We Get the Governance We Deserve

“We Get the Governance We Deserve” ( Joseph De Maistre)

In primitive cultures offenders of the law got exactly what they deserved. If someone stole something, a finger or a hand was forfeited. An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth was the mentality.

Looking at the degradation of society today, it appears that in every aspect it has become so immoral that immorality is the norm and what was once good is mocked. Modesty, respect, civility, truth, and loyalty are merely tolerated behaviors and only appear to be good. We no longer turn on the Evening News to hear the truth.  We must listen to opinions about events that may or may not have even happened.

Conservative Catholics may be defending the Alamo by themselves and like the Alamo they may get overridden. Our Catholic president has sold his inheritance for fame, glory, and money as so many in government and business have done.  Do you hear objections? I only hear the pundits mocking anyone who speaks the truth, Harrison Butker, for example.

Our president is delusional in calling himself a Catholic. He may have been baptized and attend Mass, but the state of his unrepentant soul is concerning. Contraception, abortion, and euthanasia are all mortal sins. He encourages and legalizes them all and more.  He knows church teaching and defies it, then has the nerve to present himself for communion! That gives scandal to everyone present and to give scandal is also a sin.

We deserve Mr. Biden because we elected him and silently accept all manner of sin in our society doing little to call it out. Scripture tells us to take our brother aside and try to convince him that his ways are errant and to repent. Yet most of us turn a blind eye to the serious sins of our loved ones. Just saying a Hail Mary for them is not enough. We have a duty to lovingly draw them back to God's laws.

But what can be done in the broader society? Write to your representatives to tell them if they continue voting for sinful legislation, for example physician assisted suicide, abortion the death penalty or whatever legislation is on the floor, that you will not vote for them. Ask merchants to remove salacious magazines and advertisements on their premises. Tell them you find the immodest attire of their employees unacceptable. Boycott R-rated movies.  Catholics must stop being passive by allowing others to take the blame for sinful laws. Silence is complicity.

All of us can be more assertive in carving out some time to pray for the souls of legislators who continuously support a culture of death. We can have masses set for them, offer our rosaries and novenas, do penance in reparation etcetera. Bombard heaven for a change of heart for these souls I would love to believe they don't know what they're doing, however they are not such stupid people that they don't know right from wrong. We can pray for their conversion.

If God chooses to visit us with calamities, we only have ourselves to blame for not being more vigilant of cultural shifts, tolerating immorality, and not praying for the conversion of souls. It goes without saying that we must set a good example ourselves.

It isn't just in the secular realm that we've gotten what we deserve. It is even more concerning than a politician abdicating his faith. It is the deafening silence of our Catholic Prelates and priests! We didn't elect them. We inherited them. When have you heard a homily on what constitutes a mortal sin, and which sins are always mortal.  When a priest speaks openly about irregularities in his diocese he is silenced and removed from ministry. The smoke of Satan has entered the church and sorting out truth is very complicated for someone untrained in Theology.  Some of our priests and religious have failed us by not presenting sound doctrine and setting the example for holiness over the last fifty years.

In this age of apostasy, faithful lay Catholics must take the lead in speaking to their pastors about what people need to hear in a homily. Stop with the Jesus loves you talk and tells us what he despises! Give good priests support when they teach bravely. Since the 1970s there has been a watered-down catechesis for both children and adults. Too many Catholics barely know the faith. Satan has polluted the hierarchy, but the church is ALL of us and if they did not teach us well, then we must educate ourselves and take on the responsibility to know and spread the faith.

God is raising up Saints in our day from among the laity, Saint Pier Giorgio Frassati, Carlo Acutis, and Saint Gianna Beretta Molla are just a few. It takes courage to live out our faith in a faithless world but that is God's call to people today. It is no accident that God chose us to be born in this era of history. It would seem God has great expectations of this generation. Pope St. John Paul II said repeatedly,” Be not afraid!” God has got your back! Go forth and make disciples of all nations, starting in the family. Let us become apostles of a new era of holiness in the Church.

Let us pray to the Lord,