Salvation Or Votes?
by Thomas A. Droleskey
An article published two days ago now, Kill Truth, Kill Babies, discussed the utilitarian arguments being made by many pro-abort members of the United States House of Representatives to convince wavering Democratic Party members who are, to one degree or another, identified by the label "pro-life" (once again, of course, no one, whether in or out of public life, is "pro-life" if he supports a single, solitary abortion, whether chemical or surgical, under cover of the civil law; such a person is simply less pro-abortion than those support unrestricted baby-killing as a matter of principle and law) into voting to approve the version of ObamaCare that was passed by the United States Senate on December 24, 2009, by a vote of sixty to thirty-nine.
Some of these wavering Democratic Party members are coming under intense pressure to vote to approve the bill when it is considered, possibly under one of several parliamentary devices of dubious constitutionality, as it has been passed by the United States Senate without any amendments at all. These Democratic Party members who are identified to some extent or another with the "pro-life" label are being pressured to show their "loyalty" to President Barack Hussein Obama in order to give him a major legislative victory that will, it is claimed, help millions of uninsured Americans to obtain low-cost health insurance. Longtime Democratic Party activist Donna Brazile is even encouraging campaign donors to threaten to withhold future donations to House Democrats who vote against Obama Care. There is even talk of the possibility of waging primary challenges against those House Democrats who refuse to support ObamaCare.
Although it is easy for armchair observers to dismiss this pressure in the knowledge that we ought to prefer death than betray the cause of the Holy Faith, those who live in the daily vortex of partisan politics and have attained a seat in the United States House of Representatives do not, at least as a general rule, want to give up the perquisites of their positions and the prestige that comes with being a member of the lower house of the national legislature of the United States of America, a position that only four hundred thirty-five out of the over three hundred million people who live in this country can hold at a given time. The rarified air breathed in by those who work in and around Capitol Hill can go to one's head. The desire to establish oneself and to gain seniority with each passing election is strong, which means that much time must be spent in the raising of funds for the next campaign. It is, speaking purely on a naturalistic level, quite difficult for one who has gained a pinnacle in the upper echelons of elected office in the United States of America to "give it all up" to defend moral truth when it is staring them right in the face.
It takes a great deal of fortitude to resist evil and to sacrifice one's electoral career in the process. Most career politicians do not have this fortitude. They are used to tailoring their messages very carefully to suit their constituencies. They waver and hem and haw on certain issues. It is mostly, although not exclusively, those from "safe seats," those that are uncontested or face but token opposition in a general election, who consider themselves politically "free" enough to speak their minds regularly without fear of electoral consequences.
This is, however, one of those moments when men and women who consider themselves to be "pro-life" need to realize that their first loyalty must be to Christ the King as He has revealed Himself to us through His true Church and not to the political exigencies of a thoroughly pro-abortion president who has the blood of the innocent preborn on his very hands as a result of executive orders that he has issued to facilitate baby-killing with American taxpayer dollars on an international basis. Those "pro-life" House Democrats ought to consider the fact that a vote that they cast in favor of ObamaCare is not going to redound to their eternal salvation, and that is the only election--the Divine election at the moment of one's Particular Judgment--that matters for any of us.
Although the points below have been made repeatedly on this site, I want to reiterate them again in a very brief manner in the hope that one or two of you our there in cyberspace will take the time to send this article to one of those wavering House Democrats to convince them that they must vote against ObamaCare no matter the consequences that they might face in this world, understanding that the consequences in the next are nothing less than catastrophic as it would be a terrible thing to spend all eternity in Hell, suffering the fires therein and being deprived of the Beatific Vision of the Most Blessed Trinity, because one took his figurative thirty pieces of silver to placate a pro-death president and pro-death leaders of the United States Congress.
ObamaCare Is A Violation of the Natural Law Principle of Subsidiarity
The whole debate about what constitutes a first step in creating a British-style system of socialized medicine over the course of time is needless. As many defects as there are in an admittedly utilitarian health-care system that is overseen by gigantic health-care corporate conglomerates and bottom-line based insurance companies, the ultimate way to repair those defects is the conversion of those in the medical profession to view the world and everyone in it through the eyes of the Catholic Faith, treating each and every patient as he would treat Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ Himself. Although there are many proposals on a purely naturalistic level that can improve our current state of healthcare delivery and costs associated therewith (starting with genuine tort reform), there can be no substitute for the conversion of men to the true Faith to provide genuine medical care to those who are sick in light of the binding precepts of the Divine Positive Law and the Natural Law as these have been entrusted by Our Lord Himself to His Catholic Church for their eternal safekeeping and infallible explication.
The Federal government of the United States of America simply has no role in the provision of health-care. ObamaCare is in and of its very statist nature a violation of the Natural Law principle of subsidiarity enunciated by Pope Pius XI in Quadragesimo Anno, May 15, 1931:
As history abundantly proves, it is true that on account of changed conditions many things which were done by small associations in former times cannot be done now save by large associations. Still, that most weighty principle, which cannot be set aside or changed, remains fixed and unshaken in social philosophy: Just as it is gravely wrong to take from individuals what they can accomplish by their own initiative and industry and give it to the community, so also it is an injustice and at the same time a grave evil and disturbance of right order to assign to a greater and higher association what lesser and subordinate organizations can do. For every social activity ought of its very nature to furnish help to the members of the body social, and never destroy and absorb them.
The supreme authority of the State ought, therefore, to let subordinate groups handle matters and concerns of lesser importance, which would otherwise dissipate its efforts greatly. Thereby the State will more freely, powerfully, and effectively do all those things that belong to it alone because it alone can do them: directing, watching, urging, restraining, as occasion requires and necessity demands. Therefore, those in power should be sure that the more perfectly a graduated order is kept among the various associations, in observance of the principle of "subsidiary function," the stronger social authority and effectiveness will be the happier and more prosperous the condition of the State.
One can oppose ObamaCare on its very face, with or without Federal taxpayer financing of chemical and surgical baby-killing, simply because it is a statist measure that cannot finance itself, will plunge future generations of Americans into even more debt than is facing us at the present time, and is in se a violation of the Natural Law teaching that those units of society closest to those in genuine need are responsible, in least in ordinary circumstances, admitting exceptions in times of war and other catastrophes, for the provision of assistance to those who cannot help themselves.
Not For A Single, Solitary Innocent Human Life
As ObamaCare does fund the chemical and surgical assassination of the innocent preborn, no one who claims to be "pro-life" can vote for it. The blood of the innocent will be the hands of each and every person who makes more possible the killing of innocent children, doing so as he helps to coerce other pro-life Americans into doing so with their own taxpayer dollars.
The words of Pope Pius XI, contained in Casti Connubii, December 31, 1930, must be cited again. I hope that they resonate with at least one or two wavering House Democrats as they entail their own spiritual life and spiritual death, something that matters a little more than the "legacy" of a pro-abortion president and the pressure applied by pro-abortion Congressional leaders or the threats made by financial donors:
Those who hold the reins of government should not forget that it is the duty of public authority by appropriate laws and sanctions to defend the lives of the innocent, and this all the more so since those whose lives are endangered and assailed cannot defend themselves. Among whom we must mention in the first place infants hidden in the mother's womb. And if the public magistrates not only do not defend them, but by their laws and ordinances betray them to death at the hands of doctors or of others, let them remember that God is the Judge and Avenger of innocent blood which cried from earth to Heaven.
Some of these House Democrats might be Catholics catechized in the ethos of conciliarism, unused to being confronted with the plain-spoken language of Holy Mother Church used by Pope Pius XI. It is, however, a Spiritual Work of Mercy to counsel the doubting and to admonish sinners with such plain-spoken language. The only thing that matters in the end is how we end our lives, as a friend of Christ the King or His enemy. Our King is not going to say to anyone who has formally participated in support of the killing of the preborn, "Well done, good and faithful servant." It is the end of our lives that matters, and the end of our lives can occur at any time.
True Social Justice Can Never Be Established on the Blood of the Innocent
Those wavering House Democrats ought to consider also the fact that their desire to improve the American health-care system can never be achieved on the blood of the innocent preborn. Even if ObamaCare was not a violation of the Natural Law principle of subsidiarity to begin with, the fact that it promotes evil under cover of the civil law vitiates whatever "good" it is designed to accomplish. The inclusion of funding for baby-killing in ObamaCare is not a matter of the "double-fold" effect as a good end is prosecuted even though there may be an unintended but foreseen secondary evil effect. The deaths babies that will be killed under the terms of the funding provided in ObamaCare will be intentional, not secondary. A so-called health-care "reform" program that provides for such direct, intentional killing of the preborn has no "good end" to be accomplished that anyone who is a disciple of Christ the King can support and hope to save his immortal soul, no less to "improve" a health-care system that has problems precisely because of a utilitarian mentality that has arisen absent a pursuit of the common temporal good in light of man's Last End.
Moreover, ObamaCare coerces ordinary Americans to fund the killing of the innocent preborn. Once again, this level of coercion by use of the confiscatory taxing power of the Federal government of the United States of America makes the entire bill evil over and above its violation of the principle of subsidiarity as it is never permitted to coerce others into supporting that which is grievously evil.
Men and nations who codify that which is opposed to the peace and happiness of eternity only wind up worsening the problems that they are trying to resolve:
Whoever refuses to admit these principles, and hence to apply them to education, must necessarily deny that Christ has founded His Church for the eternal salvation of mankind, and maintain instead that civil society and the State are not subject to God and to His law, natural and divine. Such a doctrine is manifestly impious, contrary to right reason, and, especially in this matter of education, extremely harmful to the proper training of youth, and disastrous as well for civil society as for the well-being of all mankind. On the other hand from the application of these principles, there inevitably result immense advantages for the right formation of citizens. This is abundantly proved by the history of every age Tertullian in his Apologeticus could throw down a challenge to the enemies of the Church in the early days of Christianity, just as St Augustine did in his; and we today can repeat with him:
Let those who declare the teaching of Christ to be opposed to the welfare of the State, furnish us with an army of soldiers such as Christ says soldiers ought to be; let them give us subjects, husbands, wives, parents, children, masters, servants, kings, judges, taxpayers and tax gatherers who live up to the teachings of Christ; and then let them dare assert that Christian doctrine is harmful to the State. Rather let them not hesitate one moment to acclaim that doctrine, rightly observed, the greatest safeguard of the State.
While treating of education, it is not out of place to show here how an ecclesiastical writer, who flourished in more recent times, during the Renaissance, the holy and learned Cardinal Silvio Antoniano, to whom the cause of Christian education is greatly indebted, has set forth most clearly this well established point of Catholic doctrine. He had been a disciple of that wonderful educator of youth, St Philip Neri; he was teacher and Latin secretary to St Charles Borromeo, and it was at the latter's suggestion and under his inspiration that he wrote his splendid treatise on The Christian Education of Youth In it he argues as follows:
The more closely the temporal power of a nation aligns itself with the spiritual, and the more it fosters and promotes the latter, by so much the more it contributes to the conservation of the commonwealth. For it is the aim of the ecclesiastical authority by the use of spiritual means, to form good Christians in accordance with its own particular end and object; and in doing this it helps at the same time to form good citizens, and prepares them to meet their obligations as members of a civil society. This follows of necessity because in the City of God, the Holy Roman Catholic Church, a good citizen and an upright man are absolutely one and the same thing. How grave therefore is the error of those who separate things so closely united, and who think that they can produce good citizens by ways and methods other than those which make for the formation of good Christians. For, let human prudence say what it likes and reason as it pleases, it is impossible to produce true temporal peace and tranquillity by things repugnant or opposed to the peace and happiness of eternity. (as cited by Pope Pius XI in Divini Illius Magistri, December 31, 1929.)
Impossible means impossible. Is any wavering House Democrat paying attention?
Apostolic Courage Is Needed
Apostolic courage is needed to oppose evil no matter the electoral consequences that one might suffer as a result. What good is being a "pro-life" vote in Congress if one is not going to use that vote to try to stop the passage of a piece of legislation that funds the chemical and surgical killing of innocent preborn babies?
Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ spoke of the choice that we must make: either to gain the world to lose our immortal soul. It is that simple:
For what doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul? Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul? For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels: and then will he render to every man according to his works. (Matthew 16: 26-27.)
Barack Hussein Obama has shown that his "works" include active support and funding for baby-killing? Any wavering House Democrat who is concerned about "cementing" the president's "legacy" by voting for ObamaCare is casting in his own lot with the works of death. He needs courage to defend the defenseless, to defend moral truth when it is under attack by the civil authorities, something that Pope Leo XIII explained was not an option in the life of a member of the Catholic Church:
But, if the laws of the State are manifestly at variance with the divine law, containing enactments hurtful to the Church, or conveying injunctions adverse to the duties imposed by religion, or if they violate in the person of the supreme Pontiff the authority of Jesus Christ, then, truly, to resist becomes a positive duty, to obey, a crime; a crime, moreover, combined with misdemeanor against the State itself, inasmuch as every offense leveled against religion is also a sin against the State. Here anew it becomes evident how unjust is the reproach of sedition; for the obedience due to rulers and legislators is not refused, but there is a deviation from their will in those precepts only which they have no power to enjoin. Commands that are issued adversely to the honor due to God, and hence are beyond the scope of justice, must be looked upon as anything rather than laws. You are fully aware, venerable brothers, that this is the very contention of the Apostle St. Paul, who, in writing to Titus, after reminding Christians that they are "to be subject to princes and powers, and to obey at a word," at once adds: "And to be ready to every good work." Thereby he openly declares that, if laws of men contain injunctions contrary to the eternal law of God, it is right not to obey them. In like manner, the Prince of the Apostles gave this courageous and sublime answer to those who would have deprived him of the liberty of preaching the Gospel: "If it be just in the sight of God to hear you rather than God, judge ye, for we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard."
Wherefore, to love both countries, that of earth below and that of heaven above, yet in such mode that the love of our heavenly surpass the love of our earthly home, and that human laws be never set above the divine law, is the essential duty of Christians, and the fountainhead, so to say, from which all other duties spring. The Redeemer of mankind of Himself has said: "For this was I born, and for this came I into the world, that I should give testimony to the truth." In like manner: "I am come to cast fire upon earth, and what will I but that it be kindled?" In the knowledge of this truth, which constitutes the highest perfection of the mind; in divine charity which, in like manner, completes the will, all Christian life and liberty abide. This noble patrimony of truth and charity entrusted by Jesus Christ to the Church she defends and maintains ever with untiring endeavor and watchfulness. . . .
But in this same matter, touching Christian faith, there are other duties whose exact and religious observance, necessary at all times in the interests of eternal salvation, become more especially so in these our days. Amid such reckless and widespread folly of opinion, it is, as We have said, the office of the Church to undertake the defense of truth and uproot errors from the mind, and this charge has to be at all times sacredly observed by her, seeing that the honor of God and the salvation of men are confided to her keeping. But, when necessity compels, not those only who are invested with power of rule are bound to safeguard the integrity of faith, but, as St. Thomas maintains: "Each one is under obligation to show forth his faith, either to instruct and encourage others of the faithful, or to repel the attacks of unbelievers." To recoil before an enemy, or to keep silence when from all sides such clamors are raised against truth, is the part of a man either devoid of character or who entertains doubt as to the truth of what he professes to believe. In both cases such mode of behaving is base and is insulting to God, and both are incompatible with the salvation of mankind. This kind of conduct is profitable only to the enemies of the faith, for nothing emboldens the wicked so greatly as the lack of courage on the part of the good. Moreover, want of vigor on the part of Christians is so much the more blameworthy, as not seldom little would be needed on their part to bring to naught false charges and refute erroneous opinions, and by always exerting themselves more strenuously they might reckon upon being successful. After all, no one can be prevented from putting forth that strength of soul which is the characteristic of true Christians, and very frequently by such display of courage our enemies lose heart and their designs are thwarted. Christians are, moreover, born for combat, whereof the greater the vehemence, the more assured, God aiding, the triumph: "Have confidence; I have overcome the world." Nor is there any ground for alleging that Jesus Christ, the Guardian and Champion of the Church, needs not in any manner the help of men. Power certainly is not wanting to Him, but in His loving kindness He would assign to us a share in obtaining and applying the fruits of salvation procured through His grace.
The chief elements of this duty consist in professing openly and unflinchingly the Catholic doctrine, and in propagating it to the utmost of our power. For, as is often said, with the greatest truth, there is nothing so hurtful to Christian wisdom as that it should not be known, since it possesses, when loyally received, inherent power to drive away error.
How does one get the courage to stand up against the pressure exerted by a President and Congressional leaders and campaign donors? How does one get the courage to be willing to accept electoral defeat and the end of one's career in politics? Our Lady herself will send the graces won on the wood of the Holy Cross by the shedding of her Divine Son's Most Precious Blood to have this courage if one wants to pray for it, especially by means of praying her Most Holy Rosary.
What do I know about this? Aren't I just an very, very obscure and little-read "armchair" columnist?
Well, yes, I am very, very obscure. These articles are very little read. True enough. There was a time, though, when I had to ask Our Lady for the courage to enter the public arena to try to articulate the binding nature of the precepts of the Divine Positive Law and the Natural Law as the foundation for just civil law. My running for lieutenant governor of New York on the Right to Life Party line twenty-four years ago now did not win me any friends in academe.
I knew that it wouldn't at the time. And I knew that participating as a surrogate speaker in a presidential campaign in 1995 and 1996 and running in a primary for the United States Senatorial nomination of the New York State Right to Life Party in 1998 against then United States Senator Alfonse M. D'Amato was not going to win me any favors in the world. It was only because I asked Our Lady to help me overcome the fear of human consequences that I, a terrible sinner who is absolutely no better than anyone else and is, with a plethora of faults and failings, far worse than most others, was able to weather the storms and to face the consequences of standing up for what I knew was right. Those decisions of years ago play a role yet to this very day in denying me employment in my chosen field of teaching political science at the college level despite very good letters of professional recommendation.
Thus, I write from experience. I know what it is to have a commitment to speak to the truth that can cost one in terms of worldly influence, prestige, respect and even employment. There are worse things, however, than being hated by others. There are worse things than losing an election. The worst thing of all is to lose one's immortal soul for all eternity. And to lose one's soul over seeking to please Barack Hussein Obama or Nancy Pelosi or Steny Hoyer or someone with a fat checkbook?
Never Any Dichotomy Between Faith and Action
Those wavering House Democrats who might be tempted to say that they are not required to act in accord with their "private" beliefs at all times have to reckon with this simple reminder by Pope Leo XIII of the falsity of that belief:
Hence, lest concord be broken by rash charges, let this be understood by all, that the integrity of Catholic faith cannot be reconciled with opinions verging on naturalism or rationalism, the essence of which is utterly to do away with Christian institutions and to install in society the supremacy of man to the exclusion of God. Further, it is unlawful to follow one line of conduct in private life and another in public, respecting privately the authority of the Church, but publicly rejecting it; for this would amount to joining together good and evil, and to putting man in conflict with himself; whereas he ought always to be consistent, and never in the least point nor in any condition of life to swerve from Christian virtue. (Pope Leo XIII, Immortale Dei, November 1, 1885.)
Any questions?
The messenger who writes this is, as noted just above, very flawed. I pray daily to live long enough to be able to make reparation for my own sins, each of which I abhor, I despise as I know how they wounded Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ in His Sacred Humanity during His Passion and Death and how they caused those Seven Swords of Sorrow to be pierced through and through the Immaculate Heart of Mary. It is, however, one thing to sin and to be sorry, to seek out the ineffable Mercy of the Divine Redeemer in the Sacred Tribunal of Penance. It is quite another to sin unrepentantly, worse yet to codify it in civil law and to force others to pay for its commission. No one can say that he is a friend of the Divine Redeemer and promote that which caused Him to suffer once in time and that wounds His Mystical Body today under cover of the civil law. No end justifies any promotion of sin under any pretext at all.
Salvation or votes? What is it going to be?
As I have written twice now in the past month, the hour is late. Nations, including our own, stand to be annihilated by the wrath of God if we do not heed Our Lady's Fatima Message and make reparation for our sins, especially during this season of Lent. In the midst of apostasy and betrayal on every side imaginable, we must enfold ourselves in the mantle of Our Lady's Brown Scapular of Mount Carmel as our shield and use her Most Holy Rosary as our weapon to pray in reparation for our sins and those of the whole world, offering our prayers and sufferings and sacrifices to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus through the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary.
May that Triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary come soon. Very soon! The chastisements that are upon us already will only worsen if we do not stand up in defense of the Holy Faith and plant a few seeds by our prayers, words and actions in defense of the rights of Christ the King and Mary our Immaculate Queen.
Isn't it time to pray a Rosary now?
Vivat Christus Rex!
Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us now and at the hour of our death. Amen.
Saint Joseph, pray for us.
Saints Peter and Paul, pray for us.
Saint John the Baptist, pray for us.
Saint John the Evangelist, pray for us.
Saint Michael the Archangel, pray for us.
Saint Gabriel the Archangel, pray for us.
Saint Raphael the Archangel, pray for us.
Saints Joachim and Anne, pray for us.
Saints Caspar, Melchior, and Balthasar, pray for us.
Saint Patrick, pray for us.
See also: A Litany of Saints
