Sacred vote

“It is true, political problems are not solved by love and mercy. But the world of politics is not the only world, and unless political decisions rest on a foundation of something better and higher than politics, they can never do any real good for men.”

—Thomas Merton

Cebu commuters have been subjected in the streets to canned political advertisements that speak of the sacredness of the act of voting.

True, casting a vote in elections like tomorrow’s is a sacred act. Of this the Latin motto of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) reminds us: “Vox populi vox Dei.” The voice of the people is the voice of God.

A friend of mine who belongs to an Evangelical confession and I recently debated the validity of the adage. I have always held it to be true. If it were not, calling elections sacred would be sanctimonious. Any practice, no matter how old or ceremonious cannot be sacred if it lacks divine roots.

My friend, however, had a point when he said that for instance majorities outside the country that voted with success for the enactment of laws legitimizing sins like divorce, abortion, euthanasia and sodomy do not echo God’s will.

With my friend’s perspective in mind, I must conclude that in a democracy, the voice of the people is the voice of God only if all voters exercise their right to suffrage after He enlightens them in prayer and discernment.

No, the Comelec need not lengthen its motto accordingly but each Christian voter who has not yet prayed about and discerned which candidates and what party list group to vote for must do so now.

God is almighty. His will is never thwarted even when man contradicts it. But the Christian voter, since he must do everything for the glory of the Lord (cf. 1 Corinthians 10:31), must work with him by choosing candidates who will obey the natural law, that is, God’s law written in the heart of man (cf. Romans 2:15) whether or not he believes that God exists.

(If you are an atheist, a brotherly appeal: Out of good will and patriotism, please take some time to reflect on your choices before you go to your polling precinct, then vote in accordance with your conscience’s construct of what constitutes the common good.)

Prayer and discernment will spell the difference between popular elections that magnifies the voice of God and leads to the common good, and popularity contests masquerading as elections. The sanctity of the ballot ultimately rests, to paraphrase our great plebeian Andres Bonifacio, on love of country that flows out of love of God.

Tomorrow’s elections is crucial because those who win will represent us in the wake of the enactment of the Reproductive Health Law that makes contraception part of State policy and of the filing in Congress of bills to legalize divorce and to banish faith from the public square.

A true Christian will not use the Constitution’s separation of the Church and the State as a pretext for cobbling together some random voting criteria. The Christian knows that on Judgment Day, the King of all nations will not tell a person’s actions “for his country” apart from his actions “for his faith” then call him to account only for the latter.

In fact, the King will divide his subjects into sheep who helped him in the least of his brethren within and outside the Church, and goats who failed to come to his aid, again regardless of the setting. God will welcome the sheep into heaven. The goats will go away to eternal punishment (cf. Matthew 25:31-46).

The Christian must therefore vote for the candidate who, according to the guidance of the Holy Spirit and in his own appraisal of facts about that bet will succor the least in society.

The least includes first of all those who are literally hungry, thirsty, sick, naked, imprisoned and strangers.

It also includes new human beings who thirst for their birthdays in the wombs of mothers tempted to abort them, couples who hunger for their marriages to thrive but are tempted to resort to divorce and become strangers again, the sick who need compassion but are offered euthanasia as an easy way out.

The least includes those imprisoned by the mentality that to conceive a child is to incur a liability, by the lie that God and the Bible do not forbid contraception (cf. Genesis 38:8-10).

It also includes every man and woman being stripped of their God-given identity—male and female (Genesis 1:27). They are denied the right to experience intimacy with Jesus Christ by carrying the cross of extra work in growing as man and woman, when the option of same-sex union or marriage as an escape is shoved in their faces.

The vote of a Christian and of a person of good will should result in the upliftment of the least, not in the swelling of their ranks. The faithful and true must not vote for candidates whose politics will hurt the least of our sisters and brothers. Then, strictly speaking, the voice of the people will be the voice of God, the ballot a fruit of dialog between God and man.

What if, God forbid, most of those who will vote fail to pray and discern? Can we still say, “Vox populi vox Dei” when election results emerge?

Yes, we can. Theologians speak of God as someone who owns a permissive will that can suffer and extract a far greater good out of man’s rebellion as well as an active will that calls man to obedience. Saint Paul assures us: “In everything, God works for the good of those who love him” (Romans 8:28). That “everything” includes elections in which myriads of practical atheists and radical secularists win.

Nevertheless, even if a Christian’s chosen candidates appear to be losing, he must not renounce his electoral duty. Voting as the Holy Spirit prompts him to is his way of taking his stand among “those who love” God. To borrow an aphorism from Blessed Teresa of Calcutta, God did not call us to be successful voters. He called us to be faithful ones.

Unlike cardinals gathered in a conclave to elect a Pope, we will not cast our votes in front of Michelangelo’s awesome painting of the Last Judgment. But this is the image, of the Lord of the Universe watching and weighing us that we Filipino Christians would be prudent to picture when we deliver our secret verdict on politicos and parties tomorrow, May 13.