Presentation B.V.M. Parish

We are now continually offered various visions of a future America from a host of imaginations - Republican and Democrat. They are offfered in good will and with well founded hope that they can actually be elected to bring those visions to fruition. These visions are offered from the candidates' experience and their love for our country. Ultimately, it will be up to the voters to make a choice among these good people. How will we listen to them in order to make the best choice? Will it be from a purely partisan viewpoint? Will we hear from the prejudice of our own expectations? Or will we listen to these possibilities from the perspective of the Wisdom of God as expressed first from the Scriptures, and then, from the teachings of the Church over two thousand years? As voters, we must supply a light to read the plans offered by each candidate. Through the prism of Scripture and faith we can see the real value of the presentations and discern what will be the most important steps to be taken, and by whom. We cannot make the mistake of relegating Scriture and the moral teachings of the Church to the privacy of a humble, individual opinion. Nor can we seek to impose such views on anyone. As our Holy Father, Francis, has insisted - we must propose them to others as the truest way for mankind to reach its heighest levels of development and reciprocal care. And the proposal must always be couched in a credible witness to the Gospel of Jesus - a life dedicated, in fact, to the Gospel! Without this, our words will ring hollow and be seen for what they are - superficial and hypocritical. That will gain nothing for anyone. We must bring the light of commitment to the teachings of Jesus if the truth will be known and voters will be able to see a new direction offered, not by candidates, but by God, Himself.