“Taking a child, Jesus placed it in their midst and putting his arms around it, he said to them, “Whoever receives one child such as this in my name receives me; and whoever receives me, receives not me but the One who sent me.”
It is a blessing that we hear these words as we get ready to choose a new President and Vice President for this country of ours. We are called to exercise our right to vote our conscience as citizens and as Christians, followers of Christ Jesus, while reminding ourselves that the children of today will be the
citizens of tomorrow.
On the ballot, we have two amendments. The first is asking people to decide if they agree to terminate a pregnancy at any point of gestation if a parent requests it. Parents are guardians of the children in the sight of God. As when Cain took Abel’s life, we will be asked by God:” Where is So and So?” We will
not be able to answer:” Was I so and so’s keeper, for indeed we are. “Whoever receives a child such as this receives not me but the One who sent me.”
The second amendment is about legalizing “the leaf”. Many of us do not have any objection to that. But here again, we are forgetting about the kids, our children. They will be exposed to the smoke, the smell, and even the immediate danger of finding where we keep the thing and being tempted to try it. Think about adults being under the influence, losing sight of their surroundings, and thus exposing the children they are supervising.
Are we also thinking about the danger of becoming intoxicated or even addicted and then we would need counseling? Or even worse, this mar…is not strong enough, we need something higher, stronger and we get to the point where we see so many of our brothers and sisters today, in rehabilitation places, trying hard to heal. So, we’d better think twice before choosing what would be wiser: to vote yes or to vote no on amendment three.
Dear friends of Jesus, we gather every Sunday to worship the Lord, to listen to Jesus, and to promise him we will let his words permeate us, change us, and transform us into the people he wants us to become little by little. How much are we being faithful to letting the word change us into the new beings he so desires us to be?
We are citizens of a country, but we are also citizens of heaven. The Psalm of the Mass reminds us of that. “Blessed the nation whose God is the Lord, the people he has chosen for his own inheritance…The eyes of the Lord are upon those who fear him, to deliver them from death and preserve them in spite of famine.”
These past weeks, many crimes have been committed by children. Think about the causes of their behavior. Most of the time, it’s about drugs, children’s abuse or neglect. Please pray for change and work for it to happen.