Civic Catholic Duties and Christ the King By Fr. Gerrity on October 20, 2024
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Reflection on Catholic Civic Duties by a Traditional Catholic Priest video
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Civic Catholic Duties and Christ the King

Summary

Introduction: Duality of Nature

It's extremely apt that right before the Sun of Christ the King, and with all the sermons, all the epistles and gospels and sermons and feasts that we had before throughout this month, it's very apt that we have this gospel right now where our Lord commands us to give to Caesar that which is Caesar's. It's a it's a beautiful answer that explains perfectly what our duty in this world is. As Catholics, we have a bit of a duality. I mean, every human being has two sides to their nature. Each one of us has a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Each one of us is part angel and saint, and another part of us is demon and sinner. This is just a part of the fact of humanity. After the. After the fall through original sin.

So now we live in a world that is governed by men. God is the only source of all authority. God is the only source of all power. God is the only source of all good. But he works through men. He works through human beings. He does not just work directly upon us all the time. He uses means to accomplish this. He uses people to be able to accomplish his goals and his ends. And this is something we must recollect all the time. We are constantly divided between the good and the evil. We are constantly supposed to be striving toward God. And yet the world, the flesh, the devil want to pull us away.

Christ's Kingship and Government

So when we look upon civic government, when we look upon civil government, we look upon nations. When we look upon the institutions that humans govern and rule in this earth, whether it be our own selves, whether it be families, whether it be a nation, a state or even the church, there's a bit of a conflict within us because they share exactly the same duality, the same double nature that we have ourselves, just magnified. The good that can be done by these institutions being much larger than individuals and being more coordinated individuals is much greater. But therefore, also the damage can be much greater. And so therefore, it behooves us to try to understand what is their goal.

One thing we must understand is that they will never be perfect. As much as we would love to believe that there was once upon a time and such and such a country and such and such a place, an institution that was perfect. Never existed. Even Christ, with his 12 apostles, still had a traitor in his midst. And he had ten apostles flee from him, one who denied him—the leader. So even back then, they had problems. Human nature failed in its directive.

Obligation to Society

One of the dangers we have as Catholics, and shall we say specifically traditional Catholics, is we tend to let the perfect become the enemy of the good. It's just a way of saying that essentially we focus so much on ideals that we tend not to notice reality and we tend to overlook our obligations in the here and the now to focus entirely on what we think should be.

So just as an example in our country, yes, unfortunately, everything is going to the dogs. I think we can all agree to that. And yet one of our problems that we have is that we tend to romanticize things. So on the one hand, many of us will try to ignore the fact that we belong to this country and try to create a fabrication of what should be, what this country should be. Florida should be a surf town of Spain. It's not. Sorry. And so we can't live as if that were the case. I should have been born in 16th-century France. You weren't. I'm sorry. I know some freshmen who think that way, but no, that's not true. This is not how we are supposed to live.

We're not supposed to live in the fantasy, in the ideal, or in the goal. We are supposed to use the fantasy, the ideal, and the goal to help ourselves strive to perfect the real. That is why we are given principles. The principles are the guiding posts for how we are supposed to live our lives, how we are supposed to work within the society within which we live so that we can make it better.

The Role of Patriotism

Because here is the problem. Just as it is composed of human beings who are very fallible and unfortunately through their desire for power or their or whatever else may be their ambition, they do lots of damage. But we also have an obligation to try to elevate the society in which we live. And again, that could be just over our very soul. Our Lord Jesus Christ is king. And so that means we must make him king in how we live. Our individual lives should be governed by the Almighty King, period. Our families should be ruled by our Lord Jesus Christ King. Our country should be ruled by our Lord Jesus Christ King. And our church should be run by our Lord Jesus Christ King. And ultimately, the entire world should be living according to the Rule of Christ the King. We're a long, long way from that actually happening.

Elections and Civic Duty

So how do we start? We start with doing and saying to find whatever we have within our power in the here and now. It's very apt that we have elections coming up. We have a civic duty. I'm not going to tell you how to vote except on those two issues: the fourth, third and fourth amendments. Yes. Pose them both, period, no matter what. I can say that apparently I talked to a lawyer. The fact of the matter is. When it comes down to and what comes to certain candidates, that is going to end up being your conscience, that you're going to have to vote. And I won't get into the principles of that right now. I already have on many occasions. But we have to make sure that we do follow through with our civil duty.

Sometimes that means abstaining from voting for certain things or candidates or whatever else. If that's your civic duty, if that is how you're going to perfect yourself and your conscience, do it. But you have to follow your conscience. You have to sanctify yourself, your choices, and your use of the powers that are given to you in this country. You have to use them to sanctify yourself and you have to use them to try to sanctify everything around you. That is the gift that is given to each and every one of us. That is the power that is given to each and every one of us.

Christ's Reign in All Aspects of Life

Those poor people in Cuba or Venezuela or Nicaragua. I just even heard about Brazil, too. There's nothing they can do. Quite literally, they have no power, apart from just living their lives as good Catholics in their home and trying to make their family good Catholics. And that is all that they can do. But if that is all, we can do that and we do it absolutely and wholeheartedly, if we are able to do more, we do more. We give more because that is what God calls us to do: sanctification through our duty of state.

Sanctifying Daily Life

For some people, it's the simplest possible thing, just saying your daily rosary. If that is all you can manage, do it. If you're able to run the country as it's supposed to be run, do it. If you're able to be a priest to be able to help souls, do it or a nun who's able to pray and spend her entire life dedicated to the sanctification of souls through prayers and good works. Do it. If it's in your home and your family and just making sure your children have the best possible Catholic education and the best formation in the virtues that are necessary for their salvation and to extend the grace of God throughout us, throughout society. Do it. Whatever is your civic duty, we must do it absolutely and with all of our hearts. We are obliged to do this. There's a reason. It's called an obligation.

Virtue of Patriotism and Civic Responsibility

A true sense of patriotism oftentimes is very much lacking. Now, careful. Patriotism is a much maligned word. It is an abused word. That doesn't actually mean what the modern world tends to say it does. It's an actual virtue of love, of country. And you can love your country even if it stinks. Even if it is horrible, even if it is completely anti-Catholic, you can still love it and try to save it. And this goes above and beyond even just our country. It goes into the very heart of our church.

Challenges in Church and Society

The Church needs saving. The church needs people to do their jobs and to do them well. The church needs people to start fighting back and giving Christ his proper due while people are not doing that, while they are trying to tear him off of his throne. As Archbishop Clifford's great book is: They Have Uncrowned Him. We put the crown back on his head and we keep it there. That is our job. It does not matter what everybody else is doing. We fight for the rights of Christ the King no matter what, no matter where, and no matter what it is given to us to do.

Attacks on Christ's Kingship

If it is the smallest thing, as children just learning our prayers and learning to practice discipline and learning to practice obedience, even that is making Christ the King over their souls and over their homes. Whether it be parents going to work and providing, confronting the evils of the world, and being true witnesses and testimonials of the reign of Christ the King. Whether it be the home being itself a safeguard and a protection for the members within for the purpose of maintaining the kingship of Christ and harmony with the grace of Christ in that home. Whatever it may be, or whether it be overtaking the country in which we live and making it the Catholic country that it is supposed to be.

Avoiding Idealization and Myths

We also need to do that. We need to strive so that the church is reformed, and Christ is put back on his throne by the people who are supposed to proclaim him in the first place. All of this work falls down to us doing our jobs, doing our daily duty, no matter how great, no matter how small. The fact of the matter is, Christ is king. He does rule. And the only good that comes in this world comes from him and only from him. So long as we are trying to live out a certain ideal, or so long as we are trying to idealize our country or our society or our church or anything else, we are not doing service to Christ the King. We are making ourselves the king.

Living in the Concrete Reality

Christ is king in real-time, here and now, and always. And that is what we must focus on. There are two traps for us. The one is to live in the ideal. And the other one is to make the here and now the ideal. And that's where you get stories and rumors of things like, "Ah, George Washington was baptized by an angel on his deathbed so that he went to heaven." It's a way to sort of baptize and sanctify the myth around this country so that it feels like we are in a truly sanctified society or a really Catholic society when obviously that is not the case. Those kinds of things don't belong to reality. There is no record whatsoever of a baptism of George Washington, though many people believe it. There's no record of it.

Christ's Reign Over All Institutions

But the fact of the matter is, we can't live in that fantasy world where the United States or any country right now is a paragon of Catholicism. Even the Vatican, which is a sovereign state, we cannot call it a paragon of Catholicism. It is not living out Christ being their king, not any of these countries, not any country. Does that mean, therefore, that we turn our back on them? Do we ignore them? Do we behave as though they don't exist? Do we stop paying our taxes because we know our taxes go to bad things? You think for a second the Romans put all their taxes to only good things?

Think about the denarius that our Lord told was to be paid to the Romans. That probably paid for his crucifixion, if you think about it. We are supposed to pay our taxes. We are supposed to live as fruitful and productive members of the society to which we belong, period. We're obliged. It is a rule of the virtue of patriotism. It is the rule of the virtue of belonging to a society that God has given to us. But we should never, ever imagine that we are living in an ideal or perfect society. Doesn't exist, hasn't existed, never will exist until we get to heaven. There will be imperfection. And there will be corruption. There will be treason. There will be betrayal against the kingship of Christ. There will be attacks against the kingship of Christ. There will be selfishness and corruption of power. There will be all sorts of things which we see all around us, because that is what human nature does and is.

Conclusion: Living Our Duty to Christ the King

And the only path to sanctification of all of these institutions is always going to be through Christ's kingship. And that is why we must focus on that. We must acknowledge the ideal of Christ being king, of being the ruler of every ruler, of every pope, of every bishop, of every president and king, of every faculty and possibility, of every father of a family, of every child in the family. He is king of all of them. And we must make it so in the capacities that we have. So we must live out that ideal in the smallest, simplest, most concrete possible way. Not getting lost on the path, not letting ourselves get swamped by other things. Distracted by the fury of the media. Distracted by the ideals of what medieval Christendom must have been like, distracted by an old-fashioned sensibility of what might have been, or distracted by the myth around the actual world we live in.

We live in the concrete here and now. Christ must reign. He must reign. And it starts with my daily duty, my everyday action, and me doing everything I possibly can from the simplest sacrifice and the smallest prayer to the greatest possible gift of self in our everyday life, making God and Christ our King for all eternity, regardless of our position, regardless of how much we can give, regardless of what it is we need, regardless of anything else. All goes back to Christ the King, and for that purpose, we must live to give glory to Him and to Him alone. And by doing so, we can find perfect peace in his eternal kingdom and heaven.