The flier that we wrote about the upcoming political election (“Protagonists of Our Own History”) made me discover that this was an opportunity to verify Christ. I am more grateful; I am happier now than I was before.

Watching the news and later the first presidential debate, made me feel like everyone else: defeated. That meant, “my desire to be a responsible actor cannot be fulfilled”. The obvious consequence was, as the flier says, apathy. Apathy is probably the most comfortable reaction in front of the real word: defeat. But, the flier says, this apathy is the crisis of my person, of a person that lacks the energy to have an interest for the common good (what is my desire). In my commentaries that were exactly like everyone else’s, in my complaints, I discovered myself completely immersed in this apathy. But I knew something was wrong, and that’s when I went back to this flier.

The flier says, “[…] political engagement should not be restricted to participating in the electoral process”, and then, “Engaging in social and political life such as neighborhood associations, school reform ventures, town hall meetings, cultural centers, or faith-based charities represents privileged opportunities, not hobbies for the civically minded”. This was like a flash of light for me! When I was moved by an immigrant without a job and a visa, and I asked others for help, and took concrete steps to help him, I was doing a political activity. Or when I helped a person in my parish who had remained jobless, and I mobilized myself and others until we found him a job, that was a political activity. Or when I participated in a local neighborhood association to help each other with safety and other concerns, or when my church welcomes homeless, or some people volunteer at St. Vincent de Paul, or others visit the ill, or make food for them, all this is politics. I realized all of the sudden that Christ had made me more human, more interested in the good of others, rather than leaving me in the complaint because someone else above doesn’t help. This recognition was so fulfilling, that I went online to find out about my ballot and my local candidates, I wrote them, and two candidates to the Minnesota House (from opposite parties) have responded to me, and I’ve started a dialog with them. Today I was on the phone with one of them for 20 minutes, raising my concerns about health care, school choice, and other issues that affect my people. A friend told me that they had got back to me because they want my vote. It is true, but this doesn’t explain it all, because my vote in a district of 40,000 people doesn’t count much. But the sensation I have is that they just not have many people calling them. I think they thirst for a dialog too.

This is how I am verifying Christ through the political election. First, because our very existence (the Church, the movement) is a political actor, in reason of the life that is generated within us. Second, because in this companionship, I have seen my desire flourish. Christ has made me more human. This political election (through the work on the flier) has increased my faith. I am not defeated, I am excited.