A powerful way to pray for the U.S. elections
by Terry Modica

It seems to me that this election boils down to two key issues that will decide who votes for whom: Prosperity and Pro-life. Generally speaking, those who value prosperity more than the lives of abortion-endangered babies will vote for the candidates of the Democrat Party, for the Democrats are promising, from Al Gore on down the line, that they will continue and increase our country's prosperity. And the voters who are pro-life and want to see our country become more pro-life will vote for Republicans, from George W. Bush on down the line, because the Republican Party is officially against abortion.

Here is our challenge and a powerful way to pray for God's preference of president to win the election:

If you are pro-life and are already praying for Bush to become our next president, consider how you have been contributing to Gore's campaign. That's right. You -- and also I -- have been encouraging people to vote for the Democrats. We have been stating with the way we live that we are pro-prosperity.

Every time we purchased a shiny, new car rather than run our old car into the ground first, we have witnessed to our children and neighbors and coworkers, etc., that prosperity is good and we should do anything to protect and increase the lifestyle that the Democrats are claiming to have given us. (I said "claiming to" because I think they are taking more credit than is due them for this.)

By choosing to have two incomes in order to live in a bigger, newer house with the trimmings that wealthy people have and to buy the latest and greatest electronic appliances before the old ones have worn out, we are proclaiming that prosperity is what we should always strive for. Gore is promising to help us achieve it. Our example has been a great big billboard that says: "Vote for Gore!"

God gives us what we need, but we want more, more, more. He usually gives us more than we need, but still we want more, more, more. Buying material possessions is not sinful, but choosing to earn more to buy more at the cost of being home for our children, when a simpler lifestyle would suffice, says that lifestyles of prosperity are more important than the lives of our children. If we don't have to work that second job, but do, we are not being pro-life.

Teaching our children that they should choose careers based on high salaries is teaching them to vote for candidates who promise prosperity.

Even small spendings on unnecessary stuff and a little emphasis on earning more is giving a message that we should vote in favor of whatever and whomever is offering us prosperity. The impact is less, but it's the same campaign.

We need to look honestly at our lives and pay attention to the message we've been giving about prosperity. If we have promoted prosperity, we have promoted Gore as our next president. Our lips might say, "Vote for Bush", and we might have yard signs and bumper stickers with Bush's name on them, but our lives speak louder than any sound our words can make. Our lives have been helping the prosperity promisers win the election.

So what do we do about this? Here is how to pray most powerfully for the outcome of this or any election. Add this to any Rosaries or Novenas or prayer services you are doing. Since it is our lives that have promoted the Democrats' prosperity promise, we should use our lives as a prayer weapon. Instead of condemning political candidates and their voters who are not pro-life, we should sincerely and humbly admit our own sin and repent -- "blessed are those who mourn" -- over our own personal contribution to the problem.

The most complete way of doing this, of course, is in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. We should also fast in penance for our personal materialism and the greed of the nation. We should ask God to undo the damage we have caused and shed His light of truth on the greed we have inflicted upon others as they wrestle with their values and their decision on who to vote for.

Let those who are without sin cast the first stones against politicians who are pro-abortion.
And let those who recognize their sin lead this nation into repentance. Amen!