As much as I wanted to curb my addiction, I couldn’t. After 40 years, the addiction to read the headlines was overpowering. That’s what a career in journalism does to you, so against my better judgement, I found myself watching the election results into the early hours of the morning.
Quite honestly, I’ve always hated politics because I believe it brings out the worst in people. To my thinking, politicians make a living by promising to solve the problems they created.
I got a few hours of sleep, and then I woke up and checked my email to see what I’d missed. The first thing I spotted was a story someone sent me, which said, “Election Results Are In: Christ Still On His Throne.”
It was from the Babylon Bee, a satirical, conservative Christian news website. The lead of their article said, “A number of news outlets, including CNN, Fox News, and NBC, are calling the current election in favor of Jesus Christ, who is still sovereignly reigning from His throne on high, sources confirmed late Tuesday.”
That’s great news for all of us, whether we’re Democrats, Republicans, Independents, Libertarians or anarchists.
Do you remember the line from the hymn that says, “To Jesus Christ, our Sov’reign King, who is the world’s salvation, all praise and homage do we bring, and thanks and adoration.”
It’s taken me too many years to learn not to place my faith in political leaders and that I should first and foremost place it in Christ the King. Jesus is still in charge, as he has always been, no matter which way the political winds blow.
Do you think this country is spiraling out of control? Do you see the anger and hatred and division? For Christians, the solution is prayer, not politics. Politics divides, prayer unites.
Pray for America every day because your prayers are a lasting force for good. All the great leaders in our country’s history realized that, from Abraham Lincoln to Martin Luther King Jr. They put God first in everything, and they weren’t motivated by blind ambition and the pursuit of power.
Today many Catholics place their political views before their faith, or they try to contort their faith so that it corresponds to their political views. A lot of our elected leaders are notorious for doing just that.
But even though the paths of politics and faith may follow the same route from time to time, they inevitably part. And that’s when you have to make an important decision in your life and avoid what they used to call “compartmentalizing.”
Always remember the story of St. Jose Sanchez del Rio, who was canonized by Pope Francis in 2016. On a February night in 1928, the Mexican soldiers forced him to walk through town barefoot after they cut the soles of his feet with their machetes. They told the 14-year-old boy, “If you shout, ‘Death to Christ the King,’ we will spare your life.”
The choice was was simple — he could renounce his faith or be executed. The Marxist government wanted to destroy the Church and was persecuting priests and Catholics.
For the boy, there was only one choice. He prayed the rosary as he staggered toward a mass grave at the edge of town but refused to deny Christ. And his last words before the government soldiers shot him in the head were “Viva Cristo Rey!” “Long live Christ the King!”
He suffered martyrdom rather than renounce Christ, the true King, at a time when political leaders were trying to stamp out the Catholic faith.
The Babylon Bee was right. Christ is the king, and to him we owe allegiance … and he’s still on his throne.
Coincidentally, on Election Day I happened to be praying a novena to Christ the King, which is celebrated on Sunday, November 20. The feast day was created by Pope Pius XI so we would remember that “allegiance to Christ is above any allegiance to the government of a nation.”
The novena said in part:
“Christ, our Savior and our King, renew in me allegiance to Your Kingship.
I pray for the grace to place You above the powers of this world in all things.
I pray for the grace to obey You before any civic authority.
O Prince of Peace, Christ the King, may Your reign be complete in my life and in the life of the world.”
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By Joe Pisani
