A deep-Catholic perspective you will not hear in Political Science 101 or on CNN or at a MAGA rally.
What is Politics? From the Greek word polis, meaning city, politics is the manner...dense, complex, multifaceted...including activities, traditions, ideas, associations, laws, and other...by which a community organizes its life, governs itself, and distributes its goods (including wealth, power, status) and tasks.
Politics of the Trinity. The inner life of the Trinity is absolute, boundless mega-hyper-uber-politics. All creaturely politics, at every analogous level within the hierarchy of being, is at its best a reflection of that life. The interaction of the Three is without limitation, flaw, negation of any kind. It is eternal and immutable (by our understanding of mutation) but is best imagined not as stagnant but as an infinite, everlasting event of boundless synergy, generosity, donation-reception, creativity and mutuality in delight. It is the Gold Standard of politics.
Politics of Heaven. The created angels and saints, especially our Blessed Mother Mary, share eternally, but always as creatures, in the shared life of the Trinity. This again is a dynamism of love, encounter, surprise, creativity, exaltation, gratitude and praise. This blessed life overflows from heaven, always through Jesus (and secondarily through Mary and the Church), into our world, created in all goodness-truth-and-beauty but fallen now into sin, guilt, and death.
Politics of Spiritual Angelic Combat. Prior to the creation of humanity there was already a political battle in heaven when Lucifer, the greatest of the angels, led a revolution against God. He self-defined as his own deity and refused to adore. One third of the angelic hosts followed him. St. Michael (whose feast day, shared with Gabriel and Raphael, is today as I write) decisively cast him from heaven and into hell. But he was given permission to roam and eventually (through the consent of Adam and Eve) rule the earth.
Politics of the Garden of Eden. The primal political act was our parents' trust in the deceit of Satan and distrust in God in their eating of the forbidden fruit. That singular act opened human history to the politics of hell.
Politics of Hell. This we all know so well: violence, domination, egotism, greed, deceit, communism, fascism, racism, male chauvinism, sexual liberalism, jihadism, and all the isms. It is gun violence, abuse of women, predation upon children, the invasion of Ukraine, terrorism, degradation of the Creation, and polarization in hatred.
Politics of the City of God, the Church. In Jesus and his Church we on earth participate in the politics of heaven, albeit in a disguised and often troubling manner. This politics is the reception of the Word of God, participation in the sacramental polity and economy, reception of absolution and the Body and Blood of Christ, and life in the Holy Spirit. It is the life of Love, in Truth. This is humble, hidden, often anonymous and covert, but a politics of luminosity, radiance, invulnerability, generosity and ecstasy.
Politics of Tragedy and Martyrdom. In the risen Jesus, the Holy Trinity is decisively victorious over the politics of hell. But in a hidden manner. The victory is not complete and manifest until the final end of time. Until then, the politics of hell retains a certain dominance. And so, testimony to the Kingdom of Heaven normatively concludes, as with John the Baptist, Jesus and all the martyrs, in "failure" and apparent tragedy. Suffering, death, and defeat are the ordinary consequences of a life on earth lived in communion with the Trinity. And so we retain, until the end of history, a realism, an expectation of the worst, a determination to endure to the end, a dependence always on the grace of God in the face of trial and terror.
Politics of Prudence. Everything creaturely, since the Fall, is broken, flawed, wounded, dysfunctional, problematic, disordered, and mortal...inherently. Our salvation and sanctification, in the Holy Spirit, strangely left in place, until Christ returns, the multiple systems of evil, political and otherwise. The Event of Salvation continues in us, as we engage and overcome these systems. Our political efforts are always imperfect, partial, tentative, and flawed. We have on this earth no lasting city, no utopia. And so we renounce "ideology" in the sense of an absolute system of thought that promises fulfillment here in this world. In Hope, and with all our various hopes, we joyfully accept failure, tragedy, and disappointment. We encourage each other and push forward with courage.
Politics for the Poor, the Suffering, the Least. This goes without saying but it must be said: Our politics focuses always upon those so close to the heart of our Savior: those who suffer.
Politics that is (small c) catholic. Out of our Catholic faith, we "catholically" welcome with open arms all that is good-true-beautiful and work with others of all faiths and political loyalties to protect and enhance the Common Good.
Politics of the Immediate, the Concrete, the Small. Primarily, politics is our here-and-now everyday life, our actual engagement with those closest to us: the mother caring for children, the children studying, the rich web of work, family, friendship, and faith that is each specific life. Public policy is, of course, necessary in such a complex, interrelated world as our own. It is not nothing. But it is often overrated, inflamed with passions of resentment and fear. Or, it is inflated with expectations of messianic efficacy. On the right we have Trumpian rage and idolatry of the market and the nation; on the left we have Trump-Derangement-Syndrome, arrogance of the technocratic-liberal elite, and trust in the state or the ongoing "revolution." Policy is best considered in sobriety, serenity, and open-minded deliberation and study.
Politics of Drama. Ours is not a politics of progress, evolution, dialectics or an imagined "arc of history." Rather, every age, generation and individual life is a DRAMA, an engagement of freedoms...personal, communal, heavenly and demonic...that is entirely unpredictable and absolutely consequential. So, for example, in our own time we saw in the 1960s the heavenly triumph of Civil Rights and the emergence of a countercultural critique of a society become arrogant, complacent and materialistic even as we sank into a hell of genderless androgyny, sexual chaos, and genocide of the smallest. Personally and communally: the conflict continues. We are called to fraternity in fierce, agonistic engagement, to unending vigilance, Godly courage, and heavenly holiness of life.
Politics of Masculinity/Femininity. Human flourishing at every level flows from the mutual tenderness, reverence and fidelity between man and woman. This is a hard binary, intended from the very beginning by our Creator to image the inner life of the Trinity. Our wellbeing depends upon masculinity as: humility, chastity, fidelity, paternity, fraternity, provision and protection, fortitude, gentle strength, justice, emotional sobriety, and prudence. Our well being depends upon femininity as; compassion, communion, psychological resilience, interior serenity, trust, receptivity, selfless generosity, unconditional love, emotional intelligence, patience, and holiness. Above all, masculinity inform, influence, chasten and strengthen each other in their distinct identities in a mutuality of affection, respect, loyalty and self-donation.
Politics of Chastity and Fidelity to the Vow. One of the foundational errors of modernity is to absolutely separate the public, as in politics, from the private, as in sexuality. Wrong! Our sexuality is our most political engagement. It is the way we procreate. (I do not use the word "reproduction": it is for photocopiers, not humans!) It is the intimate, abiding bond between man and woman. It is the foundation of our society. The best political act you can perform today is to recommit yourself to chastity and save yourself, heart and body and soul, for your spouse...or, alternately, your vow to Christ and his Church. In our own society here in the USA, most material poverty today is simply the result of a man fathering and then abandoning mother-and-child. All the policy in the world is largely helpless in the face of that lustful abandonment. That child is largely doomed...save for the grace of God!
Politics of Prayer. We are created to walk in intimate friendship with God. Prayer is our conversation with him. As our earthly hearts and minds are open to this heavenly intimacy we become fountains of serenity, healing, mercy, truth, justice and holiness for those around us. This has a rippling effect as it resounds through the entire Body of Christ, the Communion of Saints, and around the world and into history. This is the root and foundation of all Real Politics, of the True and the Good and the Beautiful.
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