text:
The post A Warning from Amos – What Do We Face? appeared first on Community in Mission.]]>
This theme was clearly announced by Amos in the reading from daily Mass (Tuesday of the 13th Week), excerpted here:
Hear this word, O children of Israel, that the LORD pronounces over you,
over the whole family that I brought up from the land of Egypt:
You alone have I favored,
more than all the families of the earth;
Therefore I will punish you
for all your crimes. …
If the trumpet sounds in a city,
will the people not be frightened?
If evil befalls a city,
has not the LORD caused it?
Indeed, the Lord GOD does nothing
without revealing his plan
to his servants, the prophets.
The lion roars—
who will not be afraid!
The Lord GOD speaks—
who will not prophesy! …
I brought upon you such upheaval
as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah:
you were like a brand plucked from the fire;
Yet you returned not to me,
says the LORD. …
So now I will deal with you in my own way, O Israel!
and since I will deal thus with you,
prepare to meet your God, O Israel. …
Therefore, thus says the Lord God:
… An adversary shall surround the land
and bring down your defenses from you,
and your strongholds shall be plundered. (Amos 3:1-8; 4:11-12; 3:11-12)
Within a generation, Assyria did in fact invade and destroy the ten Northern tribes that made up Israel, leaving only Judah in the South, along with some Levites and Benjaminites. The "Ten Lost Tribes" were effectively gone and not heard from again.
What of a nation and culture such as ours? As political entities, the United States and the countries of Europe are not covenanted with the Lord. But surely Western culture (once called Christendom) has a special relationship with God through faith in Christ and in the moral vision that once united us, albeit imperfectly. What of us? Do readings like this speak to us?
There has come upon the West a hardening and unrepentant spirit. Even having been warned to pray (e.g., through the proclamation of the Gospel and through special apparitions such as at Lourdes and Fatima), we collectively refuse to repent, instead doubling down on sin. Rates of unbelief have skyrocketed and there has been a massive falling away from the practice of the faith. The "right" to the grave injustice of abortion continues to sail through the courts. Families are in ruins; sexual promiscuity, confusion, and the celebration of every sort of disorder grow daily.
As early as the 1940s, C.S. Lewis lamented the loss of the faith in Europe and observed that it was worse than a return to paganism: At least pagans and barbarians had belief in deities and some respect for Natural Law. Whereas pagan Europe was like a virgin awaiting her groom, modern Europe of the 1940s was an angry divorcee, a bad scene. And things have only further declined in what we call the West.
Amos reminds us that our sins and injustices cannot go on forever. God hears the cries of the poor, the aborted, the victims of the sexual revolution, the children who suffer from their parents' misbehavior, those who suffer on account of our greed, and many others.
I am not able to see the future in detail, but it is biblically and historically true that indulged evil and sin cannot last. They carry the seeds of destruction because they are rooted in selfishness. And selfishness does not build families, nations, or cultures. While evil has its day, it also has its end, which is destruction.
There seem to be two models (in antiquity and in Scripture) through which this collapse that Amos and others describe occurs.
I. The Disease Model – As unrepented sin accumulates in a person and in a culture, its effects grow in stages like a cancer; eventually the condition becomes irreversible. The punishment for sin is more sin. The darkness grows ever deeper. The light seems obnoxious and is rejected. Hope for a cure fades as the very medicine necessary (faith) is rejected and scoffed at. Disorders of every kind multiply. Systems like the family start to fail, falling under the burden of growing sin and selfishness. Low birth rates and abortion reflect this selfishness and destroy one of most basic instincts: survival. Under the load of sin, fewer and fewer people in such a culture can rouse themselves to make the necessary changes.
People and cultures like this just fade away, replaced by others who still have basic virtues and values that make for a culture. Even if the replacing people have those virtues in a fierce and unrefined way, they do at least have them.
In many ways, this is what happened to the Greco-Roman world. Rome was not so much conquered as it faded away. (Yes, there were skirmishes with the barbarians, but no big, final showdown.) The Romans became soft; they lost family virtues and a solid work ethic. They declined into sexual immorality and infanticide. They depended on imported slave labor to do their work and took to an increasingly decadent leisure. Little by little Rome faded as Europe was overtaken by barbarians, who though fierce, still had the natural virtues needed to form a culture.
This also seems to be happening to Europe today as they are simply being replaced by Muslims and others from the south. And though sadly they are not Christians, they do actually believe in something. Though often fierce, they are at least passionate and willing to make sacrifices for their vision, however flawed. Let us pray that the Church can convert them to Jesus, as happened with the barbarians of old.
This is the disease model, in which God seems to sit back and allow sin to run its course, bringing an end to an unrepentant culture and nation.
II. The Destruction Model – In this model, God brings a swifter and more decisive end to sin and unrepentance; it is largely what Amos describes in the passage above. There is a general weakness that is introduced into a nation or culture. Through unrepentance that weakness grows, making that nation an easy target for its enemies. A nation that is sinful becomes conflicted within because, as already noted, sin is rooted in selfishness. Thus, in a nation of unchecked and unrepented sin, there is diminishing unity. As enemies begin to attack, there is no agreed upon strategy or even resolve to repel the threats.
In Ancient Israel God sent prophets to secure a repentance that would strengthen it. Most of the reforms undertaken, however, were fleeting and tepid. God then sent final warnings of imminent destruction, as we saw in the Amos text above.
Over time, but also with a suddenness, Israel and Judah suffered stunning defeats, first in 721 B.C., and later in 587 B.C.
Jesus also warned the Jewish people of His day of the looming destruction of their country if they did not repent and come to faith in Him. Forty years later Jerusalem was destroyed, the Temple burned (never again to be rebuilt), and 1.2 million Jews lost their lives in the war.
This is the destruction model, which begins a bit like the disease model but ends in a sudden crisis (brought on by sin) rather than a gradual fading away and replacement.
In our times, the disease model seems more evident. In terms of our moral condition, it is "Zero Dark Thirty" in the West. Just when we think things can't get any stranger, they do; disorders are multiplied. But instead of being addressed as problems, they are celebrated. The decadence of leisure and the selfishness of sin are progressing, and things that make for a solid culture and nation are lacking. A kind of replacement seems to be underway in Europe despite a certain awakening by some in terms of concern for low birthrates, etc.
In the United States, it is less clear what will happen. Politically, our Constitution, rooted in biblical values, once guided us. But it has become the personal plaything of judges and seems doomed to be interpreted out of existence. On the moral front, Americans no longer look collectively to the Judeo-Christian heritage that birthed our nation and sustained in its citizens the virtues necessary to support a republic. A nation cannot withstand such trends. Exactly how it will play out is less clear to me, but that it will play out is without doubt.
Consider carefully the words of Amos as relevant for us all, not just the Church, but also the nation!
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The post What Does It Mean When Scripture Says That God Hardens Certain Human Hearts? appeared first on Community in Mission.]]>
What are we to make of texts like these, which explicitly or implicitly speak of God hardening the hearts of people? How can God, who does no evil, be the source of a sinful mind or a hard heart? Why would God do such a thing when He has also said the following?
To be sure, these questions involve very deep mysteries, mysteries about God's sovereignty and how it interacts with our freedom, the mysteries of time, and the mysteries of causality. As a mystery within mysteries, the question of God hardening hearts cannot be resolved simply. Greater minds than mine have pondered these things and it would be foolish to think that an easy resolution can be found in a blog post.
But some distinctions can and should be made and some context supplied. We do not want to understand the "hardening texts" in simplistic ways or in ways that use one truth to cancel out other important truths that balance it. So please permit a modest summary of the ancient discussion.
I propose that we examine these sorts of texts along four lines:
To begin, it is important simply to list a few of the "hardening texts." The following are not the only ones, but they provide a wide enough sample:
I. The Context of Connivance – In properly assessing texts like these, we ought first to consider the contexts in which they were written. Generally speaking, most of these declarations that God "hardens the heart" come after a significant period of disobedience on the part of those whose hearts were hardened. In a way, God "cements the deal" and gives them what they really want. For seeing that they have hardened their own hearts to God, He determines that their disposition is to be a permanent one, and in a sovereign exercise of His will (for nothing can happen without God's allowance), declares and permits their hearts to be hardened in a definitive kind of way. In this sense, there is a judgment of God upon the individual that recognizes the person's definitive decision against Him. Hence this hardening can be understood as voluntary on the part of the one hardened one, for God hardens in such a way that He uses the person's own will for the executing of His judgment. God accepts that the individual's will against Him is definitive.
In the case of Pharaoh (e.g., #1 and #2 above), although God indicated to Moses that He would harden Pharaoh's heart, the actual working out of this is a bit more complicated. We see in the first five plagues that it is Pharaoh who hardens his own heart (Ex 7:13; 7:22; 8:11; 8:28; & 9:7). It is only after this repeated hardening by Pharaoh of his own heart that the Exodus text speaks of God as the one who hardens (Ex 9:12; 9:34; 10:1; 10:20; 10:27). Hence the hardening here is not without Pharaoh's repeated demonstration of his own hardness. God "cements the deal" as a kind of sovereign judgment on Pharaoh.
The Isaiah texts (many in number) that speak of a hardening being visited upon Israel by God (e.g., #3 and #4 above), are also the culmination of a long testimony by Isaiah of Israel's hardness. At the beginning of Isaiah's ministry, God describes (through Isaiah) Israel's hardness as being of their own doing: For the LORD has spoken: "I reared children and brought them up, but they have rebelled against me. The ox knows his master, the donkey his owner's manger, but Israel does not know, my people do not understand." Ah, sinful nation, a people loaded with guilt, a brood of evildoers, children given to corruption! They have forsaken the LORD; they have spurned the Holy One of Israel and turned their backs on him (Is 1:2-4). There follows a long list of their crimes, their hardness, and their refusal to repent.
St. John Chrysostom – Of the numerous texts later in Isaiah (and also referenced by Jesus (e.g., Jn 12:40)) that speak of Israel being hardened by God (and having their eyes shut by Him), St John Chrysostom said, That the saying of Isaiah might be fulfilled: that here is expressive not of the cause, but of the event. They did not disbelieve because Isaiah said they would; but because they would disbelieve, Isaiah said they would … For He does not leave us, except we wish Him … Whereby it is plain that we begin to forsake first, and are the cause of our own perdition. For as it is not the fault of the sun that it hurts weak eyes, so neither is God to blame for punishing those who do not attend to His words (in a gloss of Is. 6:9-10 at Jn 12:40, quoted in the Catena Aurea).
St. Augustine – This is not said to be the devil's doing, but God's. Yet if any ask why they could not believe, I answer, because they would not … But the Prophet, you say, mentions another cause, not their will; but that God had blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart. But I answer that they well deserved this. For God hardens and blinds a man by forsaking and not supporting him; and this He makes by a secret sentence, for by an unjust one He cannot (quoted in the Catena Aurea at Jn 12:40).
In the text of 2 Thessalonians (# 5 above), God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie. While this verse speaks of God as having sent the delusion, the verses before and after make clear the sinful role of the punished: They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved … so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness (2 Thess 2:10,12).
St. Augustine – From a hidden judgment of God comes perversity of heart, so that the refusal to hear the truth leads to the commission of sin, and this sin is itself a punishment for the preceding sin [of refusing to hear the truth] (Against Julian 5.3.12).
St. John Damascus – [God does this] so that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness (The Orthodox Faith 4.26).
The texts from Romans 1 (e.g., # 6 above) speak of God handing them over only after they have suppressed the truth (1:18), persevered in their wickedness (1:18), and preferred lust and idolatry (1:23-24). Hence, as a just judgment, God hands them over to sexual confusion (homosexuality) and countless other destructive drives. So here, too, though it is said that God hands them over, it is really not that simple. Again, God has "cemented the deal." They do not want to serve Him and so God, knowing their definitive decision, gives them what they want.
Thus our first point in understanding the "hardening texts" is that the context of connivance is important in assessing them. Scripture does not assert that God takes a reasonably righteous man and, out of the blue, hardens his heart, confuses his mind, or causes him (against his will) to become obstinate. The texts are usually presented as a kind of prevenient judgment by God, such that the state of the person's hardness becomes permanent. God "cements the deal" and "causes" the person to walk in his own sinful ways since he has insisted on doing so.
II. The Mystery of Time – In understanding these "hardening texts" (which we have seen are akin to judgment texts) we must strive to recall that God does not live in time in the same way that we do. Scripture speaks often of God's knowledge and vision of time as being comprehensive rather than speculative or serial (e.g., Ex 3:14; Ps 90:2-4; Ps 93:2; Is 43:13; Ps 139; 2 Peter 3:8; James 1:17).
To say that God is eternal and lives in eternity is to say that He lives in the fullness of time. For God past, present, and future are all the same. God is not wondering what I will do tomorrow; neither is He waiting for it to happen. For Him, my tomorrow has always been present. All of my days were written in His book before one of them ever came to be (Ps 139:16). Whether and how long I live have always been known to Him. Before He ever formed me in my mother's womb He knew me (Jer 1:5). My final destiny is already known and present to Him.
Hence when we strive to understand God's judgments in the form of hardening hearts, we must be careful not to think that He lives in time the way we do. It is not as though God is watching my life unfold like a movie. He already knows the choices I will make. Thus, when God hardens the hearts of some, it is not that He is trying to influence the outcome by "tripping them up." He already knows the outcome and has always known it; He knows the destiny they have chosen.
Now be very careful with this insight, for it is a mystery to us. We cannot really know what it is like to live in eternity, in the fullness of time, where the future is just as present as is the past. And even if you think you know, you really don't. What is essential for us to realize is that God does not live in time the way we do. If we try too hard to solve the mystery (rather than just accepting and respecting it) we risk falling into the denial of human freedom, or double predestination, or other misguided notions that sacrifice one truth for another rather than holding them in balance. That God knows what I will do tomorrow does not destroy my freedom to choose what I do. How this all works out is mysterious, but we are free (Scripture teaches this) and God holds us accountable for our choices. Further, even though God knows our destiny already, this does not mean that He is revealing anything about that to us, such that we should look for signs and seek to call ourselves saved or lost. We ought to work out our salvation in reverential fear and trembling (Phil 2:12).
The key point here is mystery. Striving to understand how, why, and when God hardens the heart of anyone is caught up in the mysterious fact that He lives outside of time and knows all things before they happen. Thus He acts with comprehensive knowledge of all outcomes.
III. The Mystery of Causality – One of the major differences between the ancient and the modern worlds is that the ancient world was much more comfortable dealing with something known as primary causality.
Up until the Renaissance, people thought that God was at the center of all things and they instinctively saw the hand of God in everything—even terrible things. Job said, The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised … if we have received good things at the hand of God, why should we not receive evil? (Job 1:21; 2:10) Thus the ancients would commonly attribute everything as coming from the hand of God, for He was the "first cause" of everything that happened. This is what is meant by primary causality. The ancients were thus much more comfortable attributing things to God than we are. In speaking like this, they were not being superstitious or primitive in their thinking; rather, they were emphasizing that God was sovereign, omnipotent, and omnipresent, and that nothing happened apart from His sovereign will. They believed that God was the primary cause of all that existed.
Of this ancient and scriptural way of thinking the Catechism says, And so we see the Holy Spirit, the principal author of Sacred Scripture, often attributing actions to God without mentioning any secondary causes [e.g., human or natural]. This is not a "primitive mode of speech," but a profound way of recalling God's primacy and absolute Lordship over history and the world, and so of educating his people to trust in him (CCC # 304).
We need to understand that the ancient biblical texts, while often speaking of God as hardening the hearts of sinners, do not mean to say that man had no role, no responsibility. Neither do they mean to say that God acts in a merely arbitrary way. Rather, the emphasis is on God's sovereign power as the first cause of all that is. Hence He is often called the cause of all things and His hand is seen in everything.
After the Renaissance, man moved himself to the center and God was gradually "escorted" to the periphery. Man's manner of thinking and speaking began to shift to focusing on secondary causes (those related to man and nature). If something happens we look to natural causes, or in human situations, to the humans who caused it. But these are actually secondary causes, because I cannot cause something to happen unless God first causes me.
Today, we have largely thrown primary causality overboard as a category. Even believers do this (unconsciously for the most part) and thus exhibit three related issues:
The point here is that we have to balance the mysteries of primary and secondary causality. We cannot fully understand how they interrelate, but they do. Both mysteries need to be held. The ancients were more sophisticated than we are in holding these mysteries in the proper balance. Today, we handle causality very clumsily; we do not appreciate the distinctions between primary causality (God's part) and secondary causality (our own and nature's part). We try to resolve the mystery rather than holding the two in balance and speaking to both realities. Thus we are poor interpreters of the "hardening texts."
IV. The Necessity of Humility – We are dealing with the mysterious interrelationship between God and Man, between God's sovereignty and our freedom, between primary and secondary causality. In the face of such mysteries we have to be very humble. We ought not to think more about the details than is proper for us, because, frankly, they are largely hidden from us. Too many moderns either dismiss the hardening texts outright, or accept them and then sit in harsh judgment over God (as if we could do such a thing). Neither approach bespeaks humility. Consider a shocking but very humbling text in which St. Paul warns us about this very matter:
What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Not at all! For he says to Moses, "I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion." It does not, therefore, depend on man's desire or effort, but on God's mercy. For the Scripture says to Pharaoh: "I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth." Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden. One of you will say to me: "Then why does God still blame us? For who resists his will?" But who are you, O man, to talk back to God? "Shall what is formed say to him who formed it, 'Why did you make me like this?'" (Romans 9:14-20)
None of us can demand an absolute account from God for what He does. Even if He were to tell us, could our small, worldly minds ever really comprehend it? My thoughts are not your thoughts, and my ways are not your ways, says the Lord (Is 55:8).
Summary – In this (rather too long) post, we have considered the "hardening texts," in which God hardens the hearts of certain people. But texts like these must be approached carefully, humbly, and with proper distinctions as to the scriptural and historical context. At work here are profound mysteries: God's sovereignty, our freedom, His mercy, and His justice.
We should be careful to admit the limits of our knowledge when it comes to interpreting such texts. As the Catechism so beautifully states, texts like these are to be appreciated as a profound way of recalling God's primacy and absolute Lordship over history and the world, and so of educating his people to trust in him (CCC # 304).
This song says, "Be not angry any longer, Lord, and no more remember our iniquities. Behold and regard us; we are all your people!"
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The post In the Presence of a True Prophet, No One Escapes appeared first on Community in Mission.]]>
Prophets were famous for goring everyone's ox. No one left the presence of a prophet untouched. Prophets didn't choose sides; they didn't excoriate only popular targets like the rich and powerful. They were on God's side and realized that the poor had sins as well, and that those sins often contributed to the very injustices they faced.
So troubling were the prophets of old (including Jesus) that most of them were persecuted, jailed, stoned, exiled, and/or killed. Most of the Biblical prophets were beyond controversial; they were way over the top. Prophets denounced sin and injustice in the strongest language, announcing doom to a nation that refused to repent. Because of this, many Israelites considered them unpatriotic, even downright dangerous. They justified throwing them into prison for their lack of patriotism and for the way their words questioned and upset the status quo and the judgments of those who held power.
To many, the prophets were dangerous men who had to be stopped.
Jesus, though essentially our savior, also adopted the role of a prophet. Listen to the words He directed to the people of His day in response to their rejection of His prophetic message. Jesus likens their behavior to that of their forebears, who rejected the prophets.
Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites. You build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the memorials of the righteous, and you say, "If we had lived in the days of our ancestors, we would not have joined them in shedding the prophets' blood." Thus you bear witness against yourselves that you are the children of those who murdered the prophets; now fill up what your ancestors measured out. You serpents, you brood of vipers, how can you avoid being sentenced to Hell? (Matt 23:29ff)
Many of us like to think that, had we lived in Jesus' time, we would surely have been on His side. But prophets can be hard to endure, and Jesus had "difficult" things to say to everyone. For example, the Sermon on the Mount and the parables warning of judgment and exclusion from the kingdom were directed to ordinary people.
Most of us struggle with the truth to some extent, especially those of us who prefer a more gentle discourse with large doses of honey and very little vinegar. We would probably wince as we walked along with Jesus. Jesus was very disconcerting. He spoke more bluntly than we are usually comfortable with. If we read the words of the prophets and Jesus and consider them honestly, we will come away with much to repent of.
A picture is worth a thousand words. Consider the video clip below of a modern prophet named Vernon Johns. In the early 1950s he was pastor of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama. The black congregation that hired him was a rather sleepy one; in the face of rather severe racial discrimination, they preferred to remain silent and therefore safe. Johns tried to awaken them from their sleep, but to no avail. They were too afraid (at that point) to take a prophetic stand. Eventually, Vernon Johns was arrested as a troublemaker and subsequently fired by the Board of Deacons.
But Johns had laid a foundation for the next pastor of Dexter Baptist, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Within a few years, Rosa Parks refused to give up her bus seat to a white woman, and the bus boycott was on. The rest is history.
This clip is of Vernon Johns' final sermon, in which (in finest prophetic tradition) he denounces racism. Note that no one escapes his denunciations, even his own congregation. Watch this clip and behold what it must have been like to be with the prophets of old, or even with Jesus.
Behold the prophet; no one escapes! At the end of the clip, Johns' daughter, who had stood against her Father's zeal, sings "Go Down Moses." The choir director, who had also opposed him, likewise stands up to sing. The seed has been planted even as the prophet is led away by the police.
Disclaimer: Vernon Johns' speech should be understood in its particular historical context. In recent years we have seen in this country a sometimes riotous response to perceived abuses of power by the police. Note that in his speech Johns does not call for rioting. Rather he calls for proper and vigorous protest, which at that time was muted by fear and social convention. In posting this video, I intend no direct commentary on the current problems, which are often complex and admit of differing prudential judgments and responses. But as a video like this shows, there is a long history that is easily awakened. We do well, at the very least, to be aware of it.
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The post Five Disciplines of Discipleship – A Homily for the 13th Sunday of the Year appeared first on Community in Mission.]]>
I. Purposefulness – The text says, When the days for Jesus' being taken up were fulfilled, he resolutely determined to journey to Jerusalem, and he sent messengers ahead of him.
Note that Jesus was resolute. He was heading to Jerusalem to suffer, die, and rise, just as He announced in last week's Gospel. He is heading there to undertake the great battle, and the great mission entrusted to Him. Everything He did was to be oriented toward this goal.
What about us? Are we as resolute in our determination to seek Christ and head for His Kingdom? Is our direction clear? Have we set our sights resolutely, or do we meander about chasing butterflies? Are we on the highway to Heaven, or do we make easy compromises with this passing world, seeking to serve two masters? Notice how easily we take exits for sin city, vicious village, and injustice junction.
Our goal is to set our face like flint and pursue the Jerusalem of Heaven, as Jesus set His face toward the Jerusalem of this earth to accomplish His mission.
Scripture speaks often of developing a firm and unequivocal resolve, of being purposeful and single-hearted in our determination to follow Jesus and set our sights on Heaven.
This one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus (Phil 3:13).
A double minded man is unstable in all his ways (James 1:4).
No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon (Mat 6:24).
There is one thing I ask of the LORD, this alone I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life and gaze upon the beauty of the LORD (Ps 27:4).
Are you focused? Purposeful? What is the one thing you do? Concentration is the secret of power. Water over a large area is a stagnant pond, but in a narrow channel it is a powerful river.
The first discipline of discipleship is to be purposeful, determined, single-hearted, and focused in our pursuit of the Lord and His kingdom.
II. Perseverance – The text says, On the way they entered a Samaritan village to prepare for his reception there, but they would not welcome him because the destination of his journey was Jerusalem. When the disciples James and John saw this they asked, "Lord, do you want us to call down fire from heaven to consume them?" Jesus turned and rebuked them, and they journeyed to another village.
Note that James and John are angry and discouraged at the rejection of Jesus and the values of the Kingdom. But Jesus rebukes their desire for retaliation.
Notice how Jesus stays focused on His task. Rejected here, He moves forward. He does not let the devil distract Him or His disciples from the task of persistently proclaiming the Word, in season or out of season, popular or unpopular, whether accepted or rejected. Just persevere. Keep preaching; keep plowing; keep walking. Do not give up; do not grow angry; just keep working. Leave judgment to God. For now, just preach, teach, instruct, warn, and admonish.
Scripture says,
And if any one will not receive you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet as you leave that house or town. Truly, I say to you, it shall be more tolerable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah than for that town. … and you will be hated by all for my name's sake. But he who endures to the end will be saved. When they persecute you in one town, flee to the next (Matt 10:14, 22).
Yes, persevere! Remember, we're called to be faithful, not successful. We need to persevere not just in the face of rejection, but in the face of trials, temptations, setbacks, sorrows, hurts, hardships, failures, and frustrations. Preach, teach, and be tenacious. And remember to trust in Jesus. They killed Him, but He rose.
Many have announced the end of faith. Many have sworn that they will bury the Church. But the Church has buried every one of her would-be undertakers. They dug our grave, but fell into it themselves. Yes, we read the funeral rite over them instead. We have outlived every opponent.
No weapon waged against us will prevail. Long after the current confusion and pride of the decadent West is gone, the Church will still exist, preaching Christ and Him crucified. Persevere! It is a critical discipline of discipleship.
III. Poverty – The text says, As they were proceeding on their journey someone said to him, "I will follow you wherever you go." Jesus answered him, "Foxes have dens and birds of the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to rest his head."
Here is another critical discipline of discipleship: following Jesus even if worldly gain not only eludes us, but is outright taken from us. Do you love the consolations of God or the God of all consolation? Do you seek the gifts of God, or the Giver of every good and perfect gift? What if following Jesus gives you no earthly gain? What if, in fact, being a disciple brings you ridicule, loss, prison, or even death? Would you still follow Him? Would you still be a disciple?
In this verse Jesus' potential disciple seems to have had power, prestige, or worldly gain in mind. Perhaps he saw Jesus as a political messiah and wanted to get on the "inside track." So Jesus warns him that this is not what discipleship is about. The Son of Man's kingdom is not of this world.
We need to heed Jesus' warning. Riches are actually a great danger. Not only can riches not help us in what we really need, they can actually hinder us! Poverty is the not the worst thing. There's a risk in riches, a peril in prosperity, and a worry in wealth.
The Lord Jesus points to poverty and powerlessness (in worldly matters) when it come to being disciples. Frankly, this is not merely a remote possibility or an abstraction. If we live as true disciples, we are going to find that piles of wealth are seldom our lot. Why? Well, our lack of wealth comes from the fact that if we are true disciples, we won't make easy compromises with sin or evil. We won't take just any job. We won't be ruthless in the workplace or deal with people unscrupulously. We won't lie on our resumes, cheat on our taxes, or take easy and sinful short cuts. We will observe the Sabbath, be generous to the poor, pay a just wage, provide necessary benefits to workers, and observe the tithe. The world hands out (temporary) rewards if we do these sorts of things, but true disciples refuse such compromises with evil. In so doing, they reject the temporary rewards of this earth and may thus have a less opulent place to lay their head. They may not get every promotion and they may not become powerful.
And thus "poverty" is a discipline of discipleship. What is "poverty"? It is freedom from the snares of power, popularity, and possessions.
Jesus had nowhere to rest his head. Now that's poor. But it also means being free of the many duties, obligations, and compromises that come with wealth. If you're poor no one can steal from you, or threaten take away your stuff. You're free; you have nothing to lose.
Most of us have too much to lose and so we are not free; our discipleship is hindered.
Poverty is an important discipline of discipleship.
IV. Promptness (readiness) – The text says, And to another he said, "Follow me." But he replied, "Lord, let me go first and bury my father." But he answered him, "Let the dead bury their dead. But you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God."
The Lord seems harsh here. However, note that the Greek text can be understood in the following way: "My Father is getting older. I want to wait until he dies and then I will really be able to devote myself to being a disciple!"
Jesus' point is that if the man didn't have this excuse, he'd have some other one. He does not have a prompt or willing spirit. We can always find some reason that we can't follow wholeheartedly today because we have to get a few things resolved first.
It's the familiar problem: I'll do tomorrow!
There is a peril in procrastination. Too many people always look to tomorrow. But tomorrow is not promised. In the Scriptures there is one word that jumps out over and over again; it's the word now.
Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD (Isaiah 1:18).
… behold, now is the day of salvation (2 Cor 6:2).
Today if ye will hear his voice, Harden not your heart (Ps 95:7).
Boast not thyself of tomorrow; for you know not what a day may bring forth (Prov 27:1).
That's right, tomorrow is not promised! You'd better choose the Lord today, because tomorrow might very well be too late. Now is the day of salvation.
There were three demons who told Satan about their plan to destroy a certain man. The first demon said, "I am going to tell him that there is no Hell." But Satan said, "People know that there is a Hell and most have already visited here." The second demon said, "I am going to tell him that there is no God." But Satan said, "Despite atheism being fashionable of late, most people know, deep down, that there is a God, for he has written his name in their hearts." The third demon said, "I am not going to tell them that there is no Hell or that there is no God; I am going to tell them that there is no hurry." And Satan said, "You're the man! That's the plan!"
Yes, promptness is a discipline of discipleship. It is a great gift to be sought from God. It is the gift to joyfully run to what God promises without delay.
V. Permanence – The text says, And another said, "I will follow you, Lord, but first let me say farewell to my family at home." To him Jesus said, "No one who sets a hand to the plow and looks to what was left behind is fit for the kingdom of God."
When we accepted Christ, we set our hand to the gospel plow and we left certain things behind. We are not to return to those things, things like harmful habits, ruinous relationships, soul-killing sinfulness, and perilous pleasures.
Yes, there are some things that we used to do that we have no business doing now. We need to give up our former ways and not look back.
Scripture says,
Now this I affirm and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds; they are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart; they have become callous and have given themselves up to licentiousness, greedy to practice every kind of uncleanness. You did not so learn Christ, assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus. Put off your old nature which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and put on the new nature, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness (Eph 4:17-23).
Therefore, brothers, make every effort to make permanent your calling and election, because if you do these things you will never stumble (2 Peter 1:10).
An old spiritual says,
Hold on, Hold on! If you want to get to heaven let me tell you how, keep your hands on the Gospel plow! Keep your hands on the plow and hold on! Hold on. When you plow that field don't lose your track, Can't plow straight and keep a-lookin' back. Keep your hands on the plow and hold on, Hold on!
Persevere, hold on, don't let go. Keep a-inchin' along like a poor old inchworm. Stay, hold, keep walkin', and don't look back!
Perseverance is a discipline of discipleship.
Here then are five disciplines of discipleship. Learn about them and seek them from the Lord. Without them we will surely perish.
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The post What If God Stopped Watching? appeared first on Community in Mission.]]>
Of course if God really were to stop watching or regarding His creation, the actual result would be much worse than chaos; it would be complete annihilation. Fortunately, the truth is that He will not stop watching us.
What is common, though, is for us to stop watching Him. The result? Complete moral chaos! Utter confusion! Welcome to the post-modern, secular West. God is the source of our truth, but many have stopped watching Him, and so have become confused about even the most basic moral and physical realities. It's time to replace our batteries and reconnect with God.
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The post Living Near the Edge – A Meditation on Some of God's More Terrifying Gifts appeared first on Community in Mission.]]>
The earth, though out of it comes forth bread, is in fiery upheaval underneath (Job 28:2).
We live just above a fiery cauldron, separated from it by a thin membrane of earthly crust rife with cracks through which fire routinely flares in volcanoes, a crust that is always shifting and even shaking violently in earthquakes.
And yet, were it not for this cauldron beneath us, it seems unlikely that we would have life here at all. Volcanoes and other tectonic activity keep our soil rich and recycled. In this fiery cauldron are brewed some of our most useful minerals and our most beautiful gems. Entire island chains and land masses are formed by eruptions; geothermal energy is a resource we have just begun to tap. Many scientists think that volcanoes had a profound influence on the formation of Earth's atmosphere and that the molten core of the Earth has an important influence on the Van Allen belts, magnetic fields that keep the harmful portion of the sun's radiation away from the Earth's surface.
Yes, Job had it right: some of God's gifts come in strange packages. Earth's capacity to bring forth bread is directly connected to the fact that it is on fire underneath its surface. And while responsible for many gifts, seismic activity has claimed an enormous number of lives and massive amounts of property.
Water, such a rich blessing and sustainer of life, can also become in a moment a destroyer of life in huge numbers. Floods and tsunamis can sweep away huge areas in the blink of an eye.
And yet who could ever deny that without water, life would be impossible? Ah, water, nothing more essential to life, yet nothing more deadly. Yes, some of God's gifts come in strange and terrifying packages.
I have often wondered why so many cities throughout the world are built on or near floodplains or along the "ring of fire" with its frequent earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. But of course the answer is clear enough: It is in these very areas that some of the richest soil and most abundant natural resources can be found.
God's and nature's most life-giving gifts are but a few degrees separated from death and disaster. We live on the edge of an abyss because that is where life is found.
It's such a thin line, really. Mors et vita duello, conflixere mirando! (Death and life compete in a stupendous conflict!) To live is to cheat death.
All of the basic elements and forces: earth, air, water, and fire, are so death-dealing and yet so life-giving. They are all part of the great cycle of living and dying that God intends.
Only God is existence itself; the rest of us are contingent beings and part of a cycle. Only in union with Christ, who said, I am the life, will we ever cheat death. As Fulton Sheen once said, Christ gave the earth the only serious wound it ever received, the wound of an empty tomb. With Christ, and only with Christ, will we one day give the earth that same wound.
For now, we live upon a thin crust above the cauldron; beneath us burns a tremendous fire. But somehow, mysteriously, it is the source of our bread.
The earth, though out of it comes forth bread, is in fiery upheaval underneath (Job 28:2).
Yes, some of God's greatest gifts come in strange and terrifying packages.
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The post Like Any Progressive Disease, Sin Has Stages appeared first on Community in Mission.]]>
St. Alphonsus Liguori laid out five stages through which sin (if not resisted and repented of in its initial attacks) takes an increasing toll on the human person, making repentance less likely and more difficult.
While the names of the stages are mine, I am summarizing the insights of St. Alphonsus, who details these stages in his lengthy essay, "Considerations on the Eternal Maxims" (also called "Preparation for Death") in Chapter 22, "On Evil Habits." I have added some of my own additional insights as well.
Stage 1 – Impairment – The first effect of habitual sin is that it blinds the understanding. Scripture says, Their own malice blinded them (Wisdom 2:21). Yes, every sin produces blindness, and the more that sins are multiplied, the greater the blindness they produce.
A further effect of this blindness is a foolish and dangerous walking about. Scripture provides several references for this:
The wicked walk round about (Ps. 12:8).
They stagger as with strong drink, they reel in vision, they stumble in giving judgment (Is 28:7).
Behold, the wicked man conceives evil and is pregnant with mischief and gives birth to lies. He makes a pit, digging it out, and falls into the pit that he has made (Ps 7:14-15).
And thus habitual sin leads to impaired vision and an impaired walk. Not seeing, the wicked stumble about and fall into a pit that they themselves made.
Stage 2 – Indifference – After an evil habit is contracted, the sins that previously excited sorrow are now viewed with increasing indifference. Scripture says the following:
Fools destroy themselves because of their indifference (Prov 1:32).
But he who is careless of conduct will die (Prov 19:16).
And to the increasingly indifferent and careless, the Lord gives this solemn and salutary warning: In little more than a year you who feel secure will tremble; the grape harvest will fail, and the harvest of fruit will not come (Is 32:10).
And thus, as unrepented sin grows, not only does the sinner stagger about and fall into pits, he cares less and less about the foolishness of his ways. The sins that once caused shame, or the thought of which caused sorrow and aversion, are either unnoticed or seem normal—even attractive.
Stage 3 – Improbability – As sin deepens its hold, the willingness and even the capacity to repent decreases. Why is this? St. Augustine answers well when he says, dum servitur libidini, facta est consuetudo, et dum consuetudini non resistitur, facta est necessitas (when lust was served it became habit, and when habit was not resisted it became necessity) (Confessions, 8.5.10). Sin deepens its hold on the sinner in this way.
Stage 4 – Incorrigibility – As Scripture says, The wicked man, when he is come into the depths of sins, has contempt (Proverbs 18:3). St. John Chrysostom commented on this verse, saying that habitual sinners, being sunk in the abyss of darkness, despise corrections, sermons, censures, Hell, and God; they despise everything.
A bad habit hardens the heart and the habitual sinner remains increasingly unmoved and mired in contempt for any correction or remedy. Scripture says of them, At your rebuke O God of Jacob, they have all slumbered (Psalm 76:7). An evil habit gradually takes away all remorse and supplants it with angry indignation at any attempted correction.
And then it happens that, instead of regretting his sins, the sinner rejoices in them, even laughing and boasting of them. Scripture says, They are glad when they have done evil and rejoice in the perverseness of evil (Proverbs 2:14). A fool works mischief as if it were for sport (Proverbs 10:23).
Thus they are incorrigible. They laugh at attempted correction and celebrate their sins with pride.
Stage 5 – Indisposition – When the understanding is deprived of light and the heart is hardened, the sinner ordinarily dies obstinate in his sin. Scripture says, A hard heart shall fare ill at the end (Ecclesiastes 3:27).
Some may say that they will amend their ways before they die, but it's very difficult for a habitual sinner, even in old age, to change his life. St. Bernard said, "The man on whom the weight of a bad habit presses, rises with difficulty."
Indeed, how can a sinner, weakened and wounded by habitual sin, have the strength to rise? Even if he sees the way out, he often considers the remedies too severe, too difficult. Though conversion is not impossible, he is indisposed because it all seems like too much work. In addition, his love has likely grown cold for the good things that God offers.
And thus, even on their deathbeds, many sinners remain unmoved and unwilling to change; the darkness is deep, the heart is hardened, and sloth has solidified.
In these ways sin is like a progressive illness, a deepening disease; it moves through stages much as does cancer. Repentance at any stage is possible, but it becomes increasingly unlikely, especially by stage four, when the sinner becomes proud of his sin and joyful in his iniquity.
Beware the progressive illness of sin!
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The post Three Hard Sayings of the Lord That Offend Against Modern Sensibilities appeared first on Community in Mission.]]>
Do not give what is holy to dogs, (Mt 7:6)
or throw your pearls before swine, lest they trample them underfoot, and turn and tear you to pieces (Mt 7:6).
The modern notion offended against here is this: You're not supposed to call people ugly names. This idea, though not wrong in itself, has become rather excessively applied in our times. We live in thin-skinned times of fragile egos; people are easily offended. The merest slight is often met with the threat of a lawsuit. Even observations intended to be humorous are labeled hurtful and out-of-line. But horror of horrors, here we have Jesus calling certain (unnamed) people dogs and swine; we demand an explanation for such horrible words coming forth from the sinless Lord Jesus!
Sophistication is needed. One of the reasons we are so easily offended today is, frankly, that we lack sophistication. We seem to have lost understanding of simile and metaphor.
Metaphors and similes are figures of speech that achieve their effect through association, comparison, and resemblance. They can highlight hidden similarities between two different things.
A simile directly compares two different things and normally includes words such as "like," "as," or their equivalent. Similes are "hit you over the head" comparisons such as this: "He is as swift as a cheetah!"
Some references say that similes are just a specific subset of metaphors, while others say that metaphors cannot use "like," or "as." But in either case, here is an example of a metaphor that is not a simile: "He's a real workhorse!" Metaphors (that are not similes) are usually more effective (and subtle) than similes because the basis for comparison is often ambiguous. For example, if I were to observe someone doing something cruel I might say, "Wow, he's a dog!" Now obviously I don't mean that I believe that he is actually a dog. Rather, I mean that he is manifesting some of the qualities of a dog. However, just how many or which qualities he shares with an actual dog is left open to interpretation.
The point is that some sophistication and some appreciation for the nuances of language are necessary as we negotiate life's road. We seem to have lost some of this today and so are easily offended.
This does not mean that no one ever intends offense; it only means that more care is necessary than simply interpreting everything in a literal way. In my example, the man acting cruelly would likely take offense and say, "Hey, he called me a dog!" What the speaker means is that you have taken on some of the qualities of a wild dog. Now to what extent he means that you are like a dog is intentionally ambiguous; it's an invitation for you to think about how you may have surrendered some of your humanity and become more like a baser creature.
Examining what the Lord says – This sort of sophistication is necessary when examining the Lord's "offensive" sayings. Let's look at both of them in terms of their historical roots and in terms of the lesson being taught.
Obviously the Jewish people were not pointing out positive traits when they referred to people as a dog or swine. In the ancient world, dogs were not pets; they were wild animals that ran in packs. Pigs were unclean animals and something no Jew would ever touch, let alone eat. These are strong metaphors indicating significant aversion to some aspect of the person.
Do not give what is holy to dogs. This was a Jewish saying rooted in tradition. Some of the meat that was sacrificed to God in the Temple could be eaten by humans (especially the Levites), but in no way was it ever to be thrown to dogs or other animals to eat. If it was not consumed by humans, then it was to be burned. Sanctified meat was not to be thrown to dogs because it was holy.
[Do not] throw your pearls before swine, lest they trample them underfoot. In the Old Testament, pearls were an image for wisdom. But pigs only value what they can eat. If pigs were to come across pearls, they would sniff them, determine that they were not edible, and then simply trample them underfoot.
So what is being said? Sacred things, sacred matters, and participation in sacred matters should not be easily offered to those who are incapable of appreciating them. There are those who despise what we call holy. There is little that can be done in such cases except to deny them the pleasure of tearing apart or trampling underfoot what is holy. Jesus is saying that some people are like dogs, who would irreverently tear apart blessed food dedicated to God, having no concept of its holiness. Some people are like swine, who would trample underfoot anything that they could not eat or use for their pleasure.
There are also some who, though not hostile, are ignorant of sacred realities for some reason. Even if they do not intend offense, they must be instructed before being admitted to sacred rites. In the Western Rite, for example, children are not given the Holy Eucharist until they can distinguish it from ordinary food. In addition, more advanced spiritual notions such as contemplative prayer are often not appreciated unless one has been led in stages.
The Lord is thus indicating that holy things are to be shared in appropriate ways with those who are able to appreciate them. It is usually necessary to be led into the Holy and just walk in unprepared or unappreciative.
In the ancient Church there was something known as the disciplina arcani (discipline of the secret), wherein only the baptized and confirmed were admitted to the sacred mysteries of the Liturgy. Given the holiness with which the early Christians regarded the Mass, they exactly followed what the Lord is saying here. Careful instruction and gradual introduction to sacred truth was required before someone could enter something so holy as the Sacred Liturgy. Even the unintentional trampling underfoot of sacred realities through simple ignorance was to be strictly avoided. These were difficult times for the Church and persecution was common. Hence, the Lord's warning to protect the holy things was not just so that they would not be trampled underfoot, but also so that those who were like dogs and swine would not turn and tear you to pieces (Mat 7:6).
In the centuries after the Edict of Constantine, the disciplina arcani gradually dissipated. Some remnants of it were revived in the modern Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults (RCIA), wherein the catechumens are dismissed halfway through the Mass so that they may reflect more fully on the Liturgy of the Word. Despite this, we have much to relearn today about a deep reverence for the Sacred Liturgy. It would not seem appropriate to lock our Church doors as was done in ancient times. But preserving good order in the Liturgy, inspiring reverence, encouraging proper dress, and instilling deeper knowledge of the true meaning of the Sacred Liturgy are all important ways to ensure that we do not trample underfoot what is sacred.
The Lord's third hard saying destroys a notion that is, to most moderns, practically a dogma. The "dogma" is that just about everyone is going to Heaven. It is one of the most damaging notions of modern times because it removes the necessary sense of urgency in earnestly seeking our salvation, in staying on the narrow road that leads to salvation. In direct opposition to this destructive and presumptuous notion of practically universal salvation Jesus says,
Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the road broad that leads to destruction, and those who enter through it are many. How small the gate and narrow the road that leads to life. And those who find it are few (Matt 7:12-13).
Pay close attention to the word few. We need to sober up and come to the biblical understanding that our salvation must be earnestly desired and sought. God's love for us is not lacking but our love for him often is. In contrast, Jesus says that many are on a path of indifference or outright rejection of the kingdom, which leads to destruction.
The Kingdom of God is not some abstraction. It's not a golf course or playground up in the sky. The Kingdom of God is the full realization of God's will and His plan. It includes values like justice, mercy, kindness, chastity, and love of God and neighbor. It is clear that many (to quote Jesus) live in opposition or indifference to these values, while only a few (to quote Jesus) come to appreciate and are willing to receive these into their life wholeheartedly.
Yes, this is a hard saying of Jesus'. Many are on the path to destruction while only a few are on the road to salvation. The Lord is telling us the truth not to panic us, but to jolt us into earnestly desiring our own salvation and seeking it from God with devotion. It is also to make us sober about the condition of others; we must stop making light of sin and indifference, and work urgently to evangelize and to call sinners to repentance.
We need to realize that our tendency is to turn away from God. There is a great drama to our lives; we are either on one road or the other. No third way is given. It is not a popular teaching to be sure. It offends against modern sensibilities. But it is true; Jesus says it to us in love.
Ad old song says, "Sinner please don't let this harvest pass, and die and lose your soul at last."
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The post The Lord's Judgment Will Not Be Delayed Forever – A Meditation on the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel appeared first on Community in Mission.]]>
The first reading from Monday's Mass (of the 12th week of the year) describes a crucial, crushing moment in the history of ancient Israel: the loss of the Northern Kingdom and the destruction and deportation of what came to be called the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel.
Shalmaneser, king of Assyria, occupied the whole land [of Israel] and attacked Samaria, which he besieged for three years. In the ninth year … the king of Assyria took Samaria [which was then part of Israel] and deported the children of Israel to Assyria, setting them in Halah, at the Habor, a river of Gozan, and the cities of the Medes (2 Kings 17:5-6).
The Northern Kingdom of Israel had divided from the Southern Kingdom of Judah in 930 B.C. as a result of the bitterness following the tail end of Solomon's reign and the reign of his successor Rehoboam. The tribes that formed the Northern Kingdom were Asher, Dan, Ephraim, Gad, Issachar, Mannasseh, Napthtali, Reuben, Simeon, and Zebulun. (Some from Levi were also settled there.) The survivors of the war were largely deported to Assyria and were "lost" by virtue of intermarrying with the people there. Though some debate the use of the term "lost," claiming that there were people who escaped deportation or who fled to the South, as an identifiable group they were lost.
After the loss of the Northern Kingdom, only the tribes of Judah (and Benjamin) in the south remained. In effect, the tribe of Benjamin was absorbed into Judah.
Why had this come about? How had a nation blessed by God lost that blessing? Sacred Scripture, a prophetic declaration and interpretation of reality, provides this answer:
This came about because the children of Israel sinned against the LORD, their God, who had brought them up from the land of Egypt, from under the domination of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and because they venerated other gods. They followed the rites of the nations
whom the LORD had cleared out of the way of the children of Israel and the kings of Israel whom they set up (2 Kings 17:7-8).
These consequences did not come without warning. The Book of Deuteronomy (Dt 28:15-68) had long ago warned of what would happen if they broke their covenant bond with the Lord. The text is too lengthy to reproduce here, but the consequences described are frightening, and are exactly what did happen to Israel in 721 B.C. and Judah in 587 B.C. In addition to this ancient warning there were more contemporaneous warnings from the prophets:
And though the LORD warned Israel and Judah by every prophet and seer, "Give up your evil ways and keep my commandments and statutes, in accordance with the entire law which I enjoined on your fathers and which I sent you by my servants the prophets,"
they did not listen, but were as stiff-necked as their fathers, who had not believed in the LORD, their God. They rejected his statutes, the covenant which he had made with their fathers, and the warnings which he had given them, till, in his great anger against Israel, the LORD put them away out of his sight. Only the tribe of Judah was left (2 Kings 17:13-15a, 18).
Even after all of this, Judah did not learn its lesson either, falling deeper and deeper into infidelity and sin. The Babylonians conquered Judah in 587 B.C., leading to the destruction of the Temple and the loss of the Ark.
Stories like these may seem distant, but their elements are sadly familiar to us in times like these, in which there has been a decrease in obedience to God's laws and a great falling away from the faith. This is true in our nation, our culture, and even to a degree within the Church, where vast numbers have fallen away. St. Paul described them as those who will not tolerate sound doctrine, but with itching ears … will gather around themselves teachers to suit their own desires (2 Tim 4:3). He also described them as similar to Demas, [who] in his love of this world, has deserted me (2 Tim 4:10).
Yes, these are difficult times, times of pruning and purification in the Church and times of great judgment on the once-Christian West. As St. Paul says, the Old Testament stories are lessons and warnings for us: Now these things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the fulfillment of the ages has come. So the one who thinks he is standing firm should be careful not to fall (1 Cor 10:11-12).
There are distorted ideas of mercy today based on the belief that God will never punish; He will never say, "Enough!" But that is not mercy at all. For if the iniquity of our times continues unabated, many more will be lost. The body count and sorrow stemming from abortion, euthanasia, war, sexual confusion, greed, and hatred will grow ever higher. At some point, God applies a painful—though necessary—end to prideful, unrepentant iniquity.
Scripture says,
Do not say, "I have sinned, yet what has happened to me? for the LORD is slow to anger!" Do not be so confident of forgiveness that you add sin upon sin. Do not say, "His mercy is great; my many sins he will forgive." For mercy and anger alike are with him; his wrath comes to rest on the wicked. Do not delay turning back to the LORD, do not put it off day after day. For suddenly his wrath will come forth; at the time of vengeance, you will perish (Sirach 5:4-7).
Therefore, heed the lessons of these ancient stories. We live in presumptuous times, in which many (who know better in the depths of their conscience) rationalize their sin and recast God as the "affirmer in chief," whose love precludes punishment or judgment. But such a notion of love in incomplete, for love rejoices in the truth not in what is evil and harmful. God has more in mind than merely our own "happiness." He is thinking of other people and future generations as well. He is patient and waits for our repentance, but He is no pushover. There comes a time when even the finest vineyards must be plowed under if they yield but sour grapes.
His mercy waits, but His judgment will not be delayed forever.
This song says,
We have sinned, O Lord, and we have walked not in thy ways; but return,
O Lord, and we shall return; make thy face shine upon us, and we shall be safe
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The post Marching to Save Lives and a Nation appeared first on Community in Mission.]]>
The following is from a Homily I preached just prior to our march and prayer vigil at the Planned Parenthood "clinic" being built here in Washington, D.C.
The first reading at Mass today (Saturday of the 11th week of the year) is from Second Chronicles; it details the reforms of King Joash and then his sad decline. Joash's grandmother Athalia, a worshipper of Baal, was Queen of Judah and proved to be much like her mother Jezebel; she rose to power by having every possible competitor murdered, including almost all of her grandchildren. But Joash had been hidden away and so escaped her bloody rampage. Once he come of age, he was declared king by the high priest Jehoiada in a coup against Athalia. The wicked Athalia was killed during the coup. King Joash began reforms and restored the Temple and the proper worship of Yahweh.
When reading the elaborate stories of the kings of Israel in First and Second Kings, and First and Second Chronicles, it is easy to be bewildered by all the names, complex events, intrigue, and corruption.
Basically, they tell the story of a nation, blessed by God and called to manifest His glory, that turned time and time again to sin, including the worship of idols. Despite warnings from the prophets, the Israelites stubbornly refused to repent. Consequently, the once-blessed nation declined into weakness. The Ten lost tribes of Israel in the north went first, conquered by the Assyrians in 721 B.C. And even after seeing this, Judah (in the south) remained stubborn and was eventually conquered by the Babylonians in 587 B.C.
This story is all too familiar to us who live in a blessed nation, once deeply (though imperfectly) rooted in the Jewish and Christian Scriptures but now casting aside its roots. What will come of us if we do not repent?
Consider the sad tale told in today's first reading.
I. The Solace – After the death of Jehoiada, the princes of Judah came and paid homage to King Joash, and the king then listened to them.
The story opens with a brief description of solace and unity in the aftermath of King Joash's reforms. With the wide cooperation and generous contributions of the people, the Temple has been rebuilt and proper worship of God restored. For a brief moment the nation is in relative peace and unity, centered on God.
II. The Sin – [But] they left the temple of the LORD, the God of their fathers, and began to serve the sacred poles and the idols; and because of this crime of theirs, wrath came upon Judah and Jerusalem.
Idolatry returns. They go back to worshiping the Canaanite gods, the Baals. Why? Perhaps they supposed that prosperity would be more likely if they burned some incense to the local gods. But on a deeper level, the Israelites were enamored of the ways of the Canaanites and sought to imitate them. For indeed, the Canaanites lived lustily and often opulently. So did the Egyptians and other ancient cultures whose ways the ancient Jews too easily admired and sought after.
Surely this sounds familiar. Even now, most Catholics and Christians look and sound more like the secular world than like the Lord who rescued us. So deeply do we pine for glamour, power, and the lusts and priorities of this world!
The text says that wrath came down upon Judah and Jerusalem. What is wrath? It is our experience of the total incompatibility of our sinful state before the holiness of God. As such, wrath is more in us than it is in God. God is not moody; He does not suddenly become grouchy. He does not change—we do. As our sins darken our souls, the bright light of God seems harsh and painful. As sin accustoms us to iniquity, holiness seems hard, even hellacious. But the problem is in us, not in God. Wrath is our problem, not God's.
This explains how a child in the womb, once thought a great blessing, is now seen by many as a threat that must be terminated. This is why chastity and lifelong marriage seem unrealistic to many in the modern secular mindset. But God is not harsh or wrathful; His Law is not impossible. It is we who are soft, so accustomed to darkness that the light seems too harsh. But God is not the angry and wrathful one, we are. A wrath, even a hatred of holiness has come upon us. Therefore, as a culture, we cling to our idols.
III. The Shout – Although prophets were sent to them to convert them to the LORD, the people would not listen to their warnings. Then the Spirit of God possessed Zechariah, son of Jehoiada the priest. He took his stand above the people and said to them: "God says, 'Why are you transgressing the LORD's commands, so that you cannot prosper? Because you have abandoned the LORD, he has abandoned you.'"
Why, America, do we cling to our sins so that we cannot prosper? Why do we insist on our own ways so stubbornly that we demand the right to kill our own children and our elderly? Why do we destroy our marriages and families through divorce, redefinition, and promiscuity? Why do stand by and watch the very pillars of our culture and its future collapse? Why?
God did not leave ancient Israel without prophets, and He has not left us without them either. Today we gather together to prophesy, to speak for God. As we march today praying, we appeal to the consciences of everyone who sees and hears us. And we say, as we must, that this is wrong. Abortion is wrong. It kills our children and gravely harms their mothers. This must end. Come to your senses, America! Abortion is not health care, because a patient always dies. Abortion is not pro-woman, because half of the millions of its victims are female. Let us not abandon the Lord, lest He abandon us, handing us over fully to our own sinfulness!
Yes, we prophesy today, as we must, on this and many other issues.
IV. The Stubbornness – But they conspired against him, and at the king's order they stoned him to death in the court of the LORD's temple. Thus King Joash was unmindful of the devotion shown him by Jehoiada, Zechariah's father, and slew his son. And as Zechariah was dying, he said, "May the LORD see and avenge."
In a shocking turn of savage wickedness, Joash the great reformer, kills the son of the very man who had saved him from being murdered and restored him to rightful power.
But the Lord does not leave unavenged any unrepented sin. We must seek the conversion of all before the Day of Judgment. Stubborn unrepentance will not go unanswered. The Book of Hebrews says of that day,
For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment … For we know him who said, "Vengeance is mine; I will repay." And again, "The Lord will judge his people." It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God (Heb 10:26-31).
Our call for repentance is not merely an angry shout; it is a merciful call to seek the Lord while He may be found and to call on Him while He is still near (see Isaiah 55:6).
V. The Significance – At the turn of the year a force of Arameans came up against Joash. They invaded Judah and Jerusalem, did away with all the princes of the people, and sent all their spoil to the king of Damascus. Though the Aramean force came with few men, the LORD surrendered a very large force into their power, because Judah had abandoned the LORD, the God of their fathers. So punishment was meted out to Joash. After the Arameans had departed from him, leaving him in grievous suffering, his servants conspired against him because of the murder of the son of Jehoiada the priest. He was buried in the City of David, but not in the tombs of the kings.
A nation that God had blessed has now so thoroughly blocked its blessings that a force of just a few men is able to conquer it, toppling its king and local leaders and making the nation a vassal of Assyria. The text says this happened "because Judah had abandoned the Lord." Joash, the king who once brought about great reform, saw death, because he had murdered the innocent prophet Zechariah.
America, what about us? Increasingly, we are abandoning the Lord.
How does abandoning the Lord weaken a nation? How can a nation be strong which no longer looks to God for a common moral vision? How can a nation have a unified culture without a common cultus (faith) to which all look with a reverent obedience and holy fear? How can a nation be strong when its families are weakened by divorce, sexual promiscuity, and sexual confusion? If our families are not strong, our communities are not strong. Weak and divided communities cannot constitute a strong nation tied together by loyalty and a common vision. Today, we seldom show the resolve and unity necessary to stave off our enemies, be they foreign aggressors or the moral evils within us. Often we cannot even agree on what is evil or on what is the cause of our malaise. We are becoming, like ancient Judah, an easy target. The words addressed to ancient Israel are increasingly appropriate for us: If you do not stand firm in your faith, you will not stand at all (Is 7:9).
Joash suffered death for his murder of the innocent. How can we as a nation forever escape judgment for our own shedding of innocent blood through abortion? God lamented the behavior of ancient Israel: The people have forsaken me and have profaned this place… they have filled this place with the blood of innocents (Jer 19:4). On your skirts is found the lifeblood of the innocent poor … yet in spite of all these things you say, "I am innocent" (Jer 2:34). And Jesus warned Israel about the shedding of innocent blood, Yes, I tell you, this generation will be held responsible for it all (Luke 11:50-51).
We who pray and march today love our country, culture, and people. We do not seek punishment, but a repentance that will heal. Our cries are not of condemnation but of loving concern.
Today's reading is a sober reminder that no nation can stand or remain strong which sheds the blood of the innocent and calls it a legal right. America, we cannot forever evade the effect of our sins, especially those directed against those who are most vulnerable. We cannot find peace by shedding the blood of innocent children. We cannot remain strong and blessed if we do not return to the Lord and walk humbly with Him.
We march today in love and concern. We commend ourselves to the consciences of all who will see and hear us. We seek to make clear that what is called a "clinic" or a "women's healthcare center" is in fact a place where thousands of innocent unborn children will have their lives ended.
Heal our land, O Lord. A great darkness has enveloped us. The darkness grows ever deeper as the effects of our sins multiply. Send a miraculous grace to heal our land. Help us who march today to reach others with the seed of truth!
The old hymn, "Once to Every Man and Nation," succinctly presents the truth of today's first reading:
Once to every man and nation, comes the moment to decide,
In the strife of truth with falsehood, for the good or evil side;
Some great cause, some great decision, offering each the bloom or blight
And the choice goes by forever, 'twixt that darkness and that light.
Decide well, fellow Christians, fellow countrymen. Decide well, America.
The post Marching to Save Lives and a Nation appeared first on Community in Mission.]]>


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Jason Derulo Wants 'Glee' Role
R&B star Jason Derulo is lobbying for a guest spot on TV hit "Glee", insisting he'd make the perfect class clown. Derulo admits he's a huge fan of the musical show, and would love the chance to try his hand at acting as well as singing.
He says, "I'd like to play the goofy, funny guy." The "Watcha Say" hitmaker insists he's had plenty of practice, fooling around during his own school career. He adds, "I did joke around a lot, and I did get in trouble for joking around all the time."
Beside making music, Jason indeed has passion in acting, telling AceShowbiz in an exclusive interview "Acting is definitely something that I love beside my passion in music. I have a bunch of scripts on my desk." On which actor he loves, he mentioned only one name, Will Smith. "He's been able to pick totally different roles, I don't want just one kind of role ... I think that what makes a real actor."
More Jason Derulo News
- Justin Timberlake Is One Grumpy Doll in First 'Trolls' Trailer
- Stephanie March Reveals Botched Boob Job Amid 2014 Bobby Flay Marriage Trouble
- Peta Murgatroyd Confirms She's Pregnant With Maksim Chmerkovskiy's Baby
- Drew Barrymore in Talks to Host New Talk Show
- Kanye West Signs New Partnership With Adidas to Expand Yeezy Brand
- Dennis Quaid's Wife Kimberly Files for Divorce for Second Time
- Chris Brown Rants on Instagram After Falling Out with Manager and Publicist
- Calvin Harris Won't Date Another Celebrity Thanks to 'Narcissist' Taylor Swift

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Somewhere I read that pomegranate and grapefruit juice negate the benefits of cholesterol-loering medicines. Is that so?
I don't have to take cholesterol lowering medicine so I can't respond to that. Provide a link.However, a friend of mine drinks the same fruit juices I do and takes Promise Activ drink and that has demonstrated to lower cholesterol in my friend.I also only eat whole-grains breads and cereals, whole-rice..etc


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|By WebSphere News Desk
Article Rating:
|January 30, 2004 12:00 AM EST
Introscope offers a Whole Application View into the application environment, allowing IT teams to identify performance problems whether inside the application itself, the application server, or in back-end transactional and supporting systems. Introscope's Blame Technology isolates bottlenecks in production applications, application servers, and back-end systems all the way down to individual Servlets, JSPs, EJBs, Classes, Methods, and more.
WebSphere Application Server, V5 offers one of the first production-ready application servers for the deployment of enterprise Web services solutions for dynamic e-business. WebSphere Version 5 supports open standards, standards optimizations, and integrated development environments. Direct integration of Introscope's patented Agent technology with IBM WebSphere 5.0 allows customers to monitor WebSphere applications automatically as soon as Introscope is installed.
"Wily's Introscope allows IBM customers to better ensure that their mission-critical applications stay healthy and available around-the-clock," said Scott Hebner, director, WebSphere Marketing.
The Internet of Things will challenge the status quo of how IT and development organizations operate. Or will it? Certainly the fog layer of IoT requires special insights about data ontology, security and transactional integrity. But the developmental challenges are the same: People, Process and Platform and how we integrate our thinking to solve complicated problems. In his session at 19th Cloud Expo, Craig Sproule, CEO of Metavine, will demonstrate how to move beyond today's coding paradigm ...
Jun. 30, 2016 08:00 AM EDT Reads: 510
Internet of @ThingsExpo has announced today that Chris Matthieu has been named tech chair of Internet of @ThingsExpo 2016 Silicon Valley. The 6thInternet of @ThingsExpo will take place on November 1–3, 2016, at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA.
Jun. 30, 2016 07:00 AM EDT Reads: 414
The cloud market growth today is largely in public clouds. While there is a lot of spend in IT departments in virtualization, these aren't yet translating into a true "cloud" experience within the enterprise. What is stopping the growth of the "private cloud" market? In his general session at 18th Cloud Expo, Nara Rajagopalan, CEO of Accelerite, explored the challenges in deploying, managing, and getting adoption for a private cloud within an enterprise. What are the key differences between wh...
Jun. 29, 2016 05:30 PM EDT Reads: 1,055
SYS-CON Events has announced today that Roger Strukhoff has been named conference chair of Cloud Expo and @ThingsExpo 2016 Silicon Valley. The 19th Cloud Expo and 6th @ThingsExpo will take place on November 1-3, 2016, at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA. "The Internet of Things brings trillions of dollars of opportunity to developers and enterprise IT, no matter how you measure it," stated Roger Strukhoff. "More importantly, it leverages the power of devices and the Interne...
Jun. 29, 2016 04:15 PM EDT Reads: 486
"We work in the area of Big Data analytics and Big Data analytics is a very crowded space - you have Hadoop, ETL, warehousing, visualization and there's a lot of effort trying to get these tools to talk to each other," explained Mukund Deshpande, head of the Analytics practice at Accelerite, in this SYS-CON.tv interview at 18th Cloud Expo, held June 7-9, 2016, at the Javits Center in New York City, NY.
Jun. 29, 2016 04:15 PM EDT Reads: 455
The idea of comparing data in motion (at the sensor level) to data at rest (in a Big Data server warehouse) with predictive analytics in the cloud is very appealing to the industrial IoT sector. The problem Big Data vendors have, however, is access to that data in motion at the sensor location. In his session at @ThingsExpo, Scott Allen, CMO of FreeWave, discussed how as IoT is increasingly adopted by industrial markets, there is going to be an increased demand for sensor data from the outermos...
Jun. 29, 2016 04:00 PM EDT Reads: 414
UAS, drones or unmanned aircraft, no matter what you call them — this was their week. Our news stream was flooded with updates on the newly announced rules and regulations for commercial UAS from the FAA. So, naturally we have dedicated this week's top news round up to highlight some of our favorite UAS stories.
Jun. 29, 2016 03:02 PM EDT Reads: 320
CenturyLink has announced that application server solutions from GENBAND are now available as part of CenturyLink's Networx contracts. The General Services Administration (GSA)'s Networx program includes the largest telecommunications contract vehicles ever awarded by the federal government. CenturyLink recently secured an extension through spring 2020 of its offerings available to federal government agencies via GSA's Networx Universal and Enterprise contracts. GENBAND's EXPERiUS™ Application...
Jun. 29, 2016 02:00 PM EDT Reads: 425
Basho Technologies has announced the latest release of Basho Riak TS, version 1.3. Riak TS is an enterprise-grade NoSQL database optimized for Internet of Things (IoT). The open source version enables developers to download the software for free and use it in production as well as make contributions to the code and develop applications around Riak TS. Enhancements to Riak TS make it quick, easy and cost-effective to spin up an instance to test new ideas and build IoT applications. In addition to...
Jun. 29, 2016 02:00 PM EDT Reads: 683
In addition to all the benefits, IoT is also bringing new kind of customer experience challenges - cars that unlock themselves, thermostats turning houses into saunas and baby video monitors broadcasting over the internet. This list can only increase because while IoT services should be intuitive and simple to use, the delivery ecosystem is a myriad of potential problems as IoT explodes complexity. So finding a performance issue is like finding the proverbial needle in the haystack.
Jun. 29, 2016 01:15 PM EDT Reads: 392
When people aren't talking about VMs and containers, they're talking about serverless architecture. Serverless is about no maintenance. It means you are not worried about low-level infrastructural and operational details. An event-driven serverless platform is a great use case for IoT. In his session at @ThingsExpo, Animesh Singh, an STSM and Lead for IBM Cloud Platform and Infrastructure, will detail how to build a distributed serverless, polyglot, microservices framework using open source tec...
Jun. 29, 2016 12:30 PM EDT Reads: 575
Apixio Inc. has raised $19.3 million in Series D venture capital funding led by SSM Partners with participation from First Analysis, Bain Capital Ventures and Apixio's largest angel investor. Apixio will dedicate the proceeds toward advancing and scaling products powered by its cognitive computing platform, further enabling insights for optimal patient care. The Series D funding comes as Apixio experiences strong momentum and increasing demand for its HCC Profiler solution, which mines unstruc...
Jun. 29, 2016 11:00 AM EDT Reads: 545
The IoT is changing the way enterprises conduct business. In his session at @ThingsExpo, Eric Hoffman, Vice President at EastBanc Technologies, discussed how businesses can gain an edge over competitors by empowering consumers to take control through IoT. He cited examples such as a Washington, D.C.-based sports club that leveraged IoT and the cloud to develop a comprehensive booking system. He also highlighted how IoT can revitalize and restore outdated business models, making them profitable ...
Jun. 29, 2016 11:00 AM EDT Reads: 516
Presidio has received the 2015 EMC Partner Services Quality Award from EMC Corporation for achieving outstanding service excellence and customer satisfaction as measured by the EMC Partner Services Quality (PSQ) program. Presidio was also honored as the 2015 EMC Americas Marketing Excellence Partner of the Year and 2015 Mid-Market East Partner of the Year. The EMC PSQ program is a project-specific survey program designed for partners with Service Partner designations to solicit customer feedbac...
Jun. 29, 2016 11:00 AM EDT Reads: 607
IoT offers a value of almost $4 trillion to the manufacturing industry through platforms that can improve margins, optimize operations & drive high performance work teams. By using IoT technologies as a foundation, manufacturing customers are integrating worker safety with manufacturing systems, driving deep collaboration and utilizing analytics to exponentially increased per-unit margins. However, as Benoit Lheureux, the VP for Research at Gartner points out, "IoT project implementers often ...
Jun. 29, 2016 10:45 AM EDT Reads: 575
"delaPlex is a software development company. We do team-based outsourcing development," explained Mark Rivers, COO and Co-founder of delaPlex Software, in this SYS-CON.tv interview at 18th Cloud Expo, held June 7-9, 2016, at the Javits Center in New York City, NY.
Jun. 29, 2016 10:30 AM EDT Reads: 529
In his general session at 18th Cloud Expo, Lee Atchison, Principal Cloud Architect and Advocate at New Relic, discussed cloud as a 'better data center' and how it adds new capacity (faster) and improves application availability (redundancy). The cloud is a 'Dynamic Tool for Dynamic Apps' and resource allocation is an integral part of your application architecture, so use only the resources you need and allocate /de-allocate resources on the fly.
Jun. 29, 2016 10:00 AM EDT Reads: 1,311
Connected devices and the industrial internet are growing exponentially every year with Cisco expecting 50 billion devices to be in operation by 2020. In this period of growth, location-based insights are becoming invaluable to many businesses as they adopt new connected technologies. Knowing when and where these devices connect from is critical for a number of scenarios in supply chain management, disaster management, emergency response, M2M, location marketing and more. In his session at @Th...
Jun. 29, 2016 09:45 AM EDT Reads: 1,284
Machine Learning helps make complex systems more efficient. By applying advanced Machine Learning techniques such as Cognitive Fingerprinting, wind project operators can utilize these tools to learn from collected data, detect regular patterns, and optimize their own operations. In his session at 18th Cloud Expo, Stuart Gillen, Director of Business Development at SparkCognition, discussed how research has demonstrated the value of Machine Learning in delivering next generation analytics to imp...
Jun. 29, 2016 09:45 AM EDT Reads: 967
In his keynote at 18th Cloud Expo, Andrew Keys, Co-Founder of ConsenSys Enterprise, provided an overview of the evolution of the Internet and the Database and the future of their combination – the Blockchain. Andrew Keys is Co-Founder of ConsenSys Enterprise. He comes to ConsenSys Enterprise with capital markets, technology and entrepreneurial experience. Previously, he worked for UBS investment bank in equities analysis. Later, he was responsible for the creation and distribution of life sett...
Jun. 29, 2016 09:15 AM EDT Reads: 1,474


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Northwoods Girl Scouts Tackle Bullying
Submitted: 03/22/2013
Story By Lyndsey Stemm
- We hear more and more about bullying in schools every day. One local Girl Scout troop saw it was becoming a problem in their school. So they did something about it.
Junior Girl Scout Troop 7091 needed to do something to help the community to earn their teamwork badge. They wanted to tackle bullying.
"Because lots of it was going on and we just wanted to help prevent it," says Leah Shaver.
"It could happen at any age level. It doesn't just have to be the older kids. It can happen in kindergarten too," says Gabi Lawrey.
Together the girls wrote a screen play about a girl who is bullied. By the end of the project they had a video called "The Bully Diaries" that they could show to their younger classmates.
Each troop member has had their own experiences with bullies.
"I know I have been bullied. It has happened since, maybe, first or second grade," says Emma Beckman.
"This boy in my class, he bullied this girl a lot and it kind of got me a little upset because it was going on like every day," says Shaver.
"I know somebody who bullies people. She... I think she knows she's bullying people," says Lawrey.
The girls think they know why some kids might be scared to stand up for other kids to bullies.
"You always think, 'What if they come back and start bullying you'," says Lawrey.
But like their video shows, getting other people to stand up to a bully with you makes it easier. And they think it's worth taking the risk.
"They're all human beings, and they don't deserve to be bullied," says Beckman.
"I'm not scared. I know that it's right. Some people think they don't want to stick up for people because they'll get made fun of too. But if it's the right thing to do they should do it," says Shaver.
A lesson they hope their video teaches other kids.
To watch the video, please click on the link below.
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Swim challenge raises funds for area dive team
Submitted: 06/26/2016
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- Things don't always go well out on the water. That's why Oneida County has a specialized dive team ready to respond whenever there's an emergency.
But funding the dive team is expensive. Saturday, community groups came together to help raise money for the team at the Minocqua Swim Challenge.
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Brush Run fans, racers tough out weekend's bad storms
Submitted: 06/26/2016
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- Pounding rain, howling winds, and flashing lightning�"not the most ideal conditions for camping on Saturday night.
In fact, Saturday night's bad weather couldn't have picked a worse time for thousands of people to set up camp at the Crandon Race Track.
"We were holding onto the awning last night," said Keegan Kincaid, a racer from Crandon. ."It was pouring."
"Our canopy [got] rained [on] so much we had to keep pushing it up so it wouldn't collapse," said Paul Posbrig, a fan from Green Bay.
"It was coming in all over," said Jessie Braden, a fan from Richfield.
But for Crandon fans, the rain certainly didn't dampen the weekend.
"But we made the best of it," said Braden, who comes to Crandon every summer for the Brush Run.
"We had a canopy at one point and put up tarps on the walls as we got downpoured on and it was all windy," Braden said. "If we're going camping, it's going to rain!"
The fans also got their fair share of noise because the rain didn't really affect the race schedule.
"We just had to wait a little bit longer before we could put crews out on the track," said the raceway's announcer, Dave Mullins. "So needed it to dry off a little bit first. But really it was only about a half hour."
But it certainly changed the racers' strategy.
"And so you'll see a lot of changes in trucks and driving styles," Kincaid said.
"Figure out the track, sort out where the grip is, where it's wet, where it's dry," said Arie Luyendyk, Jr., a racer from Arizona.
But Crandon's track is pretty resilient.
"Most tracks we wouldn't be able to race on it the next day, but Crandon has a lot of clay," Kincaid said.
"Because this is a clay track, it doesn't absorb the water as much, it makes it more like a mud pit," Mullins said.
Sunday's nice weather quickly brought the track's conditions back to normal.
"I thought we were going to be racing in the mud, but turns out because of the sun and wind we're actually going back to our setup we had yesterday," Luyendyk, Jr., said.
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Woman dead after truck versus train collision
Submitted: 06/25/2016
- A truck versus train crash killed a woman late Saturday morning.
According to the Price County Sheriff's Office, it happened at the intersection of County Road D and the Canadian National Railroad tracks in the Township of Knox.
Police think a 76-year-old man was driving the truck with a 76-year-old woman in the passenger seat, and the truck and the train collided.
Several different agencies responded, including Canadian National Railroad investigators.
Crews took the man to St. Joseph's Hospital in Marshfield, and they took the woman to Aspirus Hospital in Wausau where she later died.
Police are still investigating and will not yet release the names.
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Lumberjacks return to Rhinelander for Log Jam
Submitted: 06/25/2016
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- Lumberjacks returned to Rhinelander Saturday for the 3rd annual Boom Lake Log Jam.
The event celebrates the city's logging history while showing off both old and new lumberjack skills.
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7-year-old honored for saving siblings from fire
Submitted: 06/24/2016
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- This week, a 7-year-old put his life in danger to save his baby sister and little brother from a house fire near downtown Rhinelander.
On Friday, the Rhinelander Fire Department honored that little boy for his bravery.
Rhinelander firefighters now call Adam Granger, 7, a hero.
"He tells me over and over how he wasn't scared and just wanted to save his sister's life and didn't want her to die," said Jenny Schroeder, Adam's mother.
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Northland Pines fishing headed to nationals in first year of program
Submitted: 06/24/2016
- The Northland Pines fishing team is about as basic as it gets: just two kids, bait, and their gear.
"I didn't expect to go anywhere," said Northland Pines junior Mike John.
But in its first year the team is headed to nationals after taking second at the BASS Wisconsin High School Fishing Tournament. It was the first tournament the two have competed in together.
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Man charged in double homicide in Green Bay suburb
Submitted: 06/24/2016
- Prosecutors have charged a 26-year-old man accused of fatally stabbing his ex-girlfriend and her mother and injuring a third person in the Green Bay area.
Jacob Cayer of Ashwaubenon was charged Friday with two counts of first-degree intentional homicide. WLUK-TV reports Cayer also is charged with attempted first-degree intentional homicide, burglary, and bail jumping.
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