31st Sunday of Ordinary Time
October 30, 1988
Deut 6: 2-6Mark 12: 28-34
St. Theresa, Bronx
“Hear
then, Israel, and be careful to observe all the statutes and commandments of
the Lord your God, that you may grow and prosper the more, in keeping with the
promise of the Lord, the God of your fathers, to give you a land flowing with
milk and honey” (Deut 6: 2-3).
The
passage from Deuteronomy introduces us to Jesus’ teaching about the greatest
commandment, the commandment of love, viz. that we are to love God wholeheartedly
and are to love our fellow human beings as we love ourselves.
Jesus
ties the commandment of love to participation in the kingdom of God.
Deuteronomy ties it to the covenant between God and his people. God called his people out of Egypt and across the Red
Sea, and God bestowed upon them a bountiful land. He asks for their fidelity to himself and to
one another.
These
concepts of covenant, long life in the land, love of God and neighbor are timely. We ought to ponder them in the week before
election day.
Our
nation grew out of the covenant theology of the New England Puritans, based on
the Bible. They believed, and we
believe, that God called us across the seas out of religious, political, and
economic oppression and gave us a bountiful land in which we can be free. He asks us for our fidelity to himself and to
one another.
Our
nation was founded on the Bible and on a deep conviction of human
identity. We express this religious
heritage of ours in some of our most patriotic hymns. E.g., you could read the lyrics of “America the
Beautiful” or the “Battle Hymn of the Republic,” which aren’t in the
missalettes this month.
For
over 350 years we’ve striven to be faithful to the covenant God has made with
us as an American people. In some ways,
e.g. on civil rights, we’ve made great strides in our love for all God’s
children. In some ways, e.g. abortion,
we’ve made vicious war on God’s children.
Now
election day approaches. We have put before us a wonderful privilege and a
solemn responsibility, the right and the duty to vote. And I say plainly that voting is a moral
obligation. Whom we elect affects the
quality of our society—the laws, the policies, the atmosphere. A Christian who doesn’t vote is saying in
practice that he doesn’t care about his sisters and brothers, doesn’t love his
neighbor.
On
Nov. 8 we’ll have the opportunity to elect a President, a senator, a
congressman, state legislators, and judges.
Some of them have records on which we can judge their character and
their values. Most of them have taken
stands on major issues. You and I are
obliged in conscious to evaluate them—and to vote accordingly, choosing the
better of two candidates as best we can tell, or even choosing the lesser of
two evils, if that’s how we see it.
Our
bishops have suggested a number of important moral issues by which we should
judge candidates. Some of these issues
are abortion, capital punishment, disarmament, employment, international debt,
international trade, housing, civil rights, AIDS care and research.
These
are human issues, love issues. If we
love our neighbor as we love ourselves, we have to weigh the candidates in
these scales of justice, of peace, of human dignity. If we don’t do that, if we don’t vote or if
we vote carelessly, we violate our covenant with God and the heritage of our
country.
In
the hot summer of 1787—which was like the summer we had this year—55 men from
12 states closed themselves in the Pennsylvania statehouse. With the doors and the windows closed, they
secretly wrote a constitution for the U.S. No one outside, not even the media, had a
clue about what kind of a government would come out of that chamber.
When
the work was done and the Founding Fathers emerged, a Philadelphia woman
approached Benjamin Franklin. “Dr.
Franklin,” she asked, “what kind of a government have they given us?” “A republic, madam,” he replied, “if you can
keep it.”
It’s
ours to keep by using our rights, by fulfilling our duty. It’s ours to keep remembering that our
country, its rights, its freedom, are rooted in God’s goodness to us. We want leaders who realize that and respect
that. We want leaders at all levels of
government who believe in human equality and the rights to life, liberty, and
the pursuit of happiness for everyone.
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