hurricanesflorida2

It's getting to be like a broken record: if it's the end of the week, it's time for a hurricane to hit Florida (or at least the southern U.S.).

We forget that besides Jeanne, Charley, Frances, and Ivan (two times for him), there was an earlier hurricane called Alex that sputtered alongside the Carolinas; and also Tropical Storm Bonnie.

No, it's not just Florida. Some of the worst effects have been in states to the north. But readers have pointed out certain peculiarities. Landfall twice has been near West Palm Beach, a seat of great materialism that was also the center of the huge election drama four years ago.

From there the storms have swept across the state. The eye of three of the hurricanes passed over or just about over Orlando -- a place not known historically as especially active when it comes to these storms, which are often confined to the south, but active now. It is incredible to see on a map how three hurricanes have crisscrossed precisely at Orlando.

Is it a message about what's going on in that city -- the good people, yes, the shrine devoted to Our Lady Queen of the Universe, the spiritual warriors. Orlando has a lot of good sides.

But there is also the commercialism and flavor of Mardi Gras and the often troubling presence of Disney, which designs splendid amusement parks -- has amused generations of youngsters -- but which also sets aside special days for appreciation of homosexuality.

Woe, these times in America! No wonder this is the lightning capital. Amusement, amusement, and amusements -- just what Our Lady of LaSalette, complained about when she warned of storms that would "convulse" cities.

One may also note that Disney was founded by an avuncular man who had some excellent qualities but whose cartoons purveyed mysticism and a style of ethics with no reference to the Lord. Far more importantly, the modern Disney, the huge studio that came after Walt's death, has frequently exhibited occultism and anti-Christianity.

Does that mean Disney is blame for all this? Of course not. It is merely an example. The greatest dynamic are the mansions that stand shoulder to big shoulder along the Atlantic -- as if to defy nature. Some of these luxury homes are built in areas that historically have experienced whitecaps during hurricanes!

But nowhere has the current spiritual dynamic of Florida, and the spiritual combat is being waged on several levels. We grieve for those who have experienced any loss

"I live on the coast (one mile in) between Cocoa Beach and Melbourne Beach," wrote a viewer several weeks and two hurricanes ago. "I've been praying that Frances will not come as a direct hit to us. If it doesn't hit us though, it's bound to hit another area so it almost seems selfish. I keep thinking of Therese Neumann telling our World War II soldiers that American would be brought to its knees by the weather elements. I don't see people doing that; I see them cursing God instead."

Rough stuff. It's nearly like Africa spitting out storms at us. Sometimes, we have to be rough. Shades of the Cur d' Ars! With Orlando, and with the threats to many barrier islands, it's as if the Lord is displeased with the influx of cold cash transforming a state that still maintains a semblance of sincerity and old-style bible toting. This is a state where it's not unusual to see a business called something like "By Faith Beauty Salon," to spot huge fundamentalist bumper stickers ("Look busy; Jesus is coming"), or for a government clerk to have a sign that says "God bless You" right there in a courthouse!

Unfortunately, it is also a state that is seeing a large influx of wealth that has stacked up on the barrier islands -- which were never meant to be built upon, and which are most prone now to hurricane destruction. Condos and tourism are ruining tremendous natural beauty.

Which brings up another point: climate change. It has become an unfortunate mantra of conservatives (among whom we number) that there is no such thing as global warming. They have taken this stand because they equate "global warming" with charges that combustion engines and use of petroleum have sent up fumes that have radically altered the atmosphere. Unfortunately, they see any such claim as un-American because it goes against the desires of the business community, which of course maintains that climate change does not exist. But in fact the altered atmosphere may be coming back to smite us. It is the first time that four hurricanes have hit a single state since 1886, and it brings to mind the great Galveston disaster in 1900 in that town known at the time for the Mardi Gras.

Whether or not climate change has been caused by pollution or natural forces (the sun has been acting very strangely now for decades), there is no reasonable doubt that it has changed and that the entire way we are treating God's creation -- spraying chemicals everywhere, tossing plastic all over the place, altering the landscapes, even seeking to alter animal genes -- is not God's idea of taming the earth.

There are numerous biblical quotes admonishing us to maintain the environment and with the storms, with the quakes (many small ones in many places may foretell a big one), with what is going on in society, it is like the earth is trying to tell us something -- and to save itself. Or is the earth spitting us out?

The general state of North American morality is playing into chastisements that will intensify and continue their graduated stage. Even those with no spiritual proclivity are using words like "bizarre" to describe all the hurricanes -- the quick, unexpected succession. They come just before another presidential election in which Florida is a key state and on the heels of a court decision that may cause the death of that poor semi-vegetative woman named Terri Schiavo.

This transpires up and down the continent. Up north, in Canada, a sixth province just okayed gay marriage.

Woe indeed. The litany is endless, and we see how purification works when we see even the most secular types pondering the storms. It is affecting people. It is affecting everyone -- especially those anywhere near it. Unfortunately, for too many others, the link is still not being made. We are too "smart" to believe such things (they only happened in Bible times). To quote 2 Timothy (3:7), we are "always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth."

In Florida, there is the curious fact that while in some cases tabernacles have miraculously survived, there are also instances where they have not. In the city of St. Augustine one storm spawned by the hurricanes tore a hole in the roof of America's oldest church. Woe! A tug of war. Yes, it rains on the evil and good alike. Boy does it rain! And, boy, will the entire society of men (in one way or another, perhaps next in illness) feel the scourge if we don't urgently change.