{"id":30033,"date":"2011-07-26T16:44:48","date_gmt":"2011-07-26T16:44:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/community\/theanchoress\/?p=30033"},"modified":"2017-03-06T14:12:59","modified_gmt":"2017-03-06T14:12:59","slug":"politics-destroys-the-soul","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/2011\/07\/26\/politics-destroys-the-soul\/","title":{"rendered":"Politics Destroys the Soul -UPDATE"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

I\u2019ve been suspecting it for a while, but I think Dorothy Day\u2019s sentiment sort of makes it very plain.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really only love God as much as I love the person I love the least.\u201d \u2014 Dorothy Day<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I want to love God with all my heart and all my being.<\/p>\n

But I can\u2019t stand anyone<\/em> in politics, right now. And I realize, today \u2014 for the millionth time \u2014 that it\u2019s not a healthy thing for me, spiritually; my ability to slip into a broad mood of disliking says something about my capacity for loving God, and also how easily I fool myself.<\/p>\n

I can\u2019t stand the politicians because of the posturing, the lying, the arrogance, the spinning, the whole\u2026just the whole thing. I can\u2019t stand them, anymore, or their pals in the press. But I must learn to love the person even though I dislike the policies, the politics, and that\u2019s only going to happen through prayer and the grace of God, because clearly my heart\u2019s a bit shriveled.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s the only way \u2014 I must pray for the good of all of these politicians I don\u2019t like; pray for their salvation, just as I must pray each day for my own.<\/p>\n

I do<\/em> that. But I guess, not enough!<\/p>\n

So, I think this noonhour is a good time to take out the rosary, to pray \u2014 for the good of these folks I can\u2019t bring myself to love or to trust \u2014 and to pray that my own heart can grow in love and understanding.<\/p>\n

And, for any growth or understanding that comes<\/em> to stay, and last\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n

UPDATE: A little help and perspective from Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King<\/a>:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201c. . .we begin to love our enemies and love those persons that hate us whether in collective life or individual life by looking at ourselves.<\/p>\n

A second thing that an individual must do in seeking to love his enemy is to discover the element of good in his enemy, and every time you begin to hate that person and think of hating that person, realize that there is some good there and look at those good points which will over-balance the bad points.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve said to you on many occasions that each of us is something of a schizophrenic personality. We\u2019re split up and divided against ourselves. And there is something of a civil war going on within all of our lives. There is a recalcitrant South of our soul revolting against the North of our soul. And there is this continual struggle within the very structure of every individual life. There is something within all of us that causes us to cry out with Ovid, the Latin poet, \u201cI see and approve the better things of life, but the evil things I do.\u201d<\/p>\n

There is something within all of us that causes us to cry out with Plato that the human personality is like a charioteer with two headstrong horses, each wanting to go in different directions. There is something within each of us that causes us to cry out with Goethe, \u201cThere is enough stuff in me to make both a gentleman and a rogue.\u201d There is something within each of us that causes us to cry out with Apostle Paul, \u201cI see and approve the better things of life, but the evil things I do.\u201d<\/p>\n

So somehow the \u201cisness\u201d of our present nature is out of harmony with the eternal \u201coughtness\u201d that forever confronts us. And this simply means this: That within the best of us, there is some evil, and within the worst of us, there is some good. When we come to see this, we take a different attitude toward individuals. The person who hates you most has some good in him; even the nation that hates you most has some good in it; even the race that hates you most has some good in it.<\/p>\n

And when you come to the point that you look in the face of every man and see deep down within him what religion calls \u201cthe image of God,\u201d you begin to love him in spite of. No matter what he does, you see God\u2019s image there. There is an element of goodness that he can never sluff off. Discover the element of good in your enemy. And as you seek to hate him, find the center of goodness and place your attention there and you will take a new attitude.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

To \u201csee Christ in everyone you meet\u201d<\/strong> is something that St. Benedict charges us to do. That\u2019s a great gift, a very great grace. And it\u2019s one I must ask for. I may be better at it than I was ten years ago, but I\u2019m still not good enough, and never will be, by my own efforts.<\/p>\n

UPDATE II:<\/strong> More to ponder from Julie Davis<\/strong> <\/a> who emailed me with this one:<\/p>\n

That your enemies have been created is God\u2019s doing; that they hate you and wish to ruin you is their own doing. What should you say about them in your own mind? \u201cLord be merciful to them, forgive them their sins, put the fear of God in them, change them!\u201d You are loving in them not what they are, but what you would have them to become. \u2013St. Augustine<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Oh, Justice and Mercy, will I ever<\/em> get you guys lined up and balanced?<\/p>\n