THE ANATOMY OF AN ELECTION.

  1. Anatomy of an election.
     Let us look at the anatomy of an election based on God’s Divine Providence. Everything that happens in the world is part of God’s Divine Providence. The treatise on Divine Providence is one of the longest theological treatise, that is why few priests are acquainted with it.  This is sad because absolutely everything that happens in the world that affects the lives of men is Divine Providence. We can only appreciate what is going on if we know the doctrine on Divine Providence; this way we can see that everything that happens is for the good of the soul.
     We must live in accordance to Divine Providence to attain everlasting life; precisely because Divine Providence is God leading the whole world to everlasting life. 
     To go against Divine Providence is for us to chose damnation because it is going against God’s ways. 

2. What is Divine Providence.
     Divine Providence is God Himself considered in that act by which in His Wisdom he so orders all events within the universe that the end for which it was created may be realized.
     That end is that all creatures should manifest the glory of God, and in particular that man should glorify Him, recognizing in nature the work of His Hand, serving Him in obedience and love, and thereby attaining to the full development of his nature and to eternal happiness in God.
     The universe is a system of real beings created by God and directed by Him to this supreme end, the concurrence of God being necessary for all natural operations, whether of things animate or inanimate, and still more so for operations of the supernatural order. 
     God preserves the universe in being; He acts in and with every creature in each and all its activities. In spite of sin, which is due to the willful perversion of human liberty, acting with the concurrence, but contrary to the purpose and intention of God and in spite of evil which is the consequence of sin, He directs all, even evil and sin itself, to the final end for which the universe was created. All these operations on God’s part, with the exception of creation, are attributed in Catholic theology to Divine Providence.
     The above is the popular definition of Divine Providence from the Catholic Encyclopedia. In short, man can plan and do things; man’s acts may be fall under God’s direct Will or permissive Will. The good acts of men fall under God’s direct Will; while his sinful acts would fall under God’s permissive Will.  but it is God who decides the outcome. 
      
     
3. Three situations and how Divine Providence work. 
     A. Divine Providence as it works in a faithful nation with a faithful Pope. 
          This was the case at the beginning of Christendom. The Popes were holy, the bishops were holy and the lay people were faithful. Most people knew the workings of Divine Providence and functioned according to it thus reaching their goal of happiness in the world and in the next life. 
           This was not always the case. This had its ups and down throughout Christian history. 

     B. Divine Providence in an unfaithful people with a faithful Pope.  
          This occurred more often in the history of the Church. The people were unfaithful but through the mercy of God they were guided by holy bishops and more often holy Popes. In this case the people were often  chastised for the purpose of their conversion in the hope they would  repent and follow Divine Providence towards salvation led by a good Pope.

     C. Divine Providence in an unfaithful nation and with unfaithful Pope. 
          This is rare in the history of the Church and is prefigured by Good Friday. Where the Gentile Romans were pagans, the Jews were unfaithful, and the entire Jewish priesthood were not only unfaithful but became the killer of their God. Though rare, it happened in history, to prepare the Church for that final occurrence portrayed by Good Friday, the death of Christ. 
          The Sundays before Christ the King and the three Sundays of Advent are all preparations for General Judgment celebrated during the Christ the King and preparation for this final act of Divine Providence. 
           When the faithful, the bishops, the cardinals and the Pope had become unfaithful to Christ, by God’s Divine Providence and against all odds God will chose a layman to grant the Church a brief moment of spiritual rest to complete their life of repentance, reach Faith…….and then He will suddenly come to judge both the living and the dead. It is sort of a ‘one last chance.’
          This happened in history during the time of St. Benedict of Norcia, St. Francis of Assisi, St. Collete in France, etc.  These were mere lay men whom God chose to prop up  the Church  when the hierarchy was useless. 

4. The last recent elections  are God’s final act of Divine Providence. 
     This ‘one last chance’ is happening in several parts of the world.’ The situation where they occur are identical. Let’s look at a few, namely Russia, Philippines and the USA.There are more places.
     The situations are identical. Most of the people don’t think. They love themselves only. They are liars and murderers. Most are pagans. The Catholics have no Faith. The hierarchy are not good shepherds. Their Pope is more a Lutheran. And their national leaders will do anything for a price. That is a nation that is, to say the least,  in a big mess. 
     This final act of Divine Providence is God intervening in the history of man by going against all human efforts to do evil by creating an atmosphere that will allow the fulfilling of God’s Providence even for a moment for the salvation of a few chosen souls.  
     In seemingly hopeless communist Russia, we have Michael Gorbachev who suddenly acceded to Pope John Paul II to gradually release the stranglehold on the nation. This was completed with Putin who united Church and State and made Russia the most moral nation in the whole world surpassing the Vatican. Suddenly the whole evil world is pouncing and blaming him for everything including the weather, just like the Jewish people on Good Friday. 
     What we see in Russia, a totalitarian communist nation,  is a pure act of Divine Providence that went contrary to all communist efforts to make the nation godless. This was not the result of any effort from the Orthodox Church though Kiril talked sense. 
     The same thing happened in the Philippines. The people had become unfaithful through the centuries and is led by a bishop’s conference whose president just announced that they did not believe in the old traditional Catholic and will now follow the new Protestant sect founded in Argentina whose patron saint is Martin Luther. Unfaithful people and unfaithful hierarchy. And their Pope Francis has strong communist leanings due to Liberation theology.
     What happened? A presidential candidate that is completely unknown wins the presidency with a land slide. He makes decrees according to Catholic teachings while the bishops go against him and  against Catholic doctrines. 
     The example in the USA is a better example. With the machinations of the whole hell running the government and helping one candidate, that should, by all means, make the candidate win hands down, yet  this candidate lost.  While the candidate unlikely to win, by all human estimations, won. 

5. The lesson.
     By Divine Providence, God will alway conquer evil. If evil seems to be  victorious, it is due to God’s permissive Will  allowing evil to get a good out of it. 
   
     The reason why a nation with an unfaithful people, with an unfaithful government and with an unfaithful Pope is not immediately chastised with tragedies is to give them an opportunity to fix up their souls for their final judgment. Such preparation needs a quiet and calm atmosphere, so God raises usually a laymen to give this nation a respite for this purpose.
     The evil people who voted on one side deserves to be chastised; but the good people who voted on the other side deserves that short moment of quiet and calm to reach the supernatural level of Faith that is presently lacking due to an incompetent hierarchy. This is similar to the case of King Josiah mentioned earlier. 
     King Josiah was raised by God for a very unfaithful Jewish nation. He ruled for a short while to give the Jewish people some time to repent; but they did not. So God took away King Josiah; he died in  battle. He was succeeded by a bad King, Jeroboam and that was the end of the Kingdom of Juda. 
     The undeserved good political leader in the midst of an unfaithful church is the last breath of a nation about to disappear. 

     We see this phenomenon in the Vatican with Pope Benedict being the ‘last chance.’ We see it now in the Brexit of England, in Putin of Russia, in Duterte of the Philippines and in Trump of the USA. The pattern is the same.
     In other places it could have happened already or it could still happen. We do not see it in France or Germany; but it could still happen in Portugal and Spain. We should all watch as the Sundays around Christ the King warns us. Because it is our ‘last chance’ to prepare ourselves in a calm and quiet atmosphere,  for judgment. King Josiah and a totally unfaithful Church are the signs.