes to see what’s good for us as a nation. Let candidates respect the dignity of each and every human life, along the long continuum from conception to natural death.
Protect us from those who want leadership for selfish reasons, for power and financial gain at the expense of developing the nation.
I pray that you may scatter any plans set by the devil to disrupt the election process.
Let the candidates accept the outcome of the elections without creating tension and violence and your Holy Spirit guide us in our decision making. Amen.
FORMING A CATHOLIC CONSCIENCE
I will put my law within them, and I will write it upon their hearts” Jeremiah 31: 33
CATHOLIC CATECHISM
CCC 1776 “Deep within his conscience, man discovers a law which he has not laid upon himself but which he must obey. For man has in his heart a natural law inscribed by God. This natural law is inscribed in every human heart and mind by God.
CCC 1782 Man has the right to act in conscience and in freedom so as personally to make moral decisions. “He must not be forced to act contrary to his conscience. Nor must he be prevented from acting according to his conscience, especially in religious matters.”
CCC 1785 The Conscience must be informed. The education of the conscience is a lifelong task. In the formation of conscience, the Word of God is the light for our path!
COMMENTARY
For the last 50 years or so, Presidential Election have been a dilemma for Catholics. In 1980 Ronald Reagan declared he was Pro-life. Now we have Donald Trump declaring himself Pro-life. Neither Ronald Reagan or Donald Trump are pro-life but may be better described as anti-abortion.
Many people who call themselves ‘pro-life’ may just be against abortions. They may not care about the already born–the rights of gays. minorities, immigrants;— they may support the death penalty, and they care very little about nuclear weapons, war, the environment, and animal rights.
I ask you to not only consider abortion but also life issues for the already born which seems a lot harder for some to support. I suggest we reflect on Cardinal Bernardin 1983 Seamless Garment protocol.
SEAMLESS GARMENT
“Those who defend the right to life of the weakest among us must be equally visible in support of the quality of life of the powerless among us: the old and the young, the hungry and the homeless, the undocumented immigrant and the unemployed worker.
Today We know that Kamala Harris and the Democrat party are aggressively, unapologetically anti-life before birth. The Democratic party has called for abortion on demand through the full term of the pregnancy.
On the Republican side, the former President continually goes about demeaning and dismissing the human dignity of those already born.
In border disputes Trump won’t let into the country as refugees those not like him. Pope Francis rebukes this practice, “People who build walls are not Christians.
If you truly live your Catholic faith, you will not find complete alignment with any political party, and that is okay. look at how each party supports human life from conception through natural death, freedom of religion, the freedom of conscience, the family, and the poor.
Finally, do vote. Pope Francis in recent airline interview 9/23 …it is generally said that not voting is ugly, it’s not good. One must vote. And one must choose the lesser evil. Which is the lesser evil? That lady or that gentleman? I don’t know; each person must think and decide according to their own conscience
“Our defense of the innocent unborn needs to be clear, firm and passionate, for at stake is the dignity of a human life, which is always sacred and demands love for each person, regardless of his or her stage of development.
In 2018 Pope Francis spoke further of Pro-Life position in Encyclical Gaudete et Exsultate
Equally sacred are those already born, the lives of the poor the destitute, the abandoned and the underprivileged, the vulnerable infirm and elderly exposed to covert euthanasia, the victims of human trafficking, new forms of slavery, and every form of rejection”
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Our kingdom is not on earth, provided by the state, but awaits us in heaven provided by God. The State is one thing; The Church is another. The First Amendment reads in part: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof
Pope Francis Gaudete et Exsultate, #101March 2018”
Christians from the very beginning lived, believed, and practiced their faith in the most pagan of societies. We must work hard to influence public policy that they conform more to God’s Laws and Jesus’ teachings but we must not despair if state institutions and secular society are not there yet.
The journey continues, homeward bound, practicing our faith with the grace of Jesus Christ and the guidance of the Holy Spirit to the beat of the old Christian hymn.
ONWARD CHRISTIAN SOLDIERS!
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Onward, Christian soldiers, marching as to war, Onward, Christian soldiers, marching as to war, with the cross of Jesus going on before.
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