For those of you disappointed with the elections and
defeated Marriage Amendment on Tuesday, St. Paul offers words of consolation.
First,
St. Paul can relate to us in the persecution of the Catholic Church (and other
Christian denominations) by the current administration of our federal
government. I agree with our
pastor, Fr. Rich, as he wrote in his bulletin last week that this
administration has attacked our religious liberties more than any other
administration in the history of our country.
While religious liberty is in jeopardy, we must
remember that St. Paul wrote his letter to the Philippians while he himself was
imprisoned—and thinking that any day he could be executed (and he eventually
was—for the faith. His
encouragement, then, ought to speak volumes to us. The fact is many in our society, including governmental
leaders: “…conduct
themselves as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their end is destruction. Their God is their stomach; their glory is in their
‘shame.’ Their minds are occupied
with earthly things.”
St. Paul also reminds us that our citizenship is not first in a
particular country, but in heaven.
No matter what happens to the United States of America, we can have
assurance this is not our first
residence. Our country could
fall—and it in fact will one day (as all nations and states have)—yet we would
still have a place to call home.
We pray today for all of our government leaders and that they all may be
converted to Christ. May our
religious liberties in our country be forever protected. And when they are not, may we have
courage like St. Paul to face this persecution with joy, even if it costs
arrest or even our very lives one day.
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