God still runs the game

Today we have an election computer system nationwide and worldwide – bizarrely named Dominion – which purportedly flips vote-chunks from one candidate to another at whim. It was used in over 28 U.S. states, including all battleground states.

A likely-eclipsed winner is told to concede before final certification – regardless of any injustice, especially to the people. The mob demands he just get out of the way.

It takes mettle to hold firm.

The scenario reminds me of bratty kids who didn’t study, or didn’t train well enough for the best athletic teams, or didn’t deserve the jobs and paychecks they wanted. Rather than work earnestly for coveted spots, they and their families used false-esteem-building, intimidation, and bullying of others (like teachers, coaches, colleagues, and constituents) for granting them places of honor. After all, they deserved it.

Seems a few of those darlings slid into modern seats of power.

In October 1571, God used a great wartime miracle to prove He was still in charge. The Muslim Turks were threatening and surrounding Catholic Europe, as disjointed Christian armies were reduced to a ragtag gang. Many Catholics were taken as slaves by the Turks – 12,000-15,000 of them – to run the Muslim ships. In the Battle of Lepanto off the southwestern coast of Greece, the dominant Muslim navy, with 250 war ships and 200,000 men, vastly outflanked the meager and seemingly hopeless Christian army. But the Christian commanders and soldiers begged the help of Christ and Mary, saying the rosary daily, with continued fasting. Under Pope St. Pius V, all of Catholic Europe joined them in prayer.

Then … the Christian fleet won full victory, which kept Europe from falling to the Muslims. The Oct. 7 Feast of the Holy Rosary (originally the Feast of Our Lady of Victory) was declared in thanksgiving.

Now America appears to be on the brink, as does Europe once again. Christian faithful and honest citizens are being bullied, made to feel outnumbered, and tempted to despair. But God mans the chessboard.

I remember a bully in high school, transferred to our school after being kicked out of a neighboring one. One day, I discovered my cash – locked in my locker – was missing, the lock undone. I saw her zip out of the locker room and confronted her the next day. Red-eyed, she snickered in front of her giggling cohorts, throwing profanities at me. I knew her lousy grades were teetering toward getting her booted out of our school as well.

She was in my Spanish class, and we had a test that week. She arrived, sat down beside me, and wryly smiled. I owed her more?

Never one to miss an opportune moment, I relished penning in all wrong answers. She hocked each one, handed her paper in, and trotted out. I then amended my paper.

When she got the “F” she earned, she exploded in curses at me during class. I couldn’t mask a smirk. She was expelled by Christmas.

The God of great reversals still runs the game.

CHRISTINE VALENTINE-OWSIK is Legatus magazine's editor.