Choose Wisely: An Election Year Anamnesis

Choose Wisely.

This election year anamnesis comes to us via a “campaign” originated by Mennonite pastors encouraging congregations to celebrate communion on election day.  Of course, as Catholics, we already celebrate communion every day as our one great hope of unity, the place where our Lord really and sacramentally meets us, a living reality much bigger than all of us, the holy mystery that miraculously holds us together.  All the more reason to call to mind, especially on the day when (for those of us who are U.S. citizens) our political divisions will manifest themselves most directly, that we “meet at the same table, with the same host, to remember the same things:”

• to remember that real power in this world — the power to save, to transform, to change – ultimately rests not in political parties or presidents or protests but in the life, the death, and the resurrection of Jesus;

• to remember that, through the Holy Spirit, this power dwells within otherwise ordinary people who as one body continue the mission of Jesus: preaching good news to the poor, freeing the captives, giving sight to the blind, releasing the oppressed, and proclaiming the year of the Lord’s favor (Luke 4:16-21).

• to remember that freedom — true freedom — is given by God and is indeed not free; it comes with a cost and it looks like a cross;

• to remember our sin and need to repent;

• to remember that the only Christian nation in this world is the Church, the holy nation that crosses all human-made boundaries and borders;

• to remember that our passions are best placed within the passion of Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God (Hebrews 12:2);

• to remember that we are not to conform to the patterns of this world but to be transformed by the renewing of our minds (Romans 12:2);

• to remember that God’s strength is made perfect in weakness;

• and to re-member the body of Christ as the body of Christ, confessing the ways in which partisan politics has separated us from God and each other.

  This year on November 6th, in order to be reminded of these things, I intend to be particularly conscientious about going to Mass alongside my brothers and sisters, some of whom will be making different choices than I will, yet all of whom have a share in the body and blood of our Lord.