Politics are Hot Buttons, Indeed! (A Basic Catholic Principle for Electing Officials)

Whether you are red or blue or in between, I like to share what Dr. David Anders from EWTN said that, for me, succinctly articulated my political philosophy in the hope it may help enlighten those of what as a Catholic should decide, even for a little bit.

 

"The CHURCH has maintained always that no ideology, whether conservative, liberal, capitalist, socialist-- no political ideology is adequate to really capture the essence of the human person or of human flourishing, because people are transcendent beings, body and soul, made in God’s likeness and image and we have a transcendent destiny, and so there’s no material construction of civil society that is adequate to man’s transcendent end.

There are however some basic natural law principles, things that we can know naturally about human flourishing that have to be respected in any civil society. And one of them, Pope Leo XIII made this point very plainly in 'Rerum Novarum'--the first of the social encyclicals--is the right to private property, the right to marriage, its duties and privileges, man-woman-child as the foundational cell of civil society, the right to life, the principle of subsidiarity that we ought not to construct these superstructures over the state that govern every aspect of our lives but that society ought to be thick with mediating institutions, voluntary societies, churches, families, baseball clubs, etc. and you only bring in these massive superstructures to deal with those things that absolutely can’t be dealt with at the local level, you kind of need the federal government to lay down interstate highways and armed forces to protect the country, they don’t need to be down there micromanaging everybody’s life. All these things are principles of Catholic moral theology and political theology. 

And so some of the more radical visions of social reforms out there seem to me to run roughshod over some of those principles and I would be deeply uncomfortable with them." - Dr. Dave Anders, Called to Communion.

"Citizens have co-responsibility for society. The moral theology tradition teaches that one may not vote for an enemy of religion or of freedom except to exclude a worse enemy of religion or of freedom."

I also like to echo the phrase what again Fr. Ed Meeks beautifully exhorted in one of the masses he celebrated popularly captured on video. And that is we need to "think with the Church."

Jesus left us the Church for a reason (Matt. 16:18) and it is in her that we find the pillar and foundation of truth (1 Tim. 3:15).

 

Before We Invoke the 'Judge Not' Mantra in Political Discourse

"JUDGE NOT." Probably one of the most misused Bible verses taken out of context. Now, popular culture has found a way of also utilizing and politicizing it in political discourse to dismiss or discourage partisan criticism in this growing revolution of the cancel culture.

I recently got a piece of the "citation" first-hand from someone when I made a social media post over a vandalized political signage I saw in the nearby street and made a remark to say that it seems rampant and consistent to be coming from one side of the political ticket than the other (taking into account multiple church vandalism, riots and looting the past several months). It appears it didn't sit well with the person and dropped the "Judge Not" wisdom on me, saying that (or should I say "judging") I was being judgmental. The person raised the following issues and premises:

1.) My rhetoric suggests I'm picking my audience with opposing political leaning or viewpoints to fight each other (i.e, "one side versus the other side").

2.) That I should look beyond the bubble, and put myself on other people's (ie., the vandal's) shoes. (I guess my friend means I should look into and empathize the feelings of the vandal why he/she/they spray-painted other people's property/signage?).

3.) That I'm blindly feeding hate and blame, and therefore I am no different from the vandals. (Ouch!)

4.) Reminding me that both far sides of the spectrum have their fair share of oppressing the views of people, inferring that both are no different from each other.

5.) And capped the comment by inserting a Christian advice to spread love, saying only God can judge.

That's a whole lot of perceptions and presumptions for a single remark I made.

Well, first of all, a lot of people don't know that as Christians, it is OK to judge (except the state of one's soul). Don't take my word for it, just ask theologians who are experts on this Bible verse hermeneutic business more than me and you, in understanding and putting into proper context what Jesus really meant by the things He was saying. And when those words came from Christ Himself, we can be certain that His precepts of "judging" and "loving" are not in contradiction to one another.

Secondly, just because both sides of the political spectrum are guilty of committing ludicrous acts and oppression, it doesn't follow that one party's actions are no less grave and no less egregiously consistent or disproportionate than the other party's, that therefore we shouldn't point out and differentiate two competing ideas and just cancel each other out, instead. Imagine if your spouse or child accused you of being self-righteous, divisive and judgmental every time you mention their shortcomings or flaws? And even returns the favor, points the finger back at you your own set of flaws and say you are no less different? It becomes a circular issue and nothing gets rectified. Just because Hitler also contributed some positive infrastructural and socioeconomic developments in his time, doesn't mean we automatically equate Nazi's atrocities and oppression to that of the oppression of ideals and values committed by Democrats or Republicans. A brave Fr. Ed Meeks recently said in his political exhortation: "Don’t get side-tracked by the spurious 'seamless garment theory' [that tells us] issues like immigration and the environment are of equal weight with abortion."

In the same way, invoking the "judge not" mantra is refusing to see political differences of both sides as well as refusing to contrast the effect, influence and mentality or way of life and thinking of its respective political members and supporters. And this I should say entails living in the bubble. It discourages or denounces someone from giving your political preference a "bad-der" rap versus the opposing side, perhaps because you were merely offended by them for disagreeing with your political leaning. It thus sets a precedence and a danger of cultivating a political sort of relativism or indifferentism. It should be reiterated that different and opposing political ideologies and agenda direct and impact society in different and opposite directions, that is why you cannot just easily sweep the notion of "one side versus the other side" issue under the rug. For example, the left party is ok with abortion, the right party is not. The left is ok with LGBTQ lifestyles, the right is not, etc. You get the point. There is a reason why politicians form a "party", if everyone's of the same ideology, there is no need establishing different partisanship.

So just like we read reviews and check for competing product ratings to inform us as consumers (e.g., You rate/review a.k.a. "judge" products in Amazon to better inform and help consumers make better choices, right?), we need to see differences in political viewpoints, influences, motives, realities and consequences so that it will continue to help us critically discern and shape a more well-informed decision and conscience on which to align ourselves politically.

“To acquire knowledge, one must study; 

but to acquire wisdom, one must observe” 

- Marilyn Vos Savant

Brian Holdsworth, a prominent Catholic Vlogger, quoted quite succinctly that "just because your idea doesn't agree with your own belief, assumption or prejudices, doesn't mean you're confronted with hatred. Recklessly accusing people of hate speech simply because they disagree with you about something is the actual hate speech, because it's an attempt to oppress that great gift of speech itself." Popular-secular culture, especially on the left, particularly in recent years, had adamantly adopted the "Cancel culture" nowadays to new heights and have successfully indoctrinated and spun the masses by frequently playing the victim, sympathy and race cards to perfection (with the handy dandy megaphone of the mainstream media). Gone are the days of healthy disagreements if we continue to allow the secular its cancel cultural ways.

On a personal note, it's also quite unfortunate that the above people who accused me of being judgmental and divisive are the very same people who have forgotten the fact that they had made mocking social media posts on the opposing candidates the last election 4 years ago simply because their political side did not win. What happened to "practice what you preach"? I surmised it takes a special kind of arrogance to say "Only God can judge... We need to spread the love of Christ... and so on and so forth" you don’t even practice than those who do. It's sort of presumptuous and hypocritical.

Whenever we invoke someone the "Judge Not" mantra, it's always wise to read the verses that directly follows it as well to get a proper context. Matthew 7:1-6 "For as you judge, so will you be judged, and the measure with which you measure will be measured out to you. Why do you notice the splinter in your brother’s eye, but do not perceive the wooden beam in your own eye?" Jesus tells us that what we measure will be measured out to us. This means that what we are judging them on, we will then be judged on. If I am judging you for being divisive and hateful, but I myself has a history of being divisive and hateful to someone, then God will judge me harsher than He would have been before. Talk about "Putting myself in one's shoes" my critics need to apply to themselves. Invoking the "judge not" mantra is simply ironic and self-refuting. In judging someone for judging, you are in fact judging him or her.

John 7:24 "Stop judging by mere appearances, but instead judge correctly."

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Catholic Worship vs Protestant Worship (How are they different?)

How Catholic Worship (aka Mass) Is Different From Non-Catholic's "Worship" (aka Service) 

 

One time in a party, I introduced a family new to our town to an old friend of mine. As we were all having nice conversation of pretty much anything the family needs to expect as newbies, my old friend (a fallen-away Catholic and now an active member of a certain evangelical ecclesiastic community) brought up in the conversation that they have a new pastor in their church that is smart and charismatic, and invited the new family to come and attend their worship service sometime.

Now, as a Catholic, I always admire our Non-Catholic brethren's enthusiasm of inviting other people to their church. They always seem to make evangelizing so easy and natural than a Catholic would do the inviting. We can always learn from them, we grant them that.

However, I also wonder how come is it this way? How come for some reason inviting someone to a Catholic Mass does not seem to have the same, for lack of a better word, sentiment or ease as inviting someone to attend a Protestant worship service. I come to think that aside from praying and trusting the Holy Spirit as a given among other factors necessary to evangelize others, part of it is also because Catholics and Protestants, like a lot of other set of beliefs and practices, have a different understanding of what "worship" in church means and entails.

In today's culture and generation especially, indeed we tend to gravitate and appeal towards a more contemporary, emotionally high and loud, concert-like form of music, lively sermons, energetic speakers and a great coffee service among other amenities. Choosing what church to go to is like a form of religious or ecclesiastical consumerism. So if your church is, more or less in some ways, sounds like having these attributes, your work is almost half way done "evangelizing".

On the other hand, Catholic mass tend to get a bad rap. Commonly perceived and stereotyped to be old, boring and irrelevant. We already have a preconceived defeated notion that since there won't be anything entertaining to see attending Mass, our protestant friends surely may find it unappealing, even misconceivingly cultic. Plus the anti-Catholic one-liner rhetorics and indoctrination over the past centuries of misconstruing the Mass as idolatrous, "re-sacrificing Christ in Calvary" and the like, added insult to injury.

But to help us understand worship, the question we ask ourselves is not just why we worship, but what is worship really all about, and to look at how should one supposed to worship in the context of historical Christianity. How the prophets in the old and the apostles in the new worship God in the first place? Most of all, how our Lord Jesus intended for us to worship?

Now I won't try to go through enumerating and exegeting every bible verses of what worship really is, since I'm no bible scholar or anything but in essence, worship entails sacrifice. In the old testament (e.g. Genesis, Leviticus) we read quite a number of sacrifices and offerings that had been carried out (ie., burnt sacrifices/offerings, sin offerings, peace offerings, guilt offerings, food offerings, communion sacrifices). These were how the Old Testament people worship. God centered the worship of his Old Testament people on sacrifice because it was an essential part of His plan of salvation. These are prefigured in culmination for the ultimate and perfect sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ Himself for the atonement of the human race. “Christ loved us and handed himself over for us as a sacrificial offering to God” as St. Paul said. (Eph 5:2; Hebrews 9, 10). Our Lord Jesus displayed all the dimensions of Old Testament communion sacrifice. He fulfilled a threefold role: offeror, victim and priest. In Genesis 22:7-8, Isaac asked his dad Abraham: "Hey Dad, the fire and wood are here but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?" And Abraham replied “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” (ie., God's own self).

As we walked through after Christ's death and resurrection, we find the continuing theme of worshiping God that entails sacrifice. Again St Paul tells the Romans (12:1) "to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship." And even advised in Corinths (1 Corinthians 14:40) that "everything should be done decently and in an orderly way," not in a loud and boisterous freestyle fashion.

And we go through down the line in history to learn the successors of the apostles (like Polycarp, Clement of Rome, Ignatius, Justin Martyr, the Early Church Fathers, all the 1st, 2nd, 3rd century Christians thru the 21st) all worship the same mode we find in the Catholic Mass.

The Mass is both a sacrifice and a sacrament, but primarily the former. The same offerer, victim and priest is present but in an unbloody manner. Nothing is as Christo-centric in worship as that in the Mass itself first instituted in the upper room by our Lord Jesus Christ Himself. And this is the way Christians ought to worship, regardless of how emotionally high or low we feel about the church's ambience, or how boring someone's homily, or how outdated the songs are, or how lousy the church coffee tasted like. Going to church to worship should not be a form of religious consumerism, where we cherry pick to look for the best sermon, the best speaker, the best-tasting coffee or the best songs and musical band.

How we convey that to somebody we want to invite to go to mass to really experience true biblical worship is a different story, because it is not as simple as inviting them to a birthday party or a concert. We just trust in the Holy Spirit to do the working when we put Christ out there for them by our invitation.

***

BONUS READING:

I found this write-up that was shared in one of the Facebook groups and thought this is another great read and perspective on the difference between Catholic Worship & Non-Catholic Praise Service, author unknown. It reads as follows:

Difference Between Catholic Worship & Non-Catholic Praise Service
The commands to "praise the Lord" are too numerous to mention throughout the Bible. For example, angels and the heavenly hosts are commanded to praise the Lord in Psalm 89:5; 103:20; 148:2. All inhabitants of the earth are instructed to praise the Lord (Psalm 138:4; Romans 15:11). We can praise Him with singing (Isaiah 12:5; Psalm 9:11), with shouting (Psalm 33:1; 98:4), with the dance (Psalm 150:4), and with musical instruments (1 Chronicles 13:8; Psalm 108:2; 150:3-5).

Praise is the joyful recounting of all God has done for us. It is closely intertwined with thanksgiving as we offer back to God appreciation for His mighty works on our behalf. Praise is universal and can be applied to other relationships as well. We can praise our family, friends, boss, or paperboy. Praise does not require anything of us. It is merely the truthful acknowledgment of the righteous acts of another. Since God has done many wonderful deeds, He is worthy of praise (Psalm 18:3).

Worship, however, comes from a different place within our spirits. WORSHIP SHOULD BE RESERVED FOR GOD ALONE (Luke 4:8). Worship is the art of losing self in the adoration of another. Praise can be a part of worship, but worship goes beyond praise. Praise is easy; worship is not. Worship gets to the heart of who we are. To truly worship God, we must let go of our self-worship. We must be willing to humble ourselves before God, surrender every part of our lives to His control, and adore Him for who He is, not just what He has done. Worship is a lifestyle, not just an occasional activity. Jesus said the Father is seeking those who will worship Him "in spirit and in truth" (John 4:23).

In Scripture, praise is usually presented as boisterous, joyful, and uninhibited. God invites praise of all kinds from His creation. Jesus said that if people don't praise God, even the "stones will cry out" (Luke 19:40). When the Bible mentions worship, however, the tone changes. We read verses like, "Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness" (Psalm 96:9). And, "Come let us worship and bow down" (Psalm 95:6). Often, worship is coupled with the act of bowing or kneeling, which shows humility and contrition (2 Chronicles 29:28; Hebrews 11:21; Revelation 19:10). It is through true worship that we invite the Holy Spirit to speak to us, convict us, and comfort us. Through worship, we realign our priorities with God's and acknowledge Him once more as the rightful Lord of our lives.

Just as praise is intertwined with thanksgiving, worship is intertwined with surrender. It is impossible to worship God and anything else at the same time (Luke 4:8). The physical acts often associated with worship—bowing, kneeling, clasping hands—help to create the necessary attitude of humility required for real worship.

Worship is an attitude of the heart. A person can go through the outward motions and not be worshiping (Psalm 51:16-17; Matthew 6:5-6). God sees the heart, and He desires and deserves sincere, heartfelt praise and worship.

Understanding the difference between praise and worship can bring a new depth to the way we honor the Lord.