It’s been quite a few weeks.
If you have logged in to Facebook or had conversations about the election, I am sure that you have seen people you know who are filled with euphoria or despondency as they deal with the results.
We have a pretty polarized country right now.
The election has made work really intense as well and very busy. I had planned to write one thing before the election and it changed in the aftermath of it.
The weekend before the election, Sen. Tim Kaine, a fellow Catholic and the Democratic nominee for vice president, quoted the Bible at a rally in Melbourne, Florida. While talking about Donald Trump, he quoted Proverbs: “There’s an Old Testament phrase that’s very graphic, like a dog that returneth to its own vomit.”
Kaine was using it to say that candidate Donald Trump kept making sexist comments.
I went running to my Bible to find the verse. It’s from Proverbs 26:11, “As a dog returns to its vomit, so fools repeat their folly.”
Wow. That’s intense. It may not be leprosy or locusts, but it had an impact on me. That powerful quote that can pretty much summarize the divisions in this country right now.
That leads me to think about the words of the Bible and their relevancy in this post 2016 election world.
I needed a break from my daily grind of working on the post-election coverage. Slowly, the meaning of the book of the Letter to the Romans wasn’t about proselytizing, but rather about guiding us through meditations. I started finding a peace in what St. Paul was writing that could be applied to now and how to heal our friends, and, perhaps, our fractured country.
Here are some things that jumped out at me:
“Do not be conquered by evil but conquer evil with good.” (Romans 12:21)
“Owe nothing to anyone, except to love one another; for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.” (Romans 13:8).
A little love would go a long way in our world.
“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” (Romans 15:13)
And as Pope Francis has just finished the Year of Mercy, it’s time to not forget these meditations.
It doesn’t matter where you fall on the political spectrum. These words that Paul wrote are something to think about in the weeks and months ahead.