“Catholic Worldview vs. Political Worldview” - 31st Sunday OT (B) - 11.3.24

St. Mark the Evangelist Parish (Cranberry/Mars/Butler, PA)

Mass Readings - https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/110324.cfm

“Approaching the Upcoming Election as Catholics” - Fr. Mathias Thelen (referenced in homily) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DFDyzl3dDVU

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So I am sure that you are well aware by now based on all the text messages, emails, ads, and news coverage that there is an election happening on Tuesday. As we know with any election, especially with this year, there is a lot of tension. A lot of tension in our country. Maybe a lot of tension that you are feeling in your own heart as we lead into the election this week.

I know that a lot of people will want us as priests to tell them who to vote for, but as priests, we are not allowed, we can’t tell you who to vote for, so that is not our job to do that. But one of the things that we are called to do is help form your conscience. There are a lot of topics and discussion areas for the election that we are voting on, and we help form your conscience so that when you go to the polls on Tuesday you can vote with your conscience based on what is going to help promote the common good.

There is actually a really good homily on YouTube by a priest named Fr. Mathias Thelen, and he has a really good homily on how Catholics should approach the upcoming election. And it is literally titled “Approaching the Upcoming Election as Catholics.” I highly recommend you check it out. It will help you answer a lot of questions that we as Catholics have leading into the election.

What I want to do today is talk about worldview. What is our worldview? A worldview is the way that we see the world.

Our worldview is important because the way we see the world affects the way that we interpret what is happening in our country and our world. And it also effects what we believe.  

As Catholics, we are called to have a Catholic worldview. So we are meant to see the world and interpret everything that is happening through a Catholic lens. This is important for us to have because we believe that we have the fullness of the truth and we have the answer to what it means to flourish as human beings, and what the meaning of this life is all about.

However, I think there are many American Catholics that don’t have a Catholic worldview. I believe many American Catholics have a political worldview. Meaning that they see the world through a political lens. We put on our republican or democrat glasses and that is the way we interpret everything that happens in this world.

What happens is that instead of our religion informing our political views. Our political views inform our religion and what we believe.

In a sense, many Catholics that have a political worldview try to jam their religion into their politics.

In a Catholic worldview, politics have a place within it, but it has to take the proper place vs. politics becoming the dominant lens of how we see reality.

Politics aren’t bad. Politics are good. We are social beings that build societies, and we need government and laws and societal order that help us to seek the common good.

However, again, if we place too much emphasis on politics, then we begin to have a distorted view of the world, and it begins to affect our faith as well.

In the readings for today we see what the focus of what our life should be as Catholics.

In the 1st reading, we hear what is called the Shema in Deuteronomy 6 which is this call for the Jewish people of Israel to keep all the statues and commandments of God which God enjoins on the people. This calling to love God alone and to love Him with all their heart, soul, and strength.

Then we hear in the Gospel, Jesus referencing the Shema when Jesus states the two great Commandments – 1.) That the Lord our God is Lord alone, and to love the Lord with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength; 2.) To love our neighbor as ourselves

These need to be the main focus of our lives. Following the Commandments and Law of the Lord and loving Him with our whole heart. And loving our neighbor as ourselves.

We need to ask ourselves, “what is guiding my life?” – the beliefs of my political party or the Law of God? Is it the Constitution or the Ten Commandments?

How many of us have actually sought out and tried to read the Church’s documents on Catholic social teaching? Or at least read the Catechism or some commentary that helps explain what we believe as Catholics on these various issues? Or do we just go to Fox News, CNN, or some other political news outlet to get our information?

What begins to happen is that we go to these news sources more than we do into the documents of the Church, and Fox News and CNN and other political pundits begin to form our conscience and our view on reality. Then without realizing it, we see the world through a political lens, and it then even begins to affect our view of the Church and what we believe in our faith.

We begin to believe the lies that the world says about the Church. We begin to form our opinions on Church teaching through a political lens leading people to reject Church teaching altogether. Oftentimes, this is based on a lack of understanding or a distorted view of the faith that has been influenced by the world.

We need to form a Catholic worldview which properly integrates politics. Again, politics are good, but like anything in this life if we place too much weight on it, it can lead us away from Christ.

God alone is our focus. It is His Law that should guide everything that we do. Not the Declaration of Independence or the Constitution, as good as they may be. God’s law and God’s ways take priority.

I remember hearing a priest say one time, so I am completely stealing this from him. He said, “We don’t worship the donkey. We don’t worship the elephant. We worship the Lamb.”

We worship the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. We worship the Lamb of God who laid down His life for us on the Cross to save us from our sins.

We worship the Lamb of God who gave us the Commandments to protect us and to teach us how to be in relationship with Him.

We worship the Lamb of God who defeats that pathetic snake who deceived us into sin and death and is still deceiving us today.

When we get to heaven, Jesus is not going to ask us whether we were Republican or Democrat. And then based on how we answer will determine whether or not we go to heaven or hell. He is going to ask us, “Did you love me? Did you love the poor? Did you follow my Commandments?”

Our main identity is not Republican or Democrat. Our main identity is sons and daughters of God. We are Catholics before we are Americans. We need to be proud Americans, and we are called to love our country, but we can’t place our identity as Americans over our faith. Our Catholicism needs to inform everything that we do and believe.

And we need to be bold. We need to bold in proclaiming what we believe as Catholics, and not keeping it private, but bringing it into the public sphere because we have the truth that the world is looking for. The truth and love of Jesus Christ that leads us to the satisfaction and fulfillment of our hearts.

We are naïve in thinking that any political candidate will save us. That if we put the right person in office, then all of our problems will go away. These problems exist because sin exists. And each one of us needs to seek repentance for our sins and turn to the Lord with our whole heart if we want to see this country become the country that God is calling it to be.

There is so much fear being stirred up from both sides, but we need to remember that no matter how the election turns out. That God is in charge. That Christ is King. That He will take care of us. He will protect us. He will bring us His peace. So, no matter what, we will continue to put our trust in Him. We will continue to live in the way He is calling us to live, and advance the Kingdom of God into the world, so that our country can experience the healing and peace that it so desperately needs.