Either the intimations of Immortality were real, the other night, or they were not.  Indeed, Wordsworth and the Romantics come to mind.  The "augenblick" or Moment, if you will, was personally overwhelming to me.  Yes, a sucker is born every minute.  But the fact is, we have a man of wide-ranging excellence soon to be our Leader.  I did not vote for him though I would have if, in my state, it would have mattered.  If I had known about this Moment or, let's say, World-historical Event, I would have voted for him in spite of my newly-discovered "pro-life" position.  In the wake of this incredible feat, this magnificent achievement for a man, for a citizen, for all citizens of the world...it occurs to the thinker that Unity as a force, as a Plan, as a temporary Reality...such Unity is as big or bigger than the sad laws in our land that promote or allow abortion.  Unity, the more perfect Union we still seek as a people, is no longer just a word.  This unity, no matter what happens in the next four years, has reached another world-historical plateau.  Or, so it seems, now, at this moment, to one who read Wordsworth, rocked with Lennon, became an "alcoholic," got saved in a Twelve Step Program--then found Saint Therese of Lisieux, Saint Josemaria Escriva, Saint Padre Pio, Saint Theresa Benedicta (Edith Stein, Husserl's student), Mother Angelica, John Paul the Great and, last but not least, our Holy Father.  And one must mention the great G. K. Chesterton and one avid reader of him, the man who cured my bursitis and bone spur, Bishop Sheen.   Finally, truly, last but not least, this Election dovetails with my marriage to form a Hope the likes of which I've never known in my life.  I thank God that Barack, when he sat down in quiet to ask the Lord His will,  said, ok, "yes, send me."  Few of us can know the faith, natural and supernatural, of this gentle but powerful soul, Barack Obama.  The jokes about the Messiah Coming...there is something real underneath them.  Like Jesus before him, but himself following the Master, Barack grew before our eyes even as his crowds got bigger and bigger.  In the New Testament, we have to notice the crowds, the folks who want to hear, to be near, to even touch the shirt of Jesus.  Something similar, not the same obviously, has just happened in our lifetime.  Through the miracle of TV, we were able to see Jesse, Jesus in Disguise, weeping like a child, an innocent, self-giving Child. And his tears exacerbated our own.  Tears of Joy, of Strength, of Renewal.  Sacramental Tears.  Exile and Redemption all in One.  A new heaven, and a new earth (Revelations 21).  Memory rules from here on out.  Memory and Hope mixed together in a new Augenblick, a new Moment of Vision into which we will be called upon to tap--in order to change ourselves as the very best means of "changing the world."  Wordsworth, Prophet Walt Whitman, Charles Dickens--recently celebrated in First Things by Father Neuhaus. 

 

Only one American living, in this more artistic and spiritual sense, is as great as Barack Obama:  the Creator Garrison Keillor.  Human beings and Citizens:  Let us celebrate this newly-discovered Hope for a More Perfect Union.  And let us invite our fellow Citizens of the World.  The Audacity of Hope has become the Incarnation of Hope.  For real.