Epiphany and the Election Year Ahead

The Epiphany of the Lord

Isaiah 60:1-6; Psalm 72; Ephesians 3:2-6; Matthew 2:1-12

The feast of the Epiphany is sometimes referred to as “little Christmas” commemorating the visit of the Magi and their offering of gifts that reflect the kingship (gold), holiness (incense) and death (myrrh) of Jesus. The three ‘wise men’ are portrayed as kings, men of worldly knowledge and power, yet they paid homage to the infant child of a poor unknown couple who were reduced to living in a stable at the time of Jesus’ birth. This paradox of worldly power bowing down before the heavenly glory of the infant Jesus brings to mind the question of how heaven and earthly power interact. What is the relationship meant to be between God and humanity?

God could have entered humanity with power and might, rightfully claiming His authority to govern the earth, but instead He chose to come as a powerless, impoverished infant, at risk of being executed shortly after birth, by the paranoid hatred of the earthly king, Herod. God and all His goodness and mercy were embodied in the infant Jesus, while earthly power was wielded by the murderous Herod who executed his wife, sister and two of his sons out of fear of losing his kingship. Is that any way to govern? As terrible and archaic as that sounds, the pattern has been repeated over and over again, as power hungry dictators kill thousands, even millions of people in order to maintain their control over government. Modern history is replete with examples of men like the late Kim Jong-il of Korea whose father came to power in 1948 under Stalin and declared himself a god. When his father died, Kim Jong-il declared himself ‘son of god’ and imprisoned over 100,000 Christians who refused to accede to his demands. He starved millions of North Koreans in order to spend nearly 80% of the national budget on the military.
Everybody knows Jong-il died a couple weeks ago because the news dominated the national media for several days, but no mention was made of another international leader who died the same week. Vaclav Hovel was the Czech writer and dissident who, after serving 5 years in prison for creating a petition for personal freedom during communist rule, became the first president of the new Czech Republic when the country threw off the shackles of Communism. During Communist rule, Havel wrote numerous plays and essays condemning the loss of personal freedom, most notably “Power of the Powerless” in which he decried the fact that people were forced to “live within a lie” under the Communist regime.
In this election year presidential politics will dominate the news ad nauseam, and because of all the political rhetoric and negative ads, there’s a temptation to put our head in the sand and wish that it would all just go away. Of course that’s what political activists are hoping for, so that a small percentage of the most politically engaged can make decisions for everyone else. As messy as democracy has become, we have an obligation to assert our beliefs and engage in the process. Archbishop Charles Chaput wrote a timely and insightful book entitled: “Render Unto Caesar” with the subtitle “Serving the Nation by Living Our Catholic Beliefs in Political Life.” In the book he makes that point that, “Loving our country implies a lot more than following the public opinion herd, or muffling our Catholic convictions about right and wrong, in the interests of social etiquette.” He advocates for Catholics and all who believe in God to remain engaged in the political process because the very soul of our country is at stake. Too many of us have forgotten what made America great: our Christian faith. The French philosopher, de Tocqueville, after visiting America observed that, “Not until I went to the churches of America and heard her pulpits aflame with righteousness, did I understand her genius and her power. America is great because she is good and if America ever ceases to be good, America will cease to be great.” De Tocqueville observed a country with little bureaucracy and deeply rooted moral values, a distinct contrast to the increasing bureaucracy and secularism that was overtaking Europe 170 years ago.
The Roman statesman Cicero once said, “Nothing can be useful if it is not at the same time morally good.” There is a hierarchy of truths about human behavior and it needs to guide our decision making. Some things have more weight than others, for example cheating on a test is bad, stealing is worse, and murdering your neighbor is the worst. Sanctity of life issues are not just religious beliefs, they are foundational because killing the innocent is always inexcusably wrong and paves the way for attacks on every other aspect of human dignity.
One of the first thing Communist and totalitarian regimes have all had in common is their determination to remove personal freedom, starting with religious freedom. When the freedom to practice our faith is jeopardized, all other freedoms are threatened. When religious convictions are banned from the public forum, the very fabric of free society is damaged. By secularizing their society and legalizing abortion and homosexual marriage, Europe has done irreparable damage to its future. As Cicero predicted, these changes are not useful because they are immoral. The decline in marriage and childbirth in the European Union will result in a 7% decline in the number of workers by 2030, while at the same time, the number of people older than 65 will increase by 50%. This is not only an economic nightmare for the E.U., it puts incredible pressure on social policy where assisted suicide is already legal and the healthcare systems already denies coverage to the elderly because it is not cost-effective.

During this upcoming presidential election, it behooves us all to assert our moral beliefs and demand candidates who are willing to restore the greatness of America by returning to our moral roots. In a blatant disregard for religious freedom, our government is now demanding that Catholic schools, hospitals, and adoption agencies disregard their moral beliefs and provide employees and customers with access to contraception, sterilization and abortion services. The Justice Department is working to overturn the Defense of Marriage Act, and anyone to disagrees with gay marriage is branded as a bigot. It is time to speak out against these infringements on religious freedom, and demand that we repeal human laws that violate God’s natural law. If our religious freedoms are taken away, the morality that made our nation great will continue to erode and we can expect to suffer the same fate as the E.U. We are a Christian nation and that’s a good thing, because it demands that we respect the fact that there are eternal truths which take precedence over human law. Separation of church and state does not mean separating our faith from our political life, it simply means the State does not tell the church what to do, nor does the church have control over the state. It also implies that government is limited to the extent that it must not violate the freedoms granted by God Himself, including the freedom to practice our faith openly, not only in private. Lets elect a president who understands and respects the importance of restoring religious freedom and morality to our national laws, not one whose primary concern is to retain power and restrict freedom of religion.  We need a president who pays homage to God, recognizing the primacy of God’s authority and love, not one who uses his power to fund the murder of unborn children, directs government authorities to diminish the institution of marriage, and attacks religious freedom.