A Word Of Post-Election Cheer And Comfort For My Discouraged Fellow Pro-Life Catholics

Contributor Doug writes: For pro-life Catholics, presumably and hopefully, the ones who did not vote for Barack Obama and the many pro-abortion state and federal legislators who won on Election Day, these coming days are understandably blue, but take heart.

In a homily of a different subject, my pastor summed it up best a few weeks ago when he admonished us that whether wheat or weeds grow, is not our concern. Our calling is simply to sow the seed.

President John Quincy Adams put it another way, “Duty is ours; results are God’s.”

Remember too, that God’s plan is not always revealed to us, but it is always for the greater good, despite how it may appear to us otherwise. As the sage quip goes, “If you want to make God laugh, just tell Him your plans.”

We are nevertheless not relieved from our duties of perseverance and faith. Even from evil, good flourishes to give glory to God.

Whatever we did to promote the greater good and God’s will, whether by prayer, fasting, sacrifice, penance, voting with an informed conscience, etc.., we did our duty. Rest assured that God is pleased with what we did. We are off the hook for the results. Take comfort in our Lord’s words in Matthew; Chapter 11, verses 28, 29, 30: “Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” In our modern day vernacular: Don’t sweat the small stuff; God will do all the heavy lifting.

Also, take “serenity” in the Serenity Prayer: “Lord, Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things that I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.”

In one of his final speeches as President, Richard Nixon poignantly noted that we cannot truly appreciate the mountaintops until we have been in some of the valleys.

Also remember that despair is one of the favorite tools of the devil by which he strikes at us when we are most vulnerable and tries to separate us from God. As EWTN’s Father Corapi, himself an Army veteran once said, (paraphrasing) “The Devil is a masterful tactician.” Don’t let him win you over! Be strong! Fight back! Pray! There is no shame in getting knocked down; only in not getting back up again.

The purpose of life is to be holy by serving and loving God and each other. It’s all one big, test. There is no second place in this contest. It’s win or lose, Heaven or Hell. God put us here to do His work, so if we won’t, who will? Who saves the next baby slated for abortion? Who speaks for the innocent 48 + million who have already been slain? When my wife and I lost our infant son, a priest counseled us to grieve, but not to mourn. He elaborated that sorrow is healthy and even necessary, but it should also be temporary. Life must go on. It is far too important, and fleeting to do otherwise. Let us grieve our loss, but not mourn over it. Far too much is at stake. God knows how we feel. And He’s also watching what we do, or don’t do. Let us all faithfully seek comfort in the Lord, and then confidently move forward to do His will.

(Suggested reading: Psalms, Chapter 34.)

-Doug-