What are we to make of a hurricane that disrupted the start of the Republican convention just a few weeks ago and later curled back (as a patch of clouds) to move part of the Democratic convention indoors and now another and massive storm that may change the dynamic of the general election itself? It is interesting that the Boston-New York-Washington corridor -- the nation's center of population and materialism -- is in the crosshairs, with indeed the stock exchanges closed, not to mention the gambling casinos, and offices in D.C. It was not so long ago that an earthquake centered in Richmond damaged the Washington Monument, at the same time we note that Ground Zero on 9/11 was the very area where George Washington and the first Congress attended a service to pray for the protection (and goodness) of our nation. During 9/11, New York City's vaunted "emergency management center" -- which officials told us, upon a visit there, was built to sustain an earthquake, as well (more to the point this week), a hurricane water surge, its entrance on the third floor at a Manhattan hillside -- collapsed along with the two towers.

Officials have long fretted over the right side of a storm making landfall to the south (in New Jersey), piling water up in New York Harbor. Again, we will see -- this full moon Halloween week, with tide high -- whether their concerns play out, just a year after the same region was vexed by Tropical Storm Irene (which caused more damage in Vermont, New Jersey, and Upstate New York than any system has caused in a while in Florida). Our strange time: there is the question of "intrinsic evil." Our bishops properly instruct us to beware of candidates who espouse a view that supports something that has been labeled as such, as have both abortion and contraception. 

There is also the issue of idolatry. We have forgotten how seriously God takes this. It is the first commandment; and idolatry is not confined to golden calves and Roman gods but is anything that replaces God as the center of our universe -- whether entertainment, drugs, money, alcohol, sex or likewise. It is interesting that while abortion is not mentioned at any Church-approved sites of the Virgin Mary's apparitions (perhaps because it is such an obvious evil), materialism is (at Kibeho in Rwanda and San Nicolas in Argentina, to mention two recent ones that have approbation; it is also focused upon at Medjugorje). The obsession with the economy is proof of the tremendous idolatry of money and the quakes and storms are foreshadows of what will come to break that idolatry down, since we are showing no signs of doing this ourselves; it is all we think of. Meanwhile, as far as abortion, it is always intriguing how radar or infrared images of cyclones so often have an inner core that puts one in mind of an unborn child -- the "fetus." What is happening in the current time with weather is a drill for future events.

"More storms were coming and officials knew it," said Sent To Earth in 2000. "At the emergency center in Manhattan the director said that all it would take would be a category-three hurricane making landfall midway up the New Jersey coast to send the worst of its winds into New York Harbor, where they'd pile a thirty-foot surge and put Lower Manhattan under water. There was no way to evacuate. The bridges would swing like chandeliers. Waves would break over wharves in Brooklyn. They would lap at the feet of the World Trade Center."

There are extremes of all kinds. In Israel the level of the Dead Sea has dropped as it had in the days of Gomorrah.

It is very interesting, and also how the "Ring of Fire" is showing hints, along the Pacific, of coming alive. Over the weekend, a quake caused another tsunami warning along the rim (this time in Hawaii), as rumbles continue in Canada and the West Coast of the U.S., but also as far away as Niagara Falls and Toronto, where (far away from the Ring of Fire) a small quake swayed buildings and where now there are warnings of this tropical system ("Sandy") that is converging with two other massive weather events to cause unpredictable events (prayer need here). Several weeks ago, unexplained booms were reported in southern New Jersey.

Back to the storm: Usually, official predictions of huge events tend not to play out in real time and unpredicted events usually turn out to be more potent, but we will see.

Of course, this is not a category-three, but it is exceptionally large, and also of course -- speaking of the unforeseen -- the World Trade Center no longer exists. Don't believe another moment in coincidence. As the hurricane approached, its wind caused what a newsman described as the sound of a trumpet (through Manhattan's Freedom Tower).

--Michael H. Brown

[resources: Sent To Earth and Michael Brown, Minnesota retreat, November 3]

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