Bible Study Reflection #29: Broken-Hearted Prophet

More often than not, these strange reflections of mine focus on the Gospel, and I suppose that’s good since the Gospel is the Good News of Jesus Christ, the fulfillment of God’s revelation to humanity. We should, therefore, never neglect the Gospel and the other New Testament books that offer valuable and prophetic insights into the teachings and life of Jesus revealed in the Gospel. But we must also remember that the entire Old Testament foreshadows the New Testament and provides many equally valuable insights into God’s plan, thus helping us better understand and appreciate all that He has revealed. This understanding of and appreciation for the entirety of God’s revelation will only deepen our faith and lead us along the path to the salvation He desires for us.

Today, then, I’ve decided to focus on the prophet Jeremiah and, specifically, the opening verses of the book of his prophecy. As we begin this reflection, I ask you to open your Bible to Jeremiah and read the opening verses from chapter one: Jeremiah 1:1-19.

A little background...To our knowledge Jeremiah was still a young man, probably only in his twenties, when God called him in the year 626 B.C. He was preceded by several earlier prophets – Amos, Hosea, Isaiah, and Micah – by a hundred years or so.

Only a few years after Jeremiah’s call, King Josiah (640-609 B.C.) began a major religious reform after a restoration of the Temple led to the re-discovery of the Law, especially the Book of Deuteronomy. During Josiah’s reign, the Assyrians, who had conquered the northern kingdom of Israel, began to decline and were ultimately defeated by the Babylonians (Chaldeans). King Josiah, in an attempt to reclaim lands that were once part of David’s kingdom, claimed Samaria and a number of other cities, but died in a battle with the Egyptians at Megiddo in 609 B.C. (You can read a tribute to Josiah in Sirach 49:1-4.) Two decades later, in July of 587 B.C., Jerusalem fell to the Babylonians. The city’s destruction was followed by the exile or Babylonian Captivity. Although the exile officially ended with the decree of Persian King Cyrus in 537 B.C., the Jews considered it a 70-year captivity from 586 B.C. when the Temple was destroyed until the Temple was rebuilt in 516 B.C.

The years of Jeremiah’s prophecy, then, were a time of dramatic change and upheaval. They were a time of religious reform, a time of tension and threatening storms, and a time of horrendous defeat. It was a difficult time to be a prophet of the Lord.

Many have called Jeremiah God’s broken-hearted prophet, and I can certainly join them in that. He was a man who lived what can only be described as heart-rending life and whose prophecies of dire warning went largely unheeded by the people of Judah. But God had prepared him for all that he would face:

They will fight against you, but not prevail over you, for I am with you to deliver you – oracle of the Lord [Jer 1:19].

When you speak all these words to them, they will not listen to you either. When you call to them, they will not answer you [Jer 7:27].

And, of course, God was correct. Very few, and especially none of those in power, listened to Jeremiah. Like so many of us, the people of Judah really didn’t want to hear bad news, and unfortunately for Jeremiah, most of what God revealed to him wasn’t very pleasant. But the people and their rulers had only themselves to blame. What did God tell Jeremiah in our passage?

I will pronounce my sentence against them for all their wickedness in forsaking me, in burning incense to other gods, in bowing down to the works of their hands [Jer 1:16].

Listening to this Word of God spoken by Jeremiah, once again we encounter the great sin of the Old Testament: idolatry. But perhaps, surprisingly to some, it’s also the great sin of today. Whenever I talk about this, many people respond with disbelief. Apparently, they assume idolatry requires the worship of statues or images, large and small, of pagan gods. But to engage in idolatry simply means placing something or someone above the worship of God. It’s to violate God’s first commandment:

I am the Lord your God…You shall not have other gods beside me. You shall not make for yourself an idol or a likeness of anything in the heavens above or on the earth below or in the waters beneath the earth; you shall not bow down before them or serve them [Dt 5:6, 7-9].

Today the world serves many idols: money, possessions, fame and celebrity, power, sex, …the list goes on. Not surprisingly the list hasn’t changed much since the time of Jeremiah. The people, and especially Judah’s leaders, didn’t want to hear God’s judgment and refused to accept it. Neither did they want to hear what God had planned for them: the invasion of Judah by the Babylonians and the destruction of Jerusalem. And so, they simply vented their anger on Jeremiah – much easier to blame the messenger than listen to the message. In fact, Jeremiah’s prophecy angered the princes so much they threw the prophet in prison. And that’s where he was when Babylon took the Holy City. Ironically, the Babylonians treated Jeremiah with more respect than his own people. They released him from prison, showed him great kindness, and allowed him to choose where he wanted to live.

But let’s focus on those opening verses of Jeremiah’s book of prophecy, a passage that describes his call by God, his call to be a prophet. The passage reveals many interesting things about this call, things that relate not only to Jeremiah, but also to each of us.

First of all, Jeremiah was set apart for God’s work from the very beginning – not just from his birth, but before he was even in the womb.

Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I dedicated you… [Jer 1:5]

I knew you -- I loved you and chose you -- God revealed to Jeremiah. I dedicated you – I set you apart to do my work in the world. I made you a prophet. I called you. And I did all this before you existed in the world. What a wonderful revelation!

But God was speaking not only to Jeremiah, because God’s love is both infinite and universal. Yes, He loves prophets and apostles. But He loves you as well. He loves all whom He has created. And He calls each one of us to do His work in the world.

We must never forget this. God has a plan for every person He has created. This revelation by God, one repeated frequently throughout Sacred Scripture, lays the foundation for the consistent Church teaching on abortion as an intrinsic evil. To willfully destroy the life of an unborn child, a life for which God has a plan, is no different from the destruction of any innocent human life.

God’s plan for each of us is as different as the variety of the gifts he bestows. St. Paul reminds us that the Holy Spirit manifests different gifts in His people. How did he put it?

There are different kinds of spiritual gifts but the same Spirit; there are different forms of service but the same Lord; there are different workings but the same God who produces all of them in everyone. To each individual the manifestation of the Spirit is given for some benefit. To one is given through the Spirit the expression of wisdom; to another the expression of knowledge according to the same Spirit; to another faith by the same Spirit; to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit; to another mighty deeds; to another prophecy; to another discernment of spirits; to another varieties of tongues; to another interpretation of tongues. But one and the same Spirit produces all of these, distributing them individually to each person as he wishes [1 Cor 12:4-11].

God, then, has given each of us gifts. All are not called to be prophets like Jeremiah, but each is called to be, as St. Teresa of Calcutta liked to say, “something beautiful for God.” Our life’s work as Christians consists in allowing God to show us those gifts and then using them to further God’s work in a sinful world. One warning: God will often ask you to do what you thought impossible. He will call you to your weaknesses, and by doing so, demonstrate to you and to others His remarkable power.

We see this when Jeremiah responds to God’s call. Like most of us, Jeremiah is more focused on himself and the personal demands of this call. It’s a very human response, isn’t it? As I mentioned earlier, Jeremiah was young when God called him. The thought of being a prophet must have terrified him, so much so that he protested, telling God that he neither spoke well nor was old enough to earn the respect of the people. Isn’t it interesting how often we consider it necessary to tell God things that He already knows. But God dismissed Jeremiah’s fears:

Do not say “I am too young.” To whomever I send you, you shall go; whatever I command you, you shall speak [Jer 1:7].

These concerns of Jeremiah’s mirror those of Moses when he was called by the Lord in the Book of Exodus:

Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt? [Ex 3:11]

…and

If you please, my Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor now that you have spoken to your servant; but I am slow of speech and tongue [Ex 4:10].

But it was through the weakness of Moses, Jeremiah, the Apostles, and so many others that God accomplishes His work in the world. It is through your weaknesses and mine that He will accomplish much today. But first, like Moses and Jeremiah and the Apostles, we too must respond to God’s call.

Jeremiah’s youth also offers us insights into God’s plan for the salvation of the world. Let’s recall those words that St. Peter used on the day of Pentecost when he quoted the prophet Joel:

I will pour out a portion of My Spirit on all mankind: Your sons and daughters shall prophesy; your young men shall see visions [Acts 2:17; Joel 3:1-5].

Yes, indeed, brothers and sisters, God will raise up young people in a special way to renew the face of the earth. And just as He chose Jeremiah to speak His truth to the people of Judah, He will empower new Jeremiahs to speak to the world today:

Today I appoint you over nations and over kingdoms to uproot and to tear down, to destroy and to demolish, to build and to plant [Jer 1:10].

As young as these modern-day Jeremiahs may seem to us old folks, they are not too young for God. You and I must never cease telling our young people – telling our children, our grandchildren, the youth of our parish – the same words St. Paul addressed to his spiritual son, St. Timothy:

Let no one have contempt for your youth, but set an example for those who believe, in speech, conduct, love, faith, and purity [1 Tim 4:12].

I am convinced this young generation today is destined to do great things. I know this because Satan has tried so hard to destroy it. He fears what the Lord can do through this new generation that he has helped kill a third of them even before their birth. And what of those who managed to escape the evil of abortion and survive until birth? Satan has tried to abuse, brainwash, and enslave them through dysfunctional families, secular humanism, substance abuse, and sexual promiscuity. But the survivors of the survivors are here; they know God's love and believe in Him. It is these, the young ones who have survived Satan's onslaught, that God will use to renew the face of the earth. Pray for them.

Since we’re unable to meet – at least for now – you might want to take some time this week and read the rest of this wonderful book of prophecy. There is so much to learn from Jeremiah, a prophet who suffered much and like so many who did God’s work in the world, opened his soul to God. As you will discover, Jeremiah didn’t hesitate to tell God what he thought, to share his troubles with the Lord and plead for help and strength. Perhaps soon we’ll take another look at this special Prophet and walk through at least some of the key portions of the book he left for us.

God’s peace be with you all.

Cardinal Raymond Burke on Satan’s Influence

Here’s a link to a homily delivered by one of my heroes, Cardinal Raymond Burke, on January 24. In his remarks His Eminence doesn’t hesitate to take on the Biden administration for joining with Satan in his killing work to destroy the lives of millions of unborn children. He encourages us to come together in prayer and fidelity, asking our Blessed Mother to intercede for our troubled nation and world, and consecrating our lives to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. He centers his homily on the first words of Jesus, at the start of his public ministry: 

“This is the time of fulfillment. The Kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe in the Gospel” [Mk 1:15].

God bless this wonderful Prince of the Church. 

This link connects to a YouTube video of his homily:

https://youtu.be/OLAz0cPbZPk

 

 

Future Gulags - Part II

The following excerpts from Solzhenitsyn's The Gulag Archipelago describe just some of the ways and means through which the Russian Bolsheviks turned their nation into a communist slave state after taking power as a result of the 1917 revolution. These ways included the crushing of opposition parties, religious groups, professionals, academics, artists, etc. -- pretty much anyone who could in any way be perceived as a past, present, or future threat.

Elimination of opposition political parties. In Solzhenitsyn's words (GA, p. 34-35):

In 1921 the arrests of members of all non-Bolshevik parties was expanded and systematized. In fact, all Russia's political parties had been buried, except the victorious one. (Oh, do not dig a grave for someone else!) And so that the dissolution of these parties would be irreversible, it was necessary that their members should disintegrate and their physical bodies too.

Not one citizen of the former Russian state who had ever joined a party other than the Bolshevik Party could avoid his fate. He was condemned unless, like Maisky or Vyshinsky, he succeeded in making his way across the planks of the wreck to the Bolsheviks. [Both were former Mensheviks who managed to join the Bolsheviks.] He might not be arrested in the first group, depending on how dangerous he was believed to be, until 1922, 1927, or even 1937, but the lists were kept; his turn would and did come...

As Americans we live in a nation in which political opposition has generally been accepted, however grudgingly. We all believe we are right and our opponents are wrong. And yet, the free expression of ideas has always helped those on every side of an issue appreciate other points of view and tone down the extremes the people will wisely reject. Today we're encountering something very different, a vicious level of intolerance, one that seeks to muzzle those who don't agree with the ways of those in power. History shows us that such intolerance is never satisfied until opposing ideas are crushed into total silence.

Destruction and/or control of all religious groups. Like the official Catholic "church" in today's communist China, the Russian communists set up what they called the "Living Church" to gain control of all church apparatus, especially the prominent Russian Orthodox Church. From Solzhenitsyn (GA, p. 36-37):

 

The [Russian Orthodox] Patriarch Tikhon was arrested and two resounding trials were held, followed by the execution in Moscow of those who had publicized the Patriarch's appeal and, in Petrograd, of the Metropolitan Veniamin, who had attempted to hinder the transfer of ecclesiastical power to the "Living Church" group.

...as always, in the wake of the big fish, followed shoals of smaller fry: archpriests, monks, and deacons...They also arrested those who refused to swear to support the "Living Church" "renewal" movement.

The so-called "Eastern Catholics" -- followers of Vladimir Solovyev -- were arrested and destroyed in passing...And, of course, ordinary Roman Catholics -- Polish Catholic priests, etc. -- were arrested, too, as part of the normal course of events.

However, the root destruction of religion in the country, which throughout the twenties and thirties was one of the most important goals of the GPU-NKVD [Soviet Secret Police - 1922-1943], could be realized only by mass arrests of Orthodox believers. Monks, nuns...were intensively rounded up on every hand, placed under arrest, and sent into exile [most often for slave labor in Siberian prisons and labor camps]. They arrested and sentenced active laymen...raked in ordinary believers as well, old people, and particularly women, who were the most stubborn believers of all...A person convinced that he possessed spiritual truth was required to conceal it from his own children. [To pass their faith on to their children was considered a political crime; i.e., counterrevolutionary propaganda.]

As Tanya Khodkevich wrote:

You can pray freely

But just so God alone can hear.

She received a ten-year sentence for these verses.

Anything that ran counter to the official atheism of the Soviet state was considered counterrevolutionary.  

Jews were also persecuted, especially Zionists. Of course, perhaps the most famous incident was the 1952 "Doctors Case" in which Stalin arrested leading Kremlin physicians (almost all Jews) and accused them of trying to kill Soviet leaders. 

Religious believers, of course, were being arrested uninterruptedly...There was the "night of struggle against religion" in Leningrad on Christmas Eve, 1929, when they arrested a large part of the religious intelligentsia...Then in February, 1932, again in Leningrad, many churches were closed simultaneously, while at the same time, large-scale arrests were made of the clergy.

Yes, indeed, religion is abhorrent to totalitarians of all stripes because it claims for God the allegiance of those who should worship only the state.

When I hear of government officials at any level trying to control religious worship in any way, or infringing on the Constitutional right of the "free exercise" of religious faith, I believe all Americans must speak up. One interesting example of anti-religious bigotry involved a member of Congress who claimed that those who were against abortion were racists, white supremacists who must be silenced. There is, of course, a strange irony here, since the nation's premier provider of abortions, Planned Parenthood, was founded by Margaret Sanger on racist principles to eliminate the undesirable races. 

There are so many other instances that I expect religious persecution will continue and grow.

[Note: Vladimir Solovyev, whom Solzhenitsyn mentioned above, wrote a fascinating and remarkably prophetic book, Tale of the Anti-Christ. It's certainly worth a read. In fact, I first heard of Solovyev and this book from a talk Pope Benedict XVI gave years ago.]

Persecution based on "social origin." Those descended from former noble families, or the intelligentsia, including those who simply went to universities were arrested in waves. From Solzhenitsyn (GA, p. 40-43):

And so the waves rolled on -- for "concealment of social origin" and for "former social origin." This received the widest interpretation. They arrested members of the nobility for their social origin. They arrested members of their families. Finally, unable to draw even simple distinctions, they arrested members of the "individual nobility" -- i.e., anybody who had simply graduated from a university. And once they had been arrested, there was no way back. You can't undo what has been done! The Sentinel of the Revolution never makes a mistake!

The state organs of terror called this effort "social prophylaxis" or the need to eliminate those who might resist because of their social origin. And then, throughout the twenties and thirties, historians and other scholars were arrested, and for good reason. They knew the truth, you see, and getting rid of them made the job of rewriting Russian and world history much easier. Look at our colleges and universities today, and you will find the percentage of Marxist professors significantly higher than those who claim to be conservative. Yes, our young people are receiving a Marxist-inspired education in which historical distortion has replaced truth.

The Soviets did not concern themselves with truth or with guilt or innocence. As one leader of a major slave labor project stated to one of his more educated political prisoners: "I believe that you personally were not guilty of anything. But, as an educated person, you have to understand that social prophylaxis was being widely applied." In other words, we don't care if you're innocent or guilty, the sentence is the same. Solzhenitsyn relates a typical example:

Several dozen young people got together for some kind of musical evening which had not been authorized ahead of time by the GPU. They listened to music and then drank tea. They got the money for the tea by contributing their own kopeks. It was quite clear, of course, that the music was a cover for counterrevolutionary sentiments, and that the money was being collected not for tea but to assist the dying world bourgeoisie. And they were all arrested and given three to ten years -- Anna Skripnikova getting five, while Ivan Nikolayevich Varentsov and the other organizers of the affair who refused to confess were shot!

Of course, these young people really met just to listen to music and drink tea, simply to be together and enjoy each other's company. But given their innate paranoia, the secret police always assume such meetings can only be for nefarious purposes. The arrests and executions also serve as effective warnings to others: we are watching and listening to everything. 

Ask General Michael Flynn, USMC, whether as the President's prospective National Security Advisor, he could take part in a routine phone call with the Russian Ambassador and not be accused of treason. 

Better be careful, folks -- well, those of you who haven't yet been canceled: Exactly what have you been saying on all those Zoom meetings?

That's enough for now. More in a future post. 

 

Bible Study Reflection #28: Our Reckless, Wonderful God

I’d like to begin today’s reflection with a reading from the Gospel According to Matthew. It’s a most interesting passage in which Jesus related the Parable of the Sower and then explained its meaning to the apostles. It’s a passage that usually leads to a number of questions. As you read it, keep track of the questions that come to mind, open your heart and mind to the Holy Spirit, and pray the He will lead you to the answers you seek.

Please take a moment now to open your Bible to Chapter 13 of the Gospel According to Matthew and read verses 1 to 23 [Mt 13:1-23]. 

____________________________

One evening early last year, I came across a website that asked the question: “Is your church growing?” Apparently, this website sells software and consulting services to Christian churches that either aren’t growing or aren’t growing quickly enough. It promises to help double the numbers of a congregation so the pews will be overflowing with enthusiastic worshipers. And the financial support will grow too, with the possibility of large donations.

Wow! Who could resist this offer at a time when Church attendance in the U.S. and Europe was approaching record lows? Europe, of course, is in far worse shape spiritually than the U.S., but the U.S. isn’t far behind. Many dioceses are closing parishes and have had to face crippling financial burdens (in part because of the abuse scandal). Who wouldn’t welcome a few tips on how to make a parish grow?

From this I was reminded of the Gospel passage I’ve asked you to read. It seems as if the disciples wanted Jesus to speak more clearly, not to hide His teachings in parables the people, and even the disciples, couldn’t decipher. Surely, He’d attract more followers if He’d just speak plainly. I can hear the consultants now:

“Poor Jesus! He just didn’t understand the dynamics of church growth. First of all, He announced the presence of God's kingdom in a world dominated by the rule of Satan. And instead of making a little room for compromise, He just plowed ahead and declared war on Satan. Now, how ecumenical is that?”

Yes, I’m afraid our consultants would be aghast. Doesn’t Jesus know that his stubborn orthodoxy just makes things worse, polarizing people, making them more defensive?

Look what happened. Already the religious leaders of the time were accusing Jesus of being in league with Satan. And those teachings of His, those hard teachings that caused many of His disciples to leave Him: “Eat my Body…drink my Blood” [Jn 6:55-57] – hardly words to fill the parking lot. Even the people of Nazareth, His hometown, turned against him. Things simply weren’t going all that well for Jesus. If only He’d had access to the expert help available to us today.

In our passage Jesus gave His disciples advice on how to spread the Word. He used a parable, relating a story of a farmer who isn’t especially careful about the sowing of seed. He just throws it all over the place. Although some actually falls on fertile soil, most of the seed appears to be wasted. It reminds me of a cartoon I once saw. One farmer asks another 'What are you growing this year?' The other farmer simply said, 'Poorer'. And that’s Jesus, wasting all that seed.

Jesus, though, went on to explain things and we discover that His Way, God’s Way, differs greatly from the ways of man, the ways of the experts. After provoking the disciples with His parable of the reckless farmer, Jesus went on to explain His own proclamation of the Good News. Since He began His public ministry, He’d been generous in all things: teaching, healing, and reaching out to all who came to Him, and even many who didn’t. Through it all He displayed a special love for public sinners and society’s misfits, not the sort who give large contributions.

Through these actions, as much as His preaching, Jesus taught. Thousands came to Him and, listening to His teaching, realized how much He demanded of them. Their righteousness must exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees, the religious professionals of the day. He called for more than simple obedience to the law. He called for a change of heart and mind in his hearers. He called on them to change their lives!

But then He repeated the words of Isaiah, proclaiming the prophecy is fulfilled:

You shall indeed hear but not understand,

you shall indeed look but never see [Is 6:14].

Sure enough, many resisted because their hearts were as hard as the rocky ground on which so much of that seed fell, or as tangled and suffocating as the briars that choked God’s Word before it could grow. Quite simply, in their sinfulness and self-absorption they neither heard nor understood the Good News.

They refused to accept God’s gift of faith and make a free response to Jesus' call. Only an act of faith can open their hearts and free them from Satan's grasp. Without it, they are no different from so many of today’s Christians who seem to welcome the Gospel but then crumble once they are tested. Only this understanding, this act of faith, can free us from the allure of the gross materialism of our decaying society.

Jesus knew His people's history, so He wasn’t surprised by their lack of faith. The prophets had encountered the same lack of faith, the same hardening of hearts, when they spread the seed of God’s word. And, yet, despite all these obstacles, all the resistance to the life-giving Gospel, Jesus reminds us that God is not defeated.

You see, like the farmer, God is a bit of a gambler. When someone bets everything they have, with no guaranteed outcome, they’re gambling big time. It’s an old story. The higher the stakes, the harder they work. Not just to control the weeds, but to control every single variable they can.

They strive to control the risks. Just consider the extreme and improbable risks that God takes by planting his Word in a world like ours. What are the chances the Word of God will take root and yield a good harvest?

Will God’s Word change the heart of a terrorist? Will it bring the spirit of forgiveness to the family of a murder victim? Can the truth of God’s gift of life soften the heart of a politician? Will God’s love for the poor, the oppressed, the forgotten lead the wealthy to the beatitude of spiritual poverty? Will the hardships, the struggles of employees and customers play on the mind of a CFO as he adjusts his spreadsheet parameters? Will the scientist realize she’s bowing in reverence to the Creator of the universe when she leans over the microscope to study the wonders of cellular regeneration?

What are the chances? You and I might think the chances of the Word of God germinating in our fallen world are mighty slim. But, as it turns out, God is a gambler of the most reckless sort. Just listen to the words of the prophet Isaiah, poetic words through which he reveals God’s plan:

For as the heavens are higher than the earth,

      so are my ways higher than your ways,

      my thoughts higher than your thoughts.

Yet, just as from the heavens

      the rain and snow come down

and do not return there

      till they have watered the earth,

      making it fertile and fruitful,

giving seed to the one who sows

      and bread to the one who eats,

so shall my word be

      that goes forth from my mouth;

any word shall not return to me void,

      but shall do my will,

      achieving the end for which I sent it [Is 55:9-11].

The Word of God, then, runs swiftly upon the earth and doesn’t return to the heavens void. What a marvelous prophecy Isaiah has given us. For Jesus Himself is the Word of God and His time on earth was certainly brief, indeed, a swift run. But He did not return to heaven empty, for He had established His Church, “giving seed to the one who sows and bread to the one who eats.” And His Church “shall do my will, achieving the end for which I sent it.”

The Church Jesus founded gave us the canon of Sacred Scripture and its magisterial teachings on everything from prayer to living the Christian life. Whenever you and I open the Bible, or fall to our knees in prayer, or gather together at Mass, God scatters more seed and takes more risks. Day after day, in the face of incredible odds, God hurls out the seed of the Word like a gambler throwing dice.

It appears reckless, but faith takes root. Isaiah was confident in his conviction; and Jesus claimed it was a sure thing: God’s Word yields its harvest. In arid hearts that thirst for God, the understanding, the seeds of faith, all take root. His kingdom will come, Jesus promises us, a coming conditioned by both refusal and the generous response of open hearts.

What about your heart? Is it open, like “the one who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and yields a hundred or sixty or thirty fold”? [Mt 13:8] What a return on investment! How’s that for a reckless, over-the-top response? Is such a response to His Word really possible? Well, as Jesus reminds us: “…for God all things are possible”[Mt 19:26].

And especially today, in the face of so much disappointment, of low morale among many Christians, and of the hatred that arises out of a culture of death, it’s particularly important to accept that abundant harvests will come.

Just as the Church grew from Jesus’ own faith – His willingness to face the desolation of the cross, to die as the grain of wheat dies – and the glory of the Resurrection. Just as the Holy Spirit worked in the generous hearts of apostles and, despite the persecutions they endured, spread the faith from Jerusalem to Rome and beyond.

This was all God’s doing. His Kingdom doesn’t grow bigger and better by following some human organizational model. No consultant can bring about the Kingdom. No, it will come in its fullness only as a work of God – aided by the faith of the members of the Body of Christ.

This faith leads us to hope, and to pray and work for a generous response to Jesus' call to discipleship. Faith also tells us that growth comes not just when the church is prosperous and triumphant, but more often when she is weak and persecuted. For it is then, in our weakness, that we allow the power of God's Word to enter our hearts. It is then that we see His power and come to believe that He alone can produce the rich harvest.

Praised be Jesus Christ, now and forever.

Future Gulags

In a recent post I offered a brief description of Alexander Solzhenitsyn's classic examination of the ruthless and brutal persecution of the Russian people perpetrated by the communist authorities after the revolution of 1917 -- The Gulag Archipelago (hereafter abbreviated as GA). Millions were killed, imprisoned, or exiled during the decades that followed and Solzhenitsyn, as one of the survivors, had the passion and the spirit to conduct the difficult research in complete and necessary secrecy, and the courage to tell the story.

I also included just a sampling of some of the recent comments made by those on our political left, comments that are reminiscent of the attitudes that drove the thinking of the communists who so fervently slaughtered and imprisoned so many Russians. How sad that those on the left seem to despise the protections of religion, speech, and press, among others, provided by our nation's Constitution.

In truth, there's little difference between the totalitarians of either left or right. They both believe the state should control all aspects of people's lives -- they are, after all, totalitarians -- but there are some differences in practice, particularly related to the way they view and handle a society's means of production. Communists despise the idea of private property and corporate ownership and believe the state should own pretty much everything. Of course, once government bureaucrats take over an industry, thus eliminating all competition and any incentive to succeed, the industry descends into gross inefficiency and chaos. Fascists are actually a bit (but only a bit) smarter since they realize total government control would likely destroy any industry. They, therefore, allow private companies to run their businesses efficiently but demand subservience. Adolph Hitler, for example, didn't have to nationalize Krupp, I. G. Farben, Siemens, Daimler-Benz, and so many others. All he had to do was threaten them and they willingly did his bidding. Armed troops outside the front door of a business or a home can be an effective motivator.

We're starting to see signs of this among our hi-tech giants who do the bidding of the liberal establishment by "canceling" those who disagree with the prevailing ideology. The threat? Be good or the first thing we'll do is repeal Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act and allow anyone to sue you for what someone else says about them on one of your platforms. Oh, yes, we can also apply a host of anti-trust legislation and break your big company up into a slew of smaller, more easily controlled firms. There’s so much we can do to you.

Are the "leftists" who have infected Congress, government agencies, academia, big business, and the media really on the political left, or are they more closely aligned with the far right? It actually makes little difference since both extremes have similar ends -- control of others through the expansion and application of power -- and use similar means to achieve them. Solzhenitsyn makes this point often enough when, for example, he compares the ruthless application of power by both Hitler and Stalin, and their minions.

In writing the truth about what his country and its people endured, Solzhenitsyn offers us many prophetic insights. I certainly don't intend to relate them all, but hope only to show that the disturbing things we are experiencing and hearing now are nothing new. We must be wary, or this "one nation, under God" could easily lead to the end visualized by James Burnham in his 1964 book, Suicide of the West.

Let me conclude this post with a comment by Solzhenitsyn in which he describes the legal means put in place and implemented by the Soviet communist government, a new form of justice necessary if they hoped to carry out their brutal persecution:

"And so an entirely new form was adopted: extrajudicial reprisal, and this thankless job was self-sacrificingly assumed by the Cheka, the Sentinel of the Revolution, which was the only punitive organ in human history that combined in one set of hands investigation, arrest, interrogation, prosecution, trial, and execution of the verdict" GA...p. 28.

It was called “reprisal” because it’s primary purpose was to rid the society of real and potential political opponents of the Bolsheviks. It was a form of political cleansing driven as much by revenge as by necessity. Sound familiar? And when I hear of the secrecy and obvious extra-legal actions of federal law enforcement and its involvement with the U.S. Foreign Intelligence Surveillance (FISA) Court, I can’t help but think that perhaps we’ve taken a first step toward the “extrajudicial” approach taken by those communist revolutionaries. 

In my next post I hope to show how that which began in Russia a century ago merely foreshadowed some of what we are witnessing today.

The 1918 "Spanish Flu" and Padre Pio

If you're my age and spent some time talking with your parents and grandparents about life in the early 20th century, you likely heard about the influenza pandemic that spread throughout the world in 1918. A devastating plague, it infected upwards of 500 million people worldwide and resulted in perhaps 50 million deaths. 

To deflect attention from the reality of its spread among the troops fighting in World War One, the censors incorrectly named neutral Spain as the flu's source, so it became the "Spanish Flu." Of course, infected troops brought the disease home with them. And unlike most flu pandemics, young adults were particularly vulnerable. In fact Diane's grandfather and the grandfather of my stepmother, Barbara, were among those young men who died after being infected.

Diane's mother, Blanche, a six-year-old in 1918, explained that her entire family was infected: her father, mother, older brothers, and she herself were quarantined in their house near Bonafay, a rural community in the Florida panhandle. Although their neighbors would not enter the house, every day they left food at the front door. The sense of Christian charity of these good, faithful Baptists outweighed their fear of the disease. Blanche made a point of telling us that one neighbor even bought her a new pair of red shoes and left them at the door with the food. And, believe me, these were not wealthy people.

As we spoke about this today, Diane mentioned that, although young women also died during the 1918 pandemic, young men were far more susceptible and had a much higher death rate. She then told me, "God certainly blessed my mother's family because my grandmother survived and was able to care for the family and keep it together." Yes, indeed, everything is a gift, even when we are suffering and coping with the fears it brings.

People were indeed afraid back then, just as people are afraid today as we deal with another, but far less severe pandemic. And like today, businesses and schools closed in an attempt to mitigate the spread of that killing influenza. The people of Italy, like the rest of the world, suffered in fear as they witnessed the effects of the disease that infected and took the lives of family members and neighbors.

 

Photo Taken in Rome (2008)

Fear, however, is incompatible with faith. One person who realized this back in 1918 was Padre Pio, now St. Pio of Pietrelcina (1887-1968). Many of Padre Pio's followers had succumbed to their fears and turned to the saint for help. The following is from a biography -- Padre Pio: The True Story -- published by Our Sunday Visitor. The story was posted a few days ago on the Aleteia website. I repeat part of it here:

By September, everyone in San Giovanni Rotondo seemed to be ill, the schools were closed, and what little commerce there was in town was brought to a halt. In the next couple of months, two hundred people from a population of ten thousand would perish. Padre Pio's spiritual daughters came to him terrified, begging him to save them. "Never fear," he assured Nina Campanile. "Put yourself under the protection of the Virgin, do not sin, and the sickness will not overcome you." Although some of the "daughters" fell ill, none of them died.

The saint's advice in 1918 is just as valuable for us today. Fear accomplishes nothing...

Do not fear brothers and sisters. Trust and pray.

 

Gulags, Past and Present

Note: This post is the first of several that will address a book first published almost 50 years ago and its author's prophetic insights into our world today.  

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As usual, I’m involved in re-reading a book I first read years ago. It’s one of those books that many people bought because it received so much publicity when it first appeared, and they thought it would look good on their bookshelves. Written by a Nobel laureate, it was, however, non-fiction, quite long, and filled with pages of tedious, highly disturbing facts...so most of those who bought it never actually read it. This is a shame since it offers a detailed description of the blueprint followed by totalitarians of the left and the right once they take the reins of political power. 

The book? Alexander Solzhenitsyn’s The Gulag Archipelago. Its three volumes have been published in paperback editions, but the first two volumes are also available in a single hardcover. For those who might balk at reading this long work in its original entirety, an authorized abridged edition has been published. My copy Is the hardcover edition containing the unabridged Volumes 1 and 2, which I purchased shortly after it was first published back in 1973. Just an FYI: here’s a link to a used copy of the edition I own: The Gulag Archipelago. I’m sure you can find other, newer, and less expensive editions.

Before he turned his talents to researching and documenting the history of the Russian Revolution and the Soviet Union’s brutal treatment of its own citizens by Lenin, Stalin, and their toadies, Alexander Solzhenitsyn (1918-2008) was already a highly respected best-selling novelist. His One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich (1962) gives us a glimpse of the horrors of the Siberian Gulag by telling the story of one man's struggle against the dehumanizing evils of Soviet communism. Among his other novels, I managed to read In the First Circle (1968), Cancer Ward (1968), and August 1914 (1971). As I recall, I read all of these novels while at sea during my Navy years. There was no TV aboard ship and certainly no Internet in those days, so when I wasn’t working, flying, sleeping, or eating, I could usually find an hour or two to read.

But it was Solzhenitsyn's great non-fiction work, The Gulag Archipelago, that for me had its greatest impact. It's one thing to read a work of fiction, even one based on and reflecting historical realities, but it's quite another to encounter the lives and deaths of thousands of real people with real names and real families, human beings devoured by a system of almost unspeakable evil. 

Both historian and prophet, Solzhenitsyn’s painstaking research presents his readers with the reality of communist ideology brought to life...or, perhaps more accurately, to death. He pulls no punches, and as we read we encounter the logical consequence of atheistic materialism, the culmination of a socialism that denies the sanctity of life and deifies the state. Solzhenitsyn bares the truth of the communist state as a cruel, demanding, capricious, and unforgiving god. In 1985 he summed it all up:

Over a half century ago, while I was still a child, I recall hearing a number of old people offer the following explanation for the great disasters that had befallen Russia: “Men have forgotten God; that’s why all this has happened.” Since then, I have spent well-nigh 50 years working on the history of our revolution; in the process I have read hundreds of books, collected hundreds of personal testimonies, and have contributed eight volumes of my own toward the effort of clearing away the rubble left by the upheaval. But if I were asked today to formulate as precisely as possible the main cause of the ruinous revolution that swallowed up some 60 million of our people, I could not put it more accurately than to repeat: “Men have forgotten God; that’s why all this has happened.”

To read The Gulag Archipelago is to come to the undeniable conclusion that communism is nothing less than Satanic. And the sad truth is that so-called “democratic socialism” too often chooses to follow a similar path because to maintain its grip on political power socialist governments demand universal acceptance. Those who disagree must be silenced, one way or another.

I was led to turn once again to Solzhenitsyn's book after listening to some rather shrill comments made by Biden administration folks, some members of Congress, media pundits, and others who seem to have embraced rather unsettling approaches to dealing with their political opponents. Some examples:

• President Joe Biden seemed to dismiss the Islamist terrorism that has threatened our civilization over that past few decades, and decided to focus instead on "domestic terrorism" by means of executive order. By this, of course, he doesn't mean the months of destructive attacks, the riots, and the deaths perpetrated by far left groups like Antifa and Black Lives Matter. No, the president is focused on supporters of his predecessor, Donald Trump...you know, that collection of a few hundred January 6 wackos accused of trying to overthrow the government by means of an unarmed insurrection. Interestingly, beginning the day of his inauguration, Antifa and its allies have been rioting every night, continuing to work their destructive ways in our cities, but we hear not a word about it from the Biden administration. One gets the impression that the only folks deemed to be "terrorists" are conservative political opponents of Joe Biden.
  

• David Atkins, newly elected as a California member of the Democratic National Committee, told his Democrat colleagues to "start thinking in terms of post-WWII Germany or Japan" so that we can "deprogam 75 million people" -- presumably speaking of Trump voters. Of course, such deprogramming can succeed only if its targets (victims?) are denied access to their usual sources of news and information. In other words, deprogramming demands a significant degree of censorship and the elimination of the Constitutional rights guaranteed by the First Amendment, among others. 

• Shortly before election day, Keith Olberman, former MSNBC anchor, let loose with another of his mindless rants:

"Trump must be defeated...and his enablers, and his supporters...must be prosecuted and convicted and removed from our society." 

Heavens! All 75 million of them? He advocates prosecuting American citizens for supporting and voting for a particular candidate. Olbermann’s a very scary guy, but fortunately I don’t think too many people actually listen to him...one hopes.

• Washington Post columnist, Jennifer Rubin, a "Never Trumper" who labels herself a Republican, used Twitter to tell the world that any of those Republicans who challenged the 2020 election results must be disqualified from public office and ostracized from society:

"Any R now promoting rejection of an election or calling to not follow the will of voters or making baseless allegations of fraud should never serve in office, join a corporate board, find a faculty position or be accepted into 'polite' society."

Personally, I really don't think I'd want to be accepted into Rubin's idea of polite society. It sounds horribly impolite. It also begs the question: What about all those Democrats who rejected the 2000 and 2016 presidential elections? How about it, Jennifer, can we eject them from your polite society too? Oh, wait a minute...that would probably include you.

• Representative Steve Cohen (D-TN) believes that all Trump voters should automatically be suspects for a domestic terrorist attack and should be looked at by law enforcement. Cohen was especially concerned about all those National Guardsmen who probably voted for Turmp and were assigned to protect the Capitol. Can you imagine? We must protect the nation from all those conservative, patriotic, military folks who risked their lives to protect Steve Cohen and the rest of us from the global terrorist threat because...well, they might morph into domestic terrorists.  

• And then the nation — OK, just a tiny slice of the nation — watched Katie Couric (I really didn’t know she was still around) on Bill Maher’s HBO show as she jumped on the “deprogram the conservatives” bandwagon: 

“I mean, it’s really bizarre, isn’t it, when you think about how AWOL so many members of Congress have gotten. But I also think some of them are believing the garbage that they are being fed 24/7 on the Internet, by their constituents, and they bought into this big lie...And the question is how are we going to really almost deprogram these people who have signed up for the cult of Trump.” 

For Katie and her friends, to disagree with them on policy or candidates is to commit a political mortal sin, one that demands repentance and conversion, apparently by interventionist means if necessary.

• Finally, we have Michael Beller, a staff PBS attorney, who not only suggested tossing Molotov cocktails at the Trump White House, and added:

“We go for all the Republican voters, and Homeland Security will take their children away...We’ll put them into the re-education camps.” 

His comments, which were recorded and leaked by a conservative group, were so over the top that PBS actually fired him...at least for now.

I could offer dozens more, but these suffice to make my point. Reading them calls me back to Solzhenitsyn as he describes many of the attitudes that led to the horrific reality of the Russian Revolution and its aftermath. More on that in my next post.