As we enter the Twelve Days of Christmas, the words of Dickens’ Tiny Tim readily resonate at this special time of year for it is so convenient for so many to fail to see the blessings of daily life during the often monotonous grind of ordinary time. To be sure, some of us may seem more blessed than others and perhaps there is an arguable relativism to our comparative stations in life. It’s easy to garner envy for those who are wealthy and powerful but despite their material gains and successes, we are all in need of something beyond power or gold. For those with higher levels of creature comforts, we may find pity, sorrow or even feel guilt because of those who are wanting and struggling while they, perhaps without our realizing it, find comfort and solace in an unshakable faith.

The post-pagan understanding of a blessing is “to be favored by God.” The modern meaning of the term may have been influenced in translations of the Bible into Old English during the process of “Christianization” to translate the term benedīcere meaning to “speak well of,” resulting in meanings such as to “praise” or “extol” or to speak of or to wish well.

It is no secret that I strive to be a man of faith. Perhaps struggle is a more apt description because faith is merely a personal choice. Like some of you, I fight an almost daily battle to make sense of this existence and the circumstances that surround us. Depending on one’s state of mind, it can be overwhelming to even attempt reconcile good and evil. It just can’t be done.

Faith is trust. You either have it or you don’t. It often seems incongruous to trust in anything that cannot be seen or perceived directly by our senses. After all, our trust is broken time and time again from that disappointing moment when we realized the truth about Santa or the tooth fairy and on from there as years of broken promises accumulate. Our personal relationships and behavior test our trust for ourselves and others over the years. It is easy to become jaded and skeptical.

So what about this notion of blessings? Are we favored by God and we just don‘t realize it? I suppose the answer all depends on your acceptance or rejection of faith. Some may believe that everything which happens is purely random without plan or purpose. I don’t believe that our lives are a series of coincidences and events of probability. Believing otherwise is contrary to an ordered universe. Without waxing metaphysical, I believe in and accept St. Thomas Aquinas’ notions of natural law that concludes that God has in His intellect an idea by which He governs the world. We are supposed to use our human gifts of reason and understanding to perpetuate order and prevent chaos. Perhaps we cannot bestow blessings upon ourselves but staying focused on God’s will instead of our own helps.

Blessings often come disguised as disasters, illnesses or even the death of a loved one. How is it possible that such negative events might bestow us with anything except grief, misery and sorrow. Willingness and acceptance come to mind; willingness to accept current circumstances and patience to see what is yet to come. If we are watchful, the blessing eventually appears.

After the election last month, I was gravely disappointed for several days. My disenchantment has gradually dissolved into trust, not for our elected officials, but in God. There is no other option for me. I either turn my life and my will over to God or I will remain stuck in misery and fear. I prefer some semblance of happiness and contentment over gloom even though I have to sometimes work harder to attain the former. But joy should not require work to achieve and it really doesn’t. It can be found easily enough in so much of this world’s grandeur and wonder. It’s been said that happiness is an inside job meaning it is really nothing more than a decision, a choice just as Abraham Lincoln meant when he stated that “most people are as happy as they make up their minds to be.”

Like an aging masterpiece, delight in this day is often hidden beneath decades of accumulated filth and immoral grime. We only need to find an efficient solvent to remove it to see the glorious creation beneath it. My solvent consists of faith and my attitude. Regrettably we cannot restore our world to what it was. When you think about it, even a so-called restored masterpiece is not authentic because without reliable photographic or other evidence of its original appearance, the restorer can only rely on speculation or supposition to attain a reasonable facsimile of the actual creation. Studying history as Churchill taught us, will not only help us to avoid the pitfalls of our past but help us keep reason and morality in the forefront of our existence, conserving our sacred form of government.

We are blessed whether you want to recognize it or not. Although our personal freedoms seem to be shrinking and our country remains on a crash course for disaster, we have this moment to enjoy. And, if we have faith in God, all will unfold as it should according to His plan and in His time. Even if it all comes tumbling down, (as it most notably failed to do on 12/21/12), I still have this moment, and all the others before it, to remember the spectrum the blessings that have been bestowed on me. I hope you might find the same is true for you.

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Two days following the election, I rejoined a men’s Bible study at the parish church I attend.  One of the other members is an interesting fellow I’ve known for many years.  We both have law degrees, so I suppose our sense of camaraderie flows at least in part from the way we think about things.  After we finished our discussion of this week’s Sunday scripture readings, he asked me a provocative question.  During our closing prayers and petitions, I mentioned the hardships and losses of those still suffering from the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy who are, as I am writing this, under another weather siege popularly referred to as a nor’easter.  Many are still without heat or power, and the losses are almost incalculable.

The question my friend asked me was why did I think BHO won?  Given my expression of great disappointment and emotional upset during our meeting, I knew he was not asking this from a political perspective.  Rather, he was inquiring about a supernatural or spiritual perception.  Naturally, I paused for an instant, somewhat astounded by the astute nature of his interrogatory.

I told him about a liberal acquaintance on Facebook who prayerfully asked on Election Day that God’s will be done and that He select the best candidate as our president for the next four years.  I responded to her post by pointing out that it was not God’s will that would be expressed after the last vote was counted.  Rather, I opined that the selection of the president would be an expression of the free will of those who cast their ballots either way.  She thanked me for my opinion and stated that she hadn’t really thought about it in those terms.

It was not God’s will that the master of opaqueness was awarded another four-year term.  That resulted from slightly more than fifty percent of those who voted and happened to be in the right states that tipped the electoral college in his direction.  His take of ballot casters constituted just under three million more popular votes than Mr. Romney received. God’s hand was no more in the results of this election than it is when a psychopath enters a crowded movie theater armed to hilt and mows down scores of innocent film buffs.  Sometimes circumstances collide in unexpected ways that result in a bloody massacre or, in the case of last Tuesday’s election, a horrid ending that has many, including myself, gravely concerned for the well being of this once great nation.  For the first time ever, I use the adjective “once” to describe the state of our country.

As we left our meeting room, I continued to express my perception in an effort to provide some sort of answer to the question he initially posed.  I want the reader to understand that I am not a far-right religious fanatic.  Most Catholics are not, at least not the ones I know.  Nevertheless, I told my friend that I think he won for a variety of reasons, some objective and some less so, the latter being steeped in questions of faith and personal beliefs.  I mentioned the shredding of our moral fabric and the relativity of right and wrong that currently permeates our families, schools, and other public institutions along with new generations of citizens who expect something from others instead of deciphering what they might have to offer.

I thanked my friend for presenting his thought-provoking question and told him I was going to use it as a topic for my next article.  Having given it additional thought and analysis, it is too easy to say that the people have spoken and leave it at that.  There is much more to the story, as renowned radio commentator Paul Harvey used to remind us on a daily basis so many years ago.

From my perspective, the rest of the story can be summed up in two words – social evolution.  I do not use evolution in the sense of positive adaptation to natural changes because the circumstances that have caused us to evolve socially and politically are not natural.  Rather, they are the results of carefully orchestrated attacks and intrusions on what the offense has viewed an antiquated or inconvenient.   We all know the party lines.  I know I do as a reformed liberal myself.  They are the slogans and familiar vernacular expressed in time-worn phrases like “do your own thing” or “whatever.”

The attitude that pervades so many quite simply stems from the unabashed shunning of authority and accountability. If someone engages in activities or behaviors that allegedly do not hurt someone else, we are told (and even I have said), no one has the right to tell that person to refrain.   What so many fail to consider is that adherence to the rule of law does not stem from the right of someone else to judge and correct another’s actions.  Instead, it flows from our implied or expressed conviction to respect ourselves and each other.  Whether you like the Golden Rule’s succinct summation or you prefer more elaborate exhortations from religious books, it does not matter.  What matters is an acknowledgment that we are responsible for ourselves and for each other.

This begs the question “what role does the government play?”  Once upon an ancient time, the principles of organized government stemming from Aristotle to Rousseau taught us the simple premise that we need one another and as such are responsible for creating good political communities.  Aristotle told us:

Since we see that every city-state is a sort of community and that every community is established for the sake of some good (for everyone does everything for the sake of what they believe to be good), it is clear that every community aims at some good, and the community which has the most authority of all and includes all the others aims highest, that is, at the good with the most authority. This is what is called the city-state or political community.

I cannot fault the liberal left for believing that their current body politic is firmly engaged in accomplishing “some good”.  The standoff between us flows from what good we believe our government should be creating.  When the notion of goodness become relative instead of absolute, the delegation of authority to anyone is convoluted and ambiguous.

So why did he win? Why does it matter anyway save for those in the GOP who are already casting dreams towards 2016.  I’m not certain even God knows why, but I suspect it has something to do with the brilliant human characteristic He bestowed upon us that we call free will.   In the words of that great philosopher/singer from the Greatest Generation, “what will be will be.”

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