Fr. George Rutler in a recent homily quoted the late Edward Gibbon who wrote about the decline of once-great civilizations.

“In the end, more than freedom, they wanted security. They wanted a comfortable life, and they lost it all — security, comfort, and freedom. When the Athenians finally wanted not to give to society but for society to give to them, when the freedom they wished for most was freedom from responsibility, then Athens ceased to be free and was never free again.”

Fr. Rutler notes that the only people who have the selfless energy that builds noble societies are those like the saints in the picture (right). “The real leaders are not those who hypnotize naïve people into thinking that they are the source of hope. Those who can rescue nations from servility to selfishness are not on slick campaign posters, but in stark black and white photographs like that taken on Molokai in 1889.”

The picture (Father thinks it is the first ever taken of two saints together) is of St. Damien of Molokai and St. Marianne Cope.

Let us pray for holy vocations to the priesthood and religious life on this election day!