A reflection by Bernard Keele, OFM. 

Oh my! What tumultuous and confusing times we find ourselves in! As this nation battles for who is in charge or who holds the keys of the kingdom, so to speak, the insecurity of its citizens is undeniable. What is at stake? You will get different answers depending upon whom you ask.

Regardless of which path this nation is directed towards politically, as believers, the sovereignty of God should give us an anchor in these stormy and polemic seas. While our ship is being tossed to and fro, like the apostles, we can be assured that Jesus is aware of our predicament and is there to say to the storm, "Be still!"; then He will turn to us and say, "Be not afraid!"

It has been said that the relationship between Church and State can be compared to the soul and the body. The Church being the soul and spirit of the corporal body, the State. Both are intrinsic to the proper and ordered functioning of our human society. Ideally, both work in harmony, and both have dominion and jurisdiction over their respective areas of concern.

Historically, the Church, has labored under friendly civic governances and hostile ones, too. Ironically, the Church continued to spread the message of God's reign quite effectively in the early centuries immediately following the death and resurrection of Jesus, when to be a Christian was odious to the paganism of the Roman Empire. The Edict of Milan, a letter signed in the year 313 A.D. by the two emperors, Constantine in the West and Licinius in the East, secured religious toleration and allowed for public expression of Christianity that eventually led to the close association between Church and State in the centuries that followed.

God's sovereignty can be actively intended and passively understood, individually embraced and collectively lived. From God's perspective, he desires that all peoples of the world be saved and come into the knowledge and practice of the Truth. From our perspective, we can give credence to God's plan or not. We have free will. Our communities can choose to cooperate within Christian principles, and indeed, draw from this ethos to formulate a public, outward, civil structure reflecting and supporting the expectations of those living from such ethics and morals.

The United States has historically been known as a Christian nation because the attitudes and beliefs of its lawmakers have traditionally been culturally imbibed with past generations of believers in God's promises.

God's kingdom is within and without. We carry God's kingdom both publicly and privately. As we seek to exercise our freedoms, as children of God, toward political resolutions of justice within the context of God's ultimate desire for salvation and redemption of humanity, our obligation to pray for peace has never been so clear. May this United States of America, consecrated under the patronage of The Immaculate Conception, find its soul strong and its body whole as we move forward towards political resolution and integration. Hail Mary, full of grace and love, pray for us. Amen.