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<\/a><\/p>\nMeanwhile, His will prevails, which is part of the reason why I don\u2019t spend much time worrying about the sanctity of voting.<\/p>\n
Oh sure, I\u2019ve explained how the First Past the Post system<\/a> works here in the U.S., and I\u2019ve said I get a healthy bit of advice from Chesterton\u2019s Democracy of the Dead<\/a>. I even said I\u2019ll be voting for Romney<\/a>, long before the polls made a victory look feasible.<\/p>\n But all this angst about voting, and it\u2019s purported effect on my immortal soul, etc? Balderdash.<\/p>\n And do you know why this anxiety is balderdash? Because you\u2019ve forgotten the hand of God in the election process. Oh, yes you have! Because you think elections are all about you.<\/p>\n Was it all about you when the Apostles had to replace Judas? Did they use the Roman democratic model in place at the time and give every apostle an equal vote? Nope. They basically drew straws and trusted the result to God.<\/p>\n So they proposed two, Joseph called Barsabbas, who was also known as Justus, and Matthias. Then they prayed, \u201cYou, Lord, who know the hearts of all, show which one of these two you have chosen to take the place in this apostolic ministry from which Judas turned away to go to his own place.\u201d Then they gave lots to them, and the lot fell upon Matthias, and he was counted with the eleven apostles<\/a>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Two?! Why only two? Did the lesser of two evils win that contest, I wonder?<\/p>\n Which brings me to that shibboleth of a phrase as well. Do you honestly believe that God does not work at all through the political parties, or the process to choose candidates? I\u2019m not saying that parties are a replacement for the Church, but what with 1 in 5 folks being unchurched nowadays, the \u201cchurched\u201d need to be involved in the process.<\/p>\n These days, I hear lots of wailing and gnashing of teeth about the sorry state of our political parties evidenced by their picking of these two nabobs we have to choose from. I\u2019m not sure who first had the bright idea of the notion of choosing \u201cthe lesser of two evils\u201d (when we have a choice), but I do know that my old friend (and mentor) Thomas\u00a0\u00e0\u00a0Kempis brought it up in his book The Imitation of Christ.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n It\u2019s right there in the 12th chapter of Book III, which is titled On Inward Consolation<\/em>\u00a0(irony alert). \u00a0<\/em>Chapter 12 is laudably titled, Of the Inward Growth of Patience, and of the Struggle against Evil Desires.\u00a0<\/em>It\u2019s a conversation between \u201cthe Disciple\u201d and Christ, and it starts off with the disciple wisely saying,<\/p>\n PATIENCE, O Lord God, is very necessary for me, I see, because there are many adversities in this life. No matter what plans I make for my own peace, my life cannot be free from struggle and sorrow.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Thomas, in his Christ voice, replies in a way that kills two birds with one stone,<\/p>\n My child, you are right, yet My wish is not that you seek that peace which is free from temptations or meets with no opposition, but rather that you consider yourself as having found peace when you have been tormented with many tribulations and tried with many adversities.<\/p>\n If you say that you cannot suffer much, how will you endure the fire of purgatory? Of two evils, the lesser is always to be chosen. Therefore, in order that you may escape the everlasting punishments to come, try to bear present evils patiently for the sake of God.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n You don\u2019t say.<\/p>\n It turns out that Thomas may have borrowed this turn of phrase from Geoffrey Chaucer. It shows up in line 470, Book II of his poem Troilus and Criseyde<\/em><\/a>. What\u2019s my favorite endorsement of Chaucer\u2019s, you ask? These, of course.<\/p>\n