Patrick Delaney on Facebook posted this picture without explaining what he meant by it. I certainly don't think he was saying the Democrats are demons and the Republicans are angels. My assessment is that the Democrat party is demonic and the Republicans are demonic-lite. Our salvation will not be found in politics!
What this picture says to me is that our battle is spiritual. I've known that forever, which is why I never despair over horrific election results. After all, that's what the prince of this world wants, and he has plenty of servants in the media and the halls of government to do his bidding and encourage us to despair.
We face evils of such magnitude that election day voting hardly touches the real problems. States can ban abortion and still see millions of women mail order the kill pills. We can close the borders, but the cartels will still find ways of deluging the country with destructive drugs that are killing our youth. They will still kidnap our youngsters for sexual predation. We can teach our children moral values at home that they are robbed of every day they enter the schoolhouse or a college classroom.
The war is in the hearts of men and women. We can choose the world, the flesh, and the devil or we can choose Jesus Christ and His tremendous love for us. It was the same in the days of Noah when only one family served God and the rest of the community laughed them to scorn as they prepared for the flood.
Can we sincerely believe that our situation today is better than in the days of Noah? Are we more moral than the people of Sodom and Gomorrah? Do we not deserve the deluge or the rain of fire and brimstone? Genesis describes the wickedness of Noah's time, but we rival those people in their rebellion:
God seeing that the wickedness of men was great on the earth, and that all the thought of their heart was bent upon evil at all times, It repented him that he had made man on the earth. And being touched inwardly with sorrow of heart, He said: I will destroy man, whom I have created, from the face of the earth, from man even to beasts, from the creeping thing even to the fowls of the air, for it repenteth me that I have made them. (Genesis 6)
And yet, God's love for us is deep and unfathomable. St. Alphonsus describes it with such beauty and tenderness in his book on the Incarnation, Birth and Infancy of Jesus Christ. If only we really understood Christ's love for us. What a wonder! St. Alphonsus tells us:
Let us weigh these words: God so loved the world. What? a God condescends to love men, miserable worms, that have been rebellious and ungrateful towards him, and to love them to such an extent ("the word so signifies the vehemence of love," says St. John Chrysostom), so as to give his only-begotten Son! that he chose to give them his very Son, and that only-begotten one whom he loved as much as himself! Not a servant, not an angel, not an archangel did he give, but his own Son," subjoins the same holy Doctor. But in what manner did he choose to give him? He gave him to us lowly, humble, poor, depised; he gave him into the hands of slaves to be treeated as a miscreant, and even to be put to death, covered with shame, on an infamous gibbet. O grace! O force of the love of God! exclaims St Bernard.
And Jesus chose it! The Father did not impose it on Him. He begged the Father to take the place of sinful men and embrace God's wrath in our place to make up for our sins:
Jesus voluntarily sacrifices himself as a victim of love for us; behold him, how as a mute lamb he puts himself into the hands of the shearer, and although innocent, he comes to suffer from men the greatest ignominies and torments, without even opening his mouth....Behold, in fine, our loving Redeemer, who to save us chose to suffer death and the punishment deserved by us.
So how can we lament today despite the horrible election results. God is still God. He still calls to us for repentance. He still wills our salvation. He still desires us to hope in Him and not put our trust in men.
Today is a day to rest in His love and then get back to work. Perhaps our work is taking opportunities to share the gospel. I like to give away miraculous medals with a smile and an exhortation that we all benefit from having a loving mother in heaven. We can write letters to our children and grandchildren. We can say thank you like my husband did with a letter to the hospital president after his recent stay. We can smile and say thank you at every opportunity: to the clerk in the grocery store, the cashier at car repair business, the registrar at the hospital, the postal clerk. So many people serve us. I thought of that when I woke up at 2:30 this morning and the electricity was out. Already a team was on the way to fix it. I need to send a thank you to Virginia Dominion Power.
So look up today and don't be downhearted. It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood and God loves us. How can we do anything but rejoice.
O Jesus, meek and humble of heart, make my heart like unto Thine.
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