Praying for Kings and Governors

Third Sunday after Easter
    In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.  We’re knee-deep in election time again, and that means that the usual cantankerous atmosphere almost inherent in a two-party system will saturate our lives until at least November.  Among Catholics, we will hear the usual arguments about how you can’t call yourself Catholic and vote for fill-in-the-blank.  This is to dismiss those arguments; one’s voting should reflect one’s religion and how one best thinks the common good can be achieved.  I enjoy true policy debates, but we don’t really get those anymore, because good policy often cannot be contained by a pithy soundbite. 
    The Second Vatican Ecumenical Council spent a bit a time talking about how the laity should take upon themselves the transformation of the secular order by the values of the Gospel.  Participation in politics can help this transformation (or harm it, depending on how a layperson lives and for what policy he or she advocates).  And, I will admit, I used to enjoy doing a deep-dive into politics and the machinations of power and control.

Statue of St. Peter at his basilica in Rome

    But St. Peter admonishes us today to subject ourselves to the king or governors.  If you stop to think about it, this statement is a bit startling, as the leader of the general government was the Roman Emperor, who would eventually put St. Peter to death for professing the true faith.  Maybe at this point the local governors didn’t antagonize Christians as much, but it was a governor, Pontius Pilate, who put our Lord to death.  And yet, we are supposed to subject ourselves to them. 
    The early Christians, I’m sure, would have appreciated a more Christian-friendly administration.  But they certainly did not place their hope in this or that political authority.  They focused their lives on waiting for the time when they would see Christ again after He had ascended to the Father.  They didn’t ignore their earthly lives, but the took seriously the call of St. Paul to fix their minds on things above, not on things on earth.  I don’t think they suffered any illusions that the world would embrace Christ and His followers, because they had opposed them from the beginning.  They knew that this time between the Ascension, when they would not see Christ, and the return of Christ in glory, when they would see Him again, was a time of labor pains, that would include sorrow and suffering, but that Christ would grant them a joy that no one could take from them.
    This doesn’t mean that we can’t work hard to elect good people, especially good Catholics, or that you, as the lay faithful, shouldn’t participate in the electoral process.  We need people to stand up for life, from natural conception to natural death.  We need advocates for the poor and the disenfranchised.  Policies like subsidiarity, which keeps as much control as locally centralized as possible, and solidarity, which recognizes our inter-connectedness with each other, regardless of race, socio-economic status, or religion, make sense not just for Catholics, but have been time-tested as the best way to deal with legal and social issues.  But without Catholics participating in politics, these time-tested principles won’t find their way into public discussion.
    Still, as Catholics, we straddle heaven and earth.  We have a responsibility to do things as well as we can here on earth, but our eyes and especially our hopes are based in heaven.  We don’t ignore what happens in our city, State, country, and world, but we also know that the solutions to what ails our city, State, country, and world are not found in any law or political policy or personality.  The only thing that can turn things around at any level is a strong relationship with Jesus, and a firm commitment to following His will. 
    While it has looked different in the 2,000 years of its existence, we are the only “government,” if you will, that has endured.  The Roman Empire, which first persecuted us and then endorsed us, faded away, first in the West, then in the East.  The Holy Roman Empire came and went.  The monarchies of Europe and the dynasties of the Far East have changed throughout these two millennia, some more than others.  The Communists, who tried to eliminate religion, are merely a shadow of their once proud power, but even they are only around a century or less old.  No institution can outlast the Catholic Church. 
    While keeping our eyes fixed on heaven, we pray for our political leaders, even the ones with whom we don’t agree; even the ones whose policies are obnoxious to us; even the ones who cite their Catholic baptism while endorsing laws and policies that contradict the Catholic faith.  Perhaps those prayers will change their hearts.  Perhaps they will be receive a conversion, either to deepen their faith and grow in their knowledge of the truth, or to repent of their evil actions.  If we can’t even pray for them, then we need to go back to our own faith and remember that our Lord taught us to love, not only those who agree with us, like the hypocrites do, but even our enemies and those who persecute us.  In that way we begin to reflect the divine image in which we were made and love like our heavenly Father, who with the Son and the Holy Spirit is one God, for ever and ever.  Amen.