"God is among us. And that is enough."
God-talk at a political convention can be a turn-off. And maybe especially coming from a former Fox News host (Tucker Carlson). And religious rhetoric was flowing fast and copiously in Milwaukee at the Republican convention following the assassination attempt on Donald Trump. I don't know that God spared Trump's life so that he could become president again. But God is real, and He is among us. Whatever your politics.
And whatever you think of the Republican presidential ticket, there's something beautiful in the conversion story of JD Vance. Reflecting on his conversion to Catholicism in the journal The Lamp, he talked about how supportive his non-Catholic wife was. Jordan Peterson recently said something similar about his wife's Easter journey to Catholicism. She was becoming more of who she was clearly made by our Creator to be, he said.
It is "good for you." That's the way Vance's wife described his early time studying Catholicism. He wrote: "And I came, eventually, to see that she was right, at least in some cosmic sense. I realized that there was a part of me -- the best part -- that took its cues from Catholicism. It was the part of me that demanded that I treat my son with patience, and made me feel terrible when I failed." He went on: "That demanded that I moderate my temper with everyone, but especially my family. ... That demanded that I sacrifice professional prestige for the interests of family. That demanded that I let go of grudges, and forgive even those who wronged me."
I'm not endorsing Vance, but he was looking in the right direction, for all of us.
People claim the mantle of Christianity for all kinds of behaviors and ideologies. But if you're really praying to be a better, more loving person, that makes all the difference. It's the reason I write about it. The thought of living without God's mercy for my sins and weakness is despair.
"It was the Catholic part of my heart and mind that demanded that I think on the things that actually mattered," Vance wrote about his religious conversion. "And if I wanted that part of me to be nurtured and to grow, I needed to do more than read the occasional book of theology or reflect on my own shortcomings." I don't know if a political candidate really thinks of his shortcomings, but they are worth more than a prayer.
Converting to Catholicism is no small thing. But acknowledging that you might be the creation of a Creator is more universal than any one creed.
After Trump was shot, there was a lot of talk about turning down the political temperature. Obviously, it's a time of anger, and some anger is appropriate. But more than mere anger is required. Why are you turning down the temperature? What is motivating you? There was some talk of love at the Republican convention, but is it of the most noble self-sacrificial kind?
That's not a political platform. But, goodness, do we need it.
(Kathryn Jean Lopez is senior fellow at the National Review Institute, editor-at-large of National Review magazine and author of the new book "A Year With the Mystics: Visionary Wisdom for Daily Living." She is also chair of Cardinal Dolan's pro-life commission in New York, and is on the board of the University of Mary. She can be contacted at klopez@nationalreview.com.)