Christ the King 2007

Today I want to talk about politics. Your reaction, hearing that, is probably, ‘You can’t do that! Priests are not supposed to. Church and State separate. Christ’s kingdom is not of this world, etc.’ This kind of reaction serves to show how debased the word politics has become in our time to mean mere partisan (or party) loyalties, concerning which I am as uninformed as I am uninterested. So, don’t worry. I’m not going to abuse the pulpit by trying to sway your opinion about for whom you should cast your votes.

Politics, broadly understood, concerns the social ordering and welfare of mankind: how man is organized in the world. It has to do with his good, not so much as an individual but as a member of the social fabric. In this sense the Church has always been much concerned and involved in the political order: the reason being that, although the Church exists to advance the kingdom of God, the success of that endeavor (‘saving souls’) depends in significant measure upon the circumstances in which men must live in the world. Society is the stage upon which the spiritual drama of man’s eternal future is played. If the social order is in disorder, you would be–potentially, at least–adversely affected spiritually, and thus potentially for eternity. Just to give two examples: in a society where drug addition is rampant, or where abortion clinics are permitted to operate, the socially diseased climate invades the souls of men who must live there. Another example: if government restricts the right of the Church to speak up and out about her Gospel, or to celebrate her sacraments, then the Church must work to change such policies that inhibit her from fulfilling her Christ-given mandate to convert the world.

My political message (if you will) on Christ the King Sunday is but one word: restraint. For people to live well socially or individually, as Christians or even as non-believers, there has to be restraint. Politics is an extension of ethics. It is the application of the rules of individual moral behavior to the wider, social scene. Being human, being Christian, being a good citizen, have one thing in common for their success: restraint. That word means forbidding, denying, refusing, disallowing the base tendencies of fallen human nature to be set free. It means saying No! to ignoble impulses and Yes! to right reason. It is a principle that comes into play when one stops at a traffic light rather than run through it, as also when one withholds the impulse to strike somebody who may be deemed offensive. Restraint. Religion specifies the areas of restraint (10 commandments), gives the motivations for it (heaven vs. hell) and offers the means (grace and confession) to be restraining or self-disciplined.

The State and society can only restrict the outward behaviors of men, making them, under penalty of punishment, conform to the law. But Christ and the Church go deeper and seek entry into the minds and wills of men, to create an inner order of righteousness in a man. Thus, we must not only withhold our fists from striking our neighbor, but we must not fuel the passion of anger against him. Similarly, we must not only refrain from acts of impurity, we must not even will to think about them, etc.

Back to politics. What’s happening in our world today is a great movement towards a moral revolution to undo the policies of restraint so that one’s will–here meaning one’s passions–becomes the sole rule of social as well as private life: doing whatever one wants to do. This has created the great cultural war that is being waged against the authority of the Church which insists on opposing the immoral tendencies of fallen nature that are clamoring for acceptance and liberation from restraint. Now enter political parties, campaigns for this or that person who promises either to fulfill the purposes of political order and discipline or else offers to help overthrow the laws that restrain men’s passions. That’s what is underlying the debate concerning abortion, the war, homosexual unions, and even the economy and social welfare policies. Rules or no rules. Moral principles or self-abandon without restraint.

The solemnity of Christ the King affords us the chance to reflect on the fact that the Church has the right and the duty to inform men’s minds and to form their conduct; that there is a good and there is evil that men can choose to do; that allowing to set free the bonds that hold men to a rule of right conduct harms everybody, individually and socially here and now, and then forever hereafter. Christ the King means that He is absolute Lord over everything: the USA, the Church, yourself, and every human being in the world. This is a universal, total kingship and, in the end, no one will escape acknowledging it, for each man will be judged on the basis of his deeds, whether or not they were in conformity with the directives of the King.

Give Christ today the homage of your adoration and your prayers. Surely He alone is worthy of that. But also give Him the pledge of something that indicates that He is a true King: give Him the promise of restraint: holding back on your bad tendencies in order to make way for what is good, what is right, what is decent, virtuous and consonant with His Gospel.