Father M. Habiger OSB's Homily for Election Weekend

Father M. Habiger OSB’s Homily for Election Weekend*

Truth - Justice - Righteousness - cinops be gone - Sunday, Nov. 4, 2012

LOVE GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART
At St. Leo’s in Horton and St. Mary’s in Purcell, KS- 31st Sunday in Oct. 4

Jesus gives us the two great commandments in today’s Gospel. We are to love God with all that we have and are. Why? Because everything that we have is God’s gift to us. He has given us everything; so also must we respond to Him with all our love. Tuesday is the great Election Day. How do we relate the two great commandments to this?

It helps to remember that God gave us life and liberty so that we could make good decisions, and do good works during our brief journey in this world. Last Friday was All Souls Day. It reminds us that we cannot stay here. We must eventually move to another world. Then God will ask us for an accounting for all decisions, and for all our deeds.

God knows what is right, and He knows what is wrong. He designed the entire moral order. If we love God, then we will pursue the good in all that we do: in our choices, our decisions, deeds, the way we treat other people, and the way we live & value our Faith.

Keep thinking about voting. This is a serious moral responsibility. We vote in secrecy at the voting booth, but God knows how we vote. He holds us accountable for choosing good leaders, who live and govern by moral principles, who fear and honor God, who have a clear sense of the common good, and who are not swayed by fickle public opinion, self-interest, secularism and materialism.

Vote like it affects your eternal relationship with God, because it does. Our choices have consequences Archbishop Chaput, a good Kansan, said recently: “We are Catholics before we are Democrats, we are Catholics before we are Republican, and we are even Catholics before we are Americans.” If you love God with your full being, as Jesus states in today’ Gospel, then you will understand what Christ is saying.

Last week I was in Peoria, IL., helping give a clergy conference to 125 priests on the theme: “How to Preach God’s Plan for Marriage, Spousal Life and Family. The bishop there is Daniel Jenky, CSC. Here is what he is having read at all the Masses in his diocese this weekend: [The following are key excerpts:]

Dear Catholic Believers,

Since the foundation of the American Republic and the adoption of the Bill of Rights, I do not think there has ever been a time more threatening to our religious liberty than the present. Neither the president of the United States nor the current majority of the Federal Senate have been willing to even consider the Catholic community’s grave objections to those HHS mandates that would require all Catholic institutions, exempting only our church buildings, to fund abortion, sterilization, and artificial contraception. This assault upon our religious freedom is simply without precedent in the American political and legal system. Contrary to the guarantees embedded in the First Amendment, the HHS mandates attempt to now narrowly define and thereby drastically limit our traditional religious works. They grossly and intentionally intrude upon the deeply held moral convictions that have always guided our Catholic schools, hospitals, and other apostolic ministries…

I therefore call upon every practicing Catholic in this Diocese to vote. Be faithful to Christ and to your Catholic Faith. May God guide & protect His Holy Church, & may God bless America.

Most Reverend Daniel R. Jenky, CSC, Catholic Bishop of Peoria.

George H. Kubeck *Thanks to Brian Murphy, Chairman God’s Plan For Life - http://www.godsplanforlife.org - (949)- 235-4045 (Cell)