With all the noise and competing voices emerging during election season, it can be easy to lose our peace. Our hopes can rise or shatter quite easily just from the news cycle. Elections can also bring out the worst in families, yielding misunderstanding, anger and bitterness.
Where does our hope come from? Our hope comes from the Lord Jesus, the Prince of Peace. He is our Savior, the hope that sustains. St. Paul tells us that we were saved in hope (Rom 8:24) and that “hope does not disappoint” (Rom 5:5) as God’s love is poured out into our hearts.
Being mindful of the Lord’s presence in our lives can help us as we consider voting. The act of voting is an act of charity, a way of participating in building a world as God sees it. Pope Francis reminds us that participation in politics is a Christian obligation: “We, Christians, cannot ‘play Pilate’ and wash our hands…We must participate in politics because politics is one of the highest forms of charity because it seeks the common good.”
The Church is an expert in man, and always calls us back to enduring principles. It is not the role of the Church to tell us who to vote for. Rather, the Church gives us the richness of Catholic Social Teaching, invites us to form our consciences with truth, and urges us to bring these principles with us into the voting booth. No party or candidate reflects the fullness of Catholic Social Teaching, so we must use prudential judgment guided by moral reasoning founded in these principles. We look for candidates who promote human dignity, solidarity, and subsidiarity, to build the common good, and to help people thrive in families.
Facing a challenging election, we should not give up hope. Pope Francis urges us “not to fuel anger, which is unhealthy for our own soul and the soul of our people.” He explains that “no family, no group of neighbors, no ethnic group, much less a nation, has a future if the force that unites them, brings them together and resolves their differences is vengeance and hatred” (Fratelli Tutti 224). When those temptations to lose hope or see others as enemies arise, we can bring them to the Lord and ask him to soften our hearts.
These difficult days are an opportunity to imitate Christ and show charity to our brothers and sisters with whom we disagree. We are our brother’s keeper, called to a Good Samaritan kind of love towards our fellow citizens. That means seeing that those with whom we disagree are also made in God’s image and likeness, our brothers and sisters in Christ, and the ones alongside whom we are walking towards heaven.
“We need to participate for the common good. Sometimes we hear: a good Catholic is not interested in politics. This is not true: good Catholics immerse themselves in politics by offering the best of themselves so that the leader can govern.” – Pope Francis
