“All Politics is Local.” While the expression has shades of meaning, at its core the maxim conveys a political truth that a candidate’s local voters, concerns, and constituents spell success at the polls. As November elections approach, both politicians and voters will bear this truth in mind (to greater or lesser extent).

I’m not politically astute, but I wonder if there’s still another dimension to the phrase, “All Politics is Local.” For, not only should this insight keep candidates loyal to local constituents, but it also serves to remind citizens that most day-to-day living takes place locally, not in distant state or federal capitals.

This is not to suggest that government is unimportant—quite the contrary. A quick perusal of international news stories drives home quickly and graphically how bad government leads to human suffering. But this is the very point: government leaders should aim for local prosperity. It’s in our own homes, schools, communities, and workplaces that life is lived, fully or poorly.

As I say, I’m no political wonk. But if my take on the “All Politics is Local” theme is true—that voters need to be aware that success or failure in life depends more on them than on politicians—it seems it conveys a similar truth to the life of faith: “All Holiness is Local.”

Here, too, only ignorance or naivete would claim it’s irrelevant who our pope, bishop, or pastor is. For, similar to our secular leaders, our religious leaders foster a flourishing life in us—by what they say, how they act, and the example of their own sanctity. But like the city of man, the City of God finds its glory locally—in the sanctification of her members, in the domestic church, and in the nitty-gritty occasions that are the “little way” of holiness.

There may be still another trickle-down application to this political principle in the liturgical life. The Church has always called upon her liturgical leaders to look toward the needs of their flocks. The Council of Trent, for example, directed that pastors “frequently expound” upon the elements of the Mass lest the people starve (Session XXII, Chapter VIII). Four centuries later, the Second Vatican Council similarly says that pastors must “zealously” work to realize the laity’s active participation in the liturgy, for from it do the baptized “derive the true Christian spirit” necessary for a life well-lived (Sacrosanctum Concilium, 14). Clergy, then, have an eye not only on Christ the King and their share in his divine rule, but also—as constitutive of their leading role—an eye on the people they are called to sanctify.

Here, too, the laity are led by those standing in persona Christi capitis in the sanctuary but are themselves called to cooperate with the graces offered by the sacred liturgy. That is, even if priests and deacons (and their assisting ministers) celebrate the sacred liturgy as perfectly as humanly possible (it is, of course, perfect insofar as the Trinity is the liturgy’s primary actor), unless the people themselves actively and intentionally engage with God’s grace in the liturgy and sacraments, their lives remain unredeemed. Successful liturgy needs both competent leaders and intelligent participants.

In short, secular life, ecclesial life, and the liturgical life thrive not only when their leaders stay in touch with those in their care, but also when denizens of both the earthly and heavenly cities live their citizenship to the full on the local level.

In an oft-quoted passage, Cardinal Ratzinger once joined sanctity to elections—or, at least, to winning over the minds and hearts of others. “The only really effective apologia for Christianity,” he said, “comes down to two arguments, namely the saints the Church has produced and the art which has grown in her womb. Better witness is borne to the Lord by the splendor of holiness and art which have arisen in the community of believers than by clever [apologetics]…. If the Church is to continue to transform and humanize the world, how can she dispense with beauty in her liturgies, that beauty which is so closely linked with love and with the radiance of the Resurrection? No. Christians must not be too easily satisfied. They must make their Church into a place where beauty—and hence truth—is at home. Without this the world will become the first circle of hell” (The Ratzinger Report, 129-130).

Thus, for anyone looking to win elections in (or, better, to) the Heavenly Jerusalem, holiness—most often simple, hidden from the national spotlight, steady, and local—offers the best path to victory.