vortexting

it is not often in a liturgical year when
a reading from the divine office
set as it is in a 2week or 4week cycle
coincides almost perfectly
in echoed harmony
the first reading at mass yesterday
nov 5
echoes in my reading of the glenstal
book of daily prayer for
tuesday lauds of week1
philippians 2:1-4

it being voting day i moved to think of
some inherent message in this coincidence of scripture

the system of american government is set up
supposedly
as a means for individual expression

community expression in politics begins to look
too much like power struggle i suppose
so the gist of things is
on voting day
you vote as an individual

so how does this settle with the clear admonition from st paul
to  "be of one mind"
how am i to contend with what appears to be inimical political positions
while living in a community

am i voting for individuals or am i voting
for the well-being of community
the one holy catholic and apostolic church

at some level a vote is a way of annihilating individuality
for one enters into a limited sphere of cognitive and rhetorical propositions
and will do so along with others who are being equally deceived into the presumptions
of individual conscience

"do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit"

is this a thought people have in mind when voting for national leadership
or local cultural atmosphere

it is difficult to subjugate ones sense of person for a greater good
especially when that greater good remains dubious in the mind of the voter

i have been asked by my bishop to vote in a certain way
and recognize the universal integrity of marriage and family
from a catholic social religious context
in a state constitutional amendment

i find i can do nothing else
i must vote because the bishop has asked
and i am willing to set aside any convictions i may maintain on a personal level
this is not hard for me to do
i find  i agree completely with the bishops' stance

i also have to vote with  the community of saints in mind
even if this puts me at odds with the explicit existential reality
of political temperaments in the actual community in which i live
but then again i must vote with those who aren't as aware of things catholic
as i am but may well one day be so
what is good for them
i must vote for the fallen and the lost

to love others as i would wish to be loved
as christ admonished in the gospel of yesterday or was it the day before
is easy for me in some ways
i wish the same sort of light the same sort of discipline the same sort of
challenge to live sacrificially
as i have accepted for myself
i did not buy into any offering of a  "this world"  freedom

striving to be of one mind is a challenge for us
we've been brainwashed into believing that we are in fact
autonomous

placing christ crucified as the judge of
differences of point of view
is a way to recognize our legacy

offer your life as christ would like it
as he showed us the way
not as would make your personal life more fulfilling

vote sacrificially

try that

the demands of the community are much more important
than the intellectual achievement of any one person
and the community is always larger than we perceive

before embarking on the journey today
the journey that takes me to the voting boothe and back

i wish to quote from Romano Guardini's text
THE SPIRIT OF THE LITURGY

..."the church is self -contained, a structure-system
of intricate and invisible vital principles,  of means and ends,
of activity and production,  of people,  organizations,  and laws.

it does consist of the faithful, then;
but it is more than a mere body of these,
passively held together by a system of similar convictions
and regulations.

the faithful are actively united by a vital and fundamental principle
common to them all.

that principle is Christ Himself;
His life is ours; 
we are incorporated in Him;
we are His body,  Corpus Christi Mysticum.

the active force which governs this living unity,
grafting the individual on to it,
granting him a share in its fellowship
and preserving this right for him,
is the HOLY GHOST.  (SPIRIT)

every individual Catholic is a cell
of this living organism or
a member of this body. "