At that he said to them,
"Then repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar
and to God what belongs to God."
With a General Election a little more than two weeks away, how appropriate it is that we have set before us this Gospel passage from Matthew. From the earliest days of our faith, Christians by and large, did not separate themselves from the rest of civil society but took seriously the Lord’s analogy that we were to be ‘leaven in the midst of wheat.” In other words, Christians are called to bring the values of Christ to transform the society and world in which we live. While our ultimate allegiance will always be to God and his Kingdom, we must never forget that we serve that Kingdom by the quality and level of our commitment to the Body of Christ who are our sisters and brothers in Christ.
Unlike many of the Catholic nations of Europe, the great American experiment in its foundational documents, created a Republic where there would be a constitutional separation between the Church and State. While our founders would distance themselves from an established Religion, there would be a guarantee of Religious liberty for all.
In time, such a civil ‘experiment’ away from an established Church and the guarantee of Religious liberty which was viewed with suspicion by the Catholic Church was eventually blessed in the vision of Church articulated by the Second Vatican Council.
Catholics are called to faithful citizenship in helping to form a more perfect union together with their sisters and brothers in these United States. We do so most profoundly by exercising our right to vote. While neither one of the major political parties in our Country, perfectly reflects the totality of our Catholic ethical vision, we must never let, as they say, the perfect be the enemy of the good. In other words, as flawed as their positions may be, rendering ‘to Caesar’ means wrestling in conscience with a decision as to what party or individual may bring about the greater good.
Our Bishops have set before us the challenge that in our vote, a preeminent place should be afforded to those willing to safeguard the dignity of life and especially the vulnerable life of the unborn. Our Holy Father, Pope Francis, extends this vulnerability to the life of the poor, the hungry, immigrants, the ailing and the aged, and those who live on the margins of society. In other words, the haunting refrain of ‘what would Jesus do?’ should be in our minds and hearts as we exercise our civic duty to vote.
In the end, I would like to make the words of Fr. Michael Ryan, Rector of St. James Cathedral in Seattle, my own:
Politics have their place and so do political parties, but the demands of the Gospel of Jesus Christ – with its broad embrace of ‘the least, the last, and the lonely’--will always be the decisive factor when it comes to how a Christian forms his or her conscience, and how a Christian exercises the sacred duty of voting responsibly. May Jesus Christ and his Gospel inspire and challenge each of us as we prepare to cast our vote in this election.