From SOLT Priest Fr. Tony Anderson

Blessings and greetings from the northern border of Mexico.

Thank you, first of all, for reading my recent emails and watching those pro-life videos that were clear and sometimes gruesome.

At first glance, it seems that America made an irremediable blunder on Tuesday. At first glance it seems that many folks voted their pocketbook. The financial crisis dominated the minds of the electorate. Sarah Palin’s Western accent tragically obfuscated her universal values. In short, we are all going to hell in a hand basket – at first glance.

Thomas Jefferson said that for a democracy to function, the voting populace needs to be virtuous. If an American ignores abortion, Iraq, Iran, ecology, education and the host of questions that need to be factored in to decide how to vote, and he simply votes for the candidate who will do him the most good economically, then that American is not being virtuous. Politics is about the common good. Who voted Tuesday for the common good with a well-informed conscience did a virtuous thing.

So are you depressed at the outcome of the election? Disappointed with folks in your own parish who voted for the man who was backed by the abortion lobby in his presidential run? Are you angry?

Don’t be. Let us decide to trust God.

Who knows what good He plans to draw from what was a patent national blunder? We cannot read the mind of God or predict how this turn of events is part of his Providence.

We can, however, see the glass half full:

1. We have, in the United States of America, our first black president! Not long ago, to our shame, we had African slaves in this country. Now we have an African for a president! Racism be gone! We currently have abortion in our country, to our shame. Let us pray that a few years from now abortion become a dark chapter in our history – and a chapter just as closed as slavery is.

2. Not only is Obama an African-American, he is an African whose grandmother lives in Africa! Maybe God wants that continent to be filled with hope through Obama’s win. Maybe God wants strong ties between our country and Africa with all its human richness. Maybe God wants Obama to step out and help the victims of the genocide in Darfur?

3. Miraculously, miraculously, miraculously on Tuesday in the great State of California, the voters changed the State Constitution to preserve the sanctity of the family and define it as “one woman and one man.” In France, on the other hand, there have been strides made recently to widen the definition of marriage to include three-partner marriages. In California, Florida and Arizona on this November 4, clear-thinking citizens chose to defend the family as a God-given reality and not an infinitely malleable putty. With these three States, there are now 30 States that have amended their constitutions to protect the family and children from the radical homosexual agenda.

4. The Democrats do have a better immigration policy than the Republicans. Our documented and undocumented Mexican brothers and sisters may suffer less prejudice having a Democrat in the White House. This Democrat also happens to belong to a racial minority. Perhaps having a black man in the White House will help calm the fear and misunderstanding that breeds prejudice against the Mexican people in the United States.

5. President-elect Barack Hussein Obama was raised in Indonesia, one of the places in the world where Islam has a history of being fundamentalist and violent. Perhaps his contact with fundamentalist Islam will make him a better president in a world where violent Islam is going to challenge him and us. Perhaps Barack Hussein Obama’s very name will open doors in the Middle-east. Let us pray for wisdom for him: neither foolish capitulation nor foolish bellicosity.

6. We still live in a country where there is a rule of law and checks and balances. My father, a retired judge, opines that although the Freedom of Choice Act that Senator Obama promises to sign as his first presidential act does indeed threaten to wipe out all abortion restrictions in state and federal law, it may soon be found unconstitutional in the courts.

7. We have some gracious and noble losers in Senator McCain and George Bush that speak well of this civilization.

8. And the final good news on the second day after the election: Jesus is still Lord! The tomb is still empty! Love is still more powerful than hatred. Prayer is still more powerful than abortionist knives. Satan is still a mere creature. God is still all-powerful!

We prayed a novena before the election. Let us continue to be patriotic Christians. Pray for wisdom and strength for our president-elect. God give Barack Obama wisdom and strength. Amen.

Yours with Our Lady in the Most Holy Trinity,
Padre Antonio