An Election Day destination (not the polls)

Much as I appreciate my freedom to exercise Catholic citizenship, I’ll be relieved to get past this election, bitter and noisy and chaotic as it is. I don’t think I’m the only one who feels that way.

Whoever handles social media for my local Diocese brightened my Facebook feed the other day with a simple announcement that the cathedral would be open all day Election Day for anyone wanting to stop in and pray. I love that. 

It’s not that I think prayer on Election Day is any more efficacious than prayer on any other day. Rather, this is a gentle and public reminder that while this election is important, there are things that are more important. It’s an invitation to walk away from the noise and the signs, catch one’s breath, and be renewed in spirit by the Presence in the tabernacle. 

Sure, I’ll vote. I’ll even be holding a sign for a friend who is running for office. But first things first.

Maritain on faith and the democratic ideal

“Faith in the dignity of the human personality, in brotherly love, in justice, and in the worth of the human soul, outweighing the whole material universe – faith, in a word, in the conception of man and his destiny which the gospel has deposited at the very center of human history – this faith is the only genuine principle by which the democratic ideal may truly live. Any democracy that lets this faith be corrupted lays itself open to that extent to disruption.”

I am discovering the work of Catholic philosopher Jacques Maritain by way of an anthology from Sophia Press entitled Christianity, Democracy, and the American Ideal. The book clusters bits and pieces from Maritain’s work into chapters on various civic themes: the American experience, social solidarity, freedom of association, and so on.

The looming national election gives point to what I’m reading. The quote above brought me up short the other day. It rings true in a way the pile of campaign literature on my table does not.

Open Book: an anthology of remembrances

The first Wednesday of each month brings #OpenBook, a blog linkup co-hosted by My Scribbler’s Heart and CatholicMom.com with a roundup of what participating bloggers have been reading lately. 

Best reading of the past month for me: A Torch Kept Lit: Great Lives of the Twentieth Century, a collection of eulogies written by William F. Buckley, edited by James Rosen. They’d be worth reading for the pure good writing alone. Their substance is the greater treat. Buckley died several years ago without collecting these little gems from his extensive journalistic work, but I doubt he’d find fault with Rosen’s selection. Buckley eulogized loved ones, political figures, and celebrities with a sharp eye and often with a great deal of heart. Whether or not the reader shares Buckley’s political philosophy, this book is a sure delight.

I continue with Edmund Morris’s Theodore Roosevelt trilogy. Colonel Roosevelt covers TR’s eventful post-presidential years.

I nibble at other works, finding nonfiction more to my taste than fiction right now. I am involved in politics, so this is a stressful season. Reminders of the long view, both historical and spiritual, are balm to my spirit.