Twenty-eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time
When I became a chaplain for the Michigan State Police, I learned very quickly that State Troopers have a different way of thinking of things. Troopers generally will sit facing the door, and will often evaluate the room for potential threats. Because they see so many horrible things, they tend to have a very dark sense of humor as a coping mechanism. But they really do have a different way of thinking of things from the average citizen because of their training and experience.
While we are not Troopers (though we do have one or two who come here from time to time), as Catholics we should have a particular point of view. There is a certain way that we should look at the world which is not simply based upon our own experience or training, but based upon the wisdom of God. We hear about that prayer for wisdom in our first reading; about a wisdom that comes from the Word of God in our second reading, the Word of God that is not a wisdom from a thousand years ago, but a wisdom that is living and effective; and in our Gospel the Lord talks about a wisdom that goes beyond a surface reading of the Law, to a deeper, full gift of self from an individual.
That is why we should talk about our Catholic faith, not so much as a group to which we belong, but rather a way of life that we live each day, to the best of our ability, following Christ and, as St. Paul says, Christ living in me. Yes, there are a set of beliefs that we have, without which we cannot honestly refer to ourselves as Catholics, but it’s more than just things that we take into our minds. Being Catholic involves allowing God to transform us and the choices we make by His grace, so that all of our life reflects choices that make sense based upon Jesus, whom we follow.
One of the first priorities of the Catholic Church is the dignity of every human life. This is very counter-cultural. Voters in Michigan, including, sadly, many Catholics, and voters across various political parties across the US treat human life based upon whether it has value to us or not. But if we are truly living with the wisdom of God active in our life, we value every human life: the infant in the womb; the poor person on the street; the person who looks like she has it all together; the dying elderly person in a nursing home; and everything in-between. Every other right flows from the dignity of the human being and his or her right to life. If you can get rid of a human being because it has no value to you, then no other policy makes any difference because they all assume that every person is alive and treasured as a creation in the image and likeness of God. So how does my vote support life?
A second priority that comes from our Catholic wisdom is solidarity. Solidarity means that we recognize that we are part of a human family. Now, I don’t mean this in a secular humanist way, like the only thing which should unite us are the lowest common denominators. Rather, solidarity says that, because Christ has died for every person, the other person has a right to my care and concern. So how does my vote support a worldview where I am my brother’s keeper?
A third priority that should influence all that we do, including our politics, is subsidiarity. While we are all united to each other in solidarity, we do not have equal authority over everything. Subsidiarity says that the smallest institution that can deal with responsibilities should do so, and larger institutions should only intervene when the smaller institution cannot adequately provide solutions on their own. I’ll take education as one example. The institution that should have the most say over its own life is the family. But sometimes families cannot do everything on their own, so they rely on school districts to help them educate their child. But sometimes even an individual district cannot provide for its own needs, so the State perhaps gathers money from everyone to support every district. And maybe even in a few cases there are things that the State cannot do, so they turn to the federal government for guidance and funding in limited ways. But the federal government shouldn’t set particular lesson plans for individual teachers in individual schools. Likewise, we rely on the federal government for national defense, and that’s not something we rely on only one family to achieve national safety, though we do rely on other intermediate groups between the family and the federal government for local and State safety. So when we vote, are we considering if a particular candidate or party respects subsidiarity and does not encourage infringement by larger institutions that which can be done by a smaller institution, even as small as the family?
Lastly, living and voting based upon the wisdom of God calls us to consider the common good. We live in a very selfish culture, where I predominately consider what is in my best interest. Instead, God calls us to look beyond ourselves and consider others and what is best for them, not just what is good for us. When I vote, am I thinking beyond what works best for me, and considering what works best for others?
In all areas of our life, including our political life, we should live according to the wisdom of God, not the wisdom of the world. When we live only according to our own wisdom, we limit ourselves to what our own minds can design and imagine. When we live according to the wisdom of God, we tap into the guidance that comes from the Creator of all the universe, whom nothing can limit. May we bring that wisdom with us to the voting booth, and to each part of our life every day.