For anything to be truly healthy, it must be “checked” over from time-to-time. As we learn from science, “things tend towards disorder” and, therefore, need constant maintenance and evaluation.
For our souls to be healthy, we need to examine our consciences in order to confess our sins and be forgiven of them.
For our bodies to be healthy, we need to have health examinations to locate any potential problems. We need to take stock of our eating habits and make sure we are properly nourishing our bodies.
For our marriages to be healthy, we have to examine where there is room for improvement so that we can better love our spouse.
It is no different with a country. We must take honest stock of things in order to see where we may be teetering on the edge of destruction.
We cannot, on the one hand, never allow any criticism of our country. To accept faults and failings is not only honest, it’s grounded in reality. No country is perfect as they are all man-made. The most patriotic thing you can do for your country–aside from justly fighting for her–is to keep a constant watch on the state of things in order to make morally good improvements when needed.
But, and this is a big but. We cannot, on the other hand, have utter disdain for our country to the point that we want to literally light it on fire and cause chaos and destruction all in the name of “change.” If you hate your country, you are no longer helpful to it. You can have regret over past behaviors and acknowledge them, but to desire its fundamental destruction is dangerous. To constantly see the worst in something will never lead to willing its good–you will simply just want to annihilate it. Of course, we should try to annihilate evil but very few things in this world are utterly evil. Redemption should be a constant hope.
In America, we have a Democratic Republic form of government. We are not a pure democracy like the ancient Greeks set up. We don’t have most of the people gathering together to vote on all decisions. That would be impossible in a country as large as ours and, not to mention, widely ineffective. Instead, we gather as a group to vote on elected representatives (republic) in order to make decisions on our behalf.
It’s a decent system as far as governments go. All governments are man-made and therefore subject to flaws, some more than others. The idea of the Founding Fathers was to give power to the people. When elected leaders know that they can lose their power by being voted out by the people, well, it provides a check on their power. Hopefully.
However, there is a glaring flaw in all this and I’ll let Bishop Fulton Sheen explain:
“The growth of democracy has done much to do away with a false social snobbishness and to keep men humble in their external relations. But it has also, from another point of view, weakened the respect for Goodness and Truth, inasmuch as the masses of people are generally inclined to equate morality with the general level of society at any given moment.”
The flaw is that there is an emphasis on the people’s will and not God’s will.
Sheen continues:
“Numbers become the measure of goodness. If a sufficient number can be counted who violate a certain Commandment of God, then it is argued: ‘Fifty million adulterers cannot be wrong. We have to change the Commandments.’”
We must remember that “the people” can be wrong, often times wildly wrong. Slavery, abortion, so-called same-sex marriage, and segregation are all evidence of “the people” being wrong. Representatives can be wrong. They are, after all, only humans. Their quest to maintain power will often leave them following their own selfish wills or succumbing to the masses even if what the masses want is morally bad.
What is never wrong is following God’s Will. While I realize that we have a secular government that doesn’t adhere to any one faith, much of God’s Laws are understood through Natural Laws. We don’t always need Divine Revelation to guide us in simple matters of right and wrong. It’s not hard to understand that killing innocent people is wrong–we should innately know this. It’s not hard to understand that stealing what isn’t yours is wrong–none of want our own things stolen from us. And, yet, when selfishness overtakes the Natural Law, the peoples’ will can go off the rails. Couple that with a denial of reality and you are headed for disaster.
So, what can we do, Catholic Pilgrims? We can recognize the weakness of a democracy and help to keep it in check. Understand that we are never to conform to the modern, “conventional standard” if it is contrary to God’s Will. As Catholics, our allegiance is to God above all: Not to popular opinion, not to politicians or political parties. We must be willing to examine ourselves and make sure our wills are in line with God’s Will even if that makes us unpopular and uncomfortable.
Or as Bishop Sheen says, Have “an inward disposition under the control of a recognized principle to which we submit whether we agree with it or not.” That recognized principle is God’s Will.
Be willing to live the faith boldly and travel well, Catholic Pilgrims.
To listen to this week’s podcast that covers this top, click here.
