Fr. Franco's Letters

The Flame: January/February 2025

Dear Readers of the Flame,

The Inauguration of President elect Donald Trump will take place on January 20, 2025. On election night, November 5, 2024, I was at my desk writing an article for the bulletin for the next Sunday. At that time the results of the election were still up in the air. This forced me to think beyond responding to the specific person who would become president. How ought Catholic Christians respond to election results in a democratic republic like the United States?

Bulletin articles tend to be short. I have expended those thoughts as we begin this year. I believe that these initial four points provide some basic responses and attitudes that can frame our approach to living our faith in the United States at this time.

PRAY. We are called to pray for our civil leaders. St. Paul put it this way in the first century:

First of all, then, I ask that supplications, prayers, petitions, and thanksgivings be offered for everyone, for kings and for all in authority, that we may lead a quiet and tranquil life in all devotion and dignity. This is good and pleasing to God our savior, who wills everyone to be saved and to come to knowledge of the truth (1 Timothy 2:1-4)

We know that the President and his administration will be faced with enormous challenges. We need to earnestly pray that God give them wisdom and prudence as they seek to serve the common good. This was St. Paul’s instruction to Timothy and the early Church. This mandate is applicable in every age.

LOVE: During a daily Mass in the Fall our first reading was Ephesians 6:10-20, the classic text that gives us teaching on spiritual warfare. As I preached on this passage, I quoted verse 12:

For our struggle is not with flesh and blood but with the principalities, with the powers, with the world rulers of this present darkness, with the evil spirits in the heavens. (Ephesians 6:12)

I reminded people that our enemy is the devil and his minions, not our neighbor who may have differing political views than we do. We may be tempted to “demonize” those people. We cannot do that. We must respect and love them, whether our good will is returned to us or not.

KEEP THINGS IN PERSPECTIVE: Yes, this was the most important election...until 2028. With all the media hype and rhetoric that precedes a presidential election, it is easy to get sucked into a hysteria that makes us overly anxious. We need to remember that Jesus Christ is still Lord of all that is visible and invisible, no matter who the president is. As Christian citizens of the United States, we must certainly participate in civil life on earth. And some Catholic Christians may become deeply involved in our political system. May it be God’s path to holiness for them. However, in the end, we still need to remember that our lasting citizenship is in heaven. (Philippians 3:20) To paraphrase St. Thomas More: Faithful citizens of the United States, but God’s citizens first.

NO PRESIDENT WILL TAKE AWAY OUR CROSSES: To be a disciple of Jesus means denying ourselves, taking up our cross each day and following the Lord. Our lives are filled with both blessings and sacrifices. In all these things, we give thanks, for this is the will of God for us in Christ Jesus. (see 1 Thessalonians 5:18) Promises made by candidates running for office are often unfulfilled. Even if they were, Christ is still our true happiness. And he demands that we take up our cross.

As Catholics who have experienced the power of the Holy Spirit, we have been enlightened. We see a picture that is bigger than the political landscape. And we are part of a larger plan:

In all wisdom and insight, he has made known to us the mystery of his will in accord with the favor that he set forth in him as a plan for the fullness of times, to sum up all things in Christ, in heaven and on earth. (Ephesians 1:8b-10)

St. Paul prayed for:

May the eyes of [your] hearts be enlightened, that you may know what is the hope that belongs to his call, what are the riches of the glory in his inheritance among the holy ones, and what is the surpassing greatness of his power for us who believe, in accord with the exercise of his great might…(Ephesians 1:18-19)

St. Paul offers these and similar prayers for the churches he writes to because he knows that they can easily become distracted by the day-to-day events of life (including politics) and forget the overarching plan of God. He knew that religion was not icing on the cake of Judeo-Romano culture. The faith he proclaimed gave those early Christians a prophetic lens through which they would view all of life.

St. Peter put it this way:

Moreover, we possess the prophetic message that is altogether reliable. You will do well to be attentive to it, as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. (2 Peter 1:19)

The gospel of Jesus Christ is the shining lamp in a spiritually darkened world. It provides us with the light needed by which we see and interpret the events of the world.

These words of St. Peter follow a brief description of his experience on the Mount of Transfiguration. If you recall the event, God the Father has the final word. As cloud enveloped the heavenly visitors of Moses and Elijah, as well as Jesus, with Peter, James and John, a voice spoke from the cloud: This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him. (Matthew 17:5b) It is when we are deeply tuned in the voice and person of Jesus, when we have his words and teachings resonating in our hearts and minds, it is then that we can properly interpret the events of our world.

As we enter this New Year 2025, let us make it our goal to know, love and serve Jesus more and more. Again, St. Paul:

And this is my prayer: that your love may increase ever more and more in knowledge and every kind of perception, to discern what is of value, so that you may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ. (Philippians 1:9-10)

God’s blessings to you and your loved ones in 2025.

In Christ,
Fr. Bob Franco