The Gospel of Luke today is startling. Do you think there is peace on Earth today, or division? Are families of five dividing three against two? Are fathers and sons at odds, mothers and daughters? Yes, and it is not always over petty things. Jesus expects to have some division, rather than peace. But what are we divided about?
Smelting
I envision this division as a smelting furnace. Raw metal ores (all of us) are fed into the blazing hot ovens, and there are massive plumes of smoke and fire, and heat radiates all around. It is a violent and troubling scene. The pure, molten metal pours in one direction; red hot liquid, and not looking anything like what entered the furnace. In another direction, the impurities are poured off, again, not looking like what entered the furnace. The ore was once complete, but now separated into the valuable output and the slag, or waste. It takes extreme heat to make the transformation a reality, but it must be done. Not all the ore makes it to the good stream. Purity comes at a cost. The slag and the good metal are never together again and will never look like they used to…both unrecognizable compared to how they entered the smelter. The desired output is achieved, pure metal. Once hidden, now on full display.
Voting Decisions
As the United States presidential election cycle comes to boil in two weeks, we have clear decisions to make. It is decision time. We are buckets of ore going into the smelter. Moral decisions regarding the sanctity of life, sexuality, morality, and religious freedom are on the ballot. We want pure metal to come out of the election, and the slag discarded.
Catholics are actively mocked by a sitting United States Governor, as well as by a candidate for President. And we put up with it, but we are over 20% of the United States population. That is certainly division.
Polls show that the United States Catholic population is 60-64% in favor of abortion, and that tracks roughly to the candidates we vote for. I ask myself “why is this not 99% against”, when we even have a commandment against killing? We know that Jesus tells us not to harm children, rather we would have a millstone put around our neck and we get thrown into the ocean. At St. Peter’s gate, would we be able to explain why we are approving such a practice? Even if we do not participate in that type of procedure, encouraging others to do it is not right. One million children a year are negatively affected every year!
Wisdom
We all make dozens of decisions per day, some big, and some small. We were granted wisdom, as one of the Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit, as I discussed in Confirmation Class last weekend.
May we make wise decisions in the weeks ahead, as we decide the fate of our country. Consider how much more pure metal can come off the smelter if we vote like our Catholic Faith guides us. Consider the long game, of how YOU will be judged or voted on by the angels and Saints, Mary, and Jesus himself. We will have peace and unity in Heaven, but there is no slag in Heaven, as far as I know. Use the gift of counsel, another one of the Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit, to try to convince your fellow Catholics to vote like Catholics should. That is all that can be expected.
