Sunday November 3, 2024
CORE STRENGTH
The Dodgers versus the Yankees World Series competition is over but the Presidential race nears the finish line this Tuesday. Many fans and citizens have watched and rooted for their candidate and team passionately. The baseball season is over but the election results will be felt for years. “Election seasons, increasingly, are a time of anxiety and spiritual trial,” observes the Introductory Note for Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship. We who prepare this bulletin have used the last few months as an opportunity to share about Catholic Social Teaching. The Church’s role in public life is to proclaim timeless principles: the infinite worth and dignity of every human life, the common good, solidarity, and subsidiarity. I shared with our young adults what the Church has to say about politics and voting this last month. In the Catholic Tradition, responsible citizenship is a virtue, and participation in political life is a moral obligation.
New Yorkers and Angelinos are celebrating or mourning the World Series outcome. No one likes to see a sore loser or a lack of sportsmanship. We can only pray for a spirit of national reconciliation after a closely contested election. We hope for civility and collaboration in working for the common good. I recall all too much the falling faces and winces when the opposing team hit a home run to win the game. It stings but fades by the time you reach the parking lot. People will be affected by the election outcome, but hopefully keep a sense of perspective and peace. I preached to our school students in October, inspired by verses from Saint Paul’s letter to the Ephesians (3:14-19), how strengthening our inner self through prayer can help us cope with what happens in the world around us. “… that God the Father may grant you in accord with the riches of his glory to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in the inner self, and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.” Just as our body’s core is strengthened through daily practice, so too our inner self needs to be strengthened by daily prayer.
To read more about forming your conscience for faithful citizenship before the November 5 election, see this website: Faithful Citizenship – Justice Peace and Human Development | USCCB
In Christ,
Rev. Robert P. Capone