In our gospel today Jesus basically says, “It’s time to get ready!” We may ask, “For what?” The answer Jesus gives is about the Kingdom of God, when the Son of Man will come.” But, there are many things for which we are getting ready. One of those things is the National election of new leadership.

Clearly, this is a hot topic in our country and all over our world. There are many opinions, concerns, emotions and ideas about what is or, will be happening over these next months. What is listed below here is a quotation from the beginning of an in depth conversation with Bishop Daniel E. Flores of Brownsville, Texas on two of the issues, namely immigration and abortion that surround this election. This is reprinted from “The Crux,” website and the full interview can be found at: https://cruxnow.com/interviews/2016/07/26/camosy-interview-bp-brownsville-tx/

“Seeing the effects on children of families separated by the border, Bishop Daniel E. Flores of Brownsville, Texas, is adamant that mass deportation policies represent “formal cooperation with an intrinsic evil - not unlike driving someone to an abortion clinic.”

In the case particularly of Central American mothers and children, and deportations into some parts of Mexico, “we are dealing with placing them in proximate danger of death,” he tells Crux.

Both the Republican deportation proposal and the Democrats’ abortion policies mean that “in diverse ways each [party] promotes a power structure that leaves the vulnerable and defenseless aside.”

But in an election cycle in which many American Catholics are turned off the political process by the choice of candidates, Flores believes they still need to participate and vote - even if only in state or local races.

Catholicism, he says, “is always realistic about the political dynamic in history. We neither expect it to usher in the eschaton, nor do we consider it useless. We try to work with it, participate in it, promote its progress, and oppose proposals that harm the human good.”

At its best, “politics is an imperfect expression of imperfect human beings trying to organize a society more justly.”

As a bishop whose diocese covers the four counties of the Rio Grande, Flores speaks from the experience of one of the poorest and most bilingual areas of the United States, where “people live connected lives” and “there is great generosity.” “I attribute that to a long process of inculturation of the Gospel,” he says.

But his people are frustrated that neither party’s candidate appears to speak to their concerns and values. Seeing Catholic voters paralyzed by this year’s choice of presidential candidates, Flores has some strong spiritual advice: discern, meditate, read the Sermon on the Mount, say the Rosary, and see the face of the crucified Christ “in the consequences of our decisions.”

As often happens in these types of election cycles, there is never really ANY candidate who follows the Catholic teaching of our Church fully. Thus, each individual must study the candidates, pray hard, discern through Faithful Citizenship the best way to move and know that when you are in that voting booth, you are voicing your opinion in a necessary way for the future of our country. I pray hard and long that what happens in November will be the best for all the people of our Country.

May God bless us all today and always!