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Opinions expressed by Brother Bubba are solely his own and are not intended to reflect the official opinions or policies of the Order of the Legion of St. Michael, its apostolates, members, benefactors, or constituents.
MONDAY OF THE TWENTY-FIRST WEEK OF ORDINARY TIME Feast of St. Louis of France ahd Joseph Calasanz, priest
In the early 1960's as a young boy I read the book, On the Beach, a post-apocalyptic end-of-the-world novel set in the near future (1963) written by British-Australian author Nevil Shute and published in 1957.
It had a profound effect upon me. This was the time of the Cuban Missile Crisis in which the whole world stood upon the brink of nuclear holocaust. It was a time where at school we had "duck and cover" drills. I was even a junior civil defense marshal with duties to prepare our basement as a nuclear shelter. These were also the days of the movie Fail Safe (1964). It was in that same year that I also saw the 1959 movie On the Beach with Gregory Peck, Ava Gardner, and Fred Astaire.
This last night I watched the 2000 television movie remake of On the Beach with Armand Assante and Rachel Ward. The 2000 TV movie was set in these times with an alarmingly accurate scenario. This this version China invades Taiwan. America defends Taiwan; China fires its nuclear missiles on the U.S., the U.S. fires back. The result the Northern Hemisphere is completely wiped out. The original 1957 book and 1959 movie had a different scenario but the result were the same -- total annihilation of the Northern Hemisphere -- everyone dead.
The only survivors are aboard a nuclear U.S. submarine. They head for Australia because the Southern Hemisphere is all that is alive. They soon find out that the radiation from the North is moving South. They have only a few months to live. The only humans on the planet have just a few months to live. There is no happy ending. Families gather together on their beds to hug each other as they die. There are no survivors to the human race.
As a young man I entered the Air Force. One of my duty assignments was with NORAD (North American Aerospace Defense Command) stationed in Duluth, Minnesota. Our job there was to support the missile silos in the North Central states. The mission was to be on lookout as a first alert and response for a nuclear attack from the Soviets over the North Pole.
I became an anti-nuclear activist. A few years later I was one of 200 people to cross over the line at Offuit Air Force Base in Omaha, Nebraska, the headquarters of the Strategic Air Command at the time. SAC, as it is known, was the branch of the military in charge of targeting and deploying of most of our nuclear weapons. I was one of only four people held by the military police for the FBI because I refused to provide identification.
As I watched this remake of On the Beach I was overwhelmed with emotion of how evil and futile all this was. The death of the human race because we cannot sit down like intelligent people and work out differences. The human race as always been like that, but only now do we have the capacity to destroy the human race as a result.
What could it feel like to know that nuclear war is beginning and with it the possibility of mass death of not only our nation, but of the peoples of the world?
I actually do know what that feels like. Let me explain.
Many years ago I was driving through New Mexico heading for Texas. I picked up a hitchhiker (you could do that in those days). We were talking and having a good conversation with suddenly the radio began to squeal the Civil Defense alarm. I was expecting an announcement "This is a test. This is only a test....". But there was no "test" announcement. I could feel my heart pounding. I turned and looked at the hitchhike and matter-of-factly said, "We must be under nuclear attack." I quickly checked my bearings as top how close we were to any nuclear target.
Just then the radio announced a severe thunder storm warning. The hitchhiker must have thought I was nuts. Back then in Iowa there was no such thing as the Civil Defense radio alarms being used for weather alerts. It was CIVIL DEFENSE, not weather the alarm system was designed for. Since I had never experienced these alarms for anything other than Civil Defense purposes (which means primarily Nuclear attack), it was natural for me to think this was an actual alarm of war.
For maybe thirty seconds I really truly thought the United States was under nuclear attack.
The second time was the morning of September 11, 2001. I had a rough night as was dosing in my lounge chair. The phone rang and woke me up. The first words I heard was "We are under attack!" Again my heart skipped a beat and I asked, "Nuclear attack?" My friend said, "They are attacking the World Trade Center in New York." I said, "Who?" My friend told me to turn on the TV. I turned the TV on in time to see the second Tower fall. It was terrible day. But for about 10 seconds I again experienced what it felt like to think that the United States was under nuclear attack and all which that means. This second time was not profound or as complete as the first time. Nevertheless I will not forget it.
I know what it feels like to believe the world is going to end.
Perhaps one reason the first time was more profound is not only because it was more direct, but also because I was away from God at the time. Without God the prospect was more frighten that it is anyway.
The second time I was not only back with God but was a Catholic. At the prospect of nuclear attack in 2001 I did not feel the brief panic, only a natural concern.
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I DO NOT KNOW WHAT TO SAY 4:30 PM
SATURDAY OF THE TWENTIETH WEEK OF ORDINARY TIME Feast of Rose of Lima, Virgin
Folks,
I am utterly speechless after watching the video below. It is just another example about how the Smoke of Satan has engulfed our nation, and maybe the White House.
All I can say is that anyone who votes for this evil needs to stay away from me. But, I will pray for their soul.
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Life in the Hermitage 6:55 PM
FEAST OF POPE SIXTUS II, martyr, and companions Cajetan, priest
Some people may be wondering what the topics I have posted lately have to do with "Life in the Hermitage." Fair question.
Living in the hermitage in semi-cloister (which means that I do interact with the outside world and do ministry) is like living in an enclosure with a big picture window to the world. From the silence and seclusion of the hermitage, free from office politics, keeping up with the Joneses, and other worldly intrusions, a hermit can look out with a kind of clarity that others may not always have.
Without the usual cares of domestic life and the world a hermit can focus upon evaluation the state of our society from the Catholic worldview with the precision of a scalpel. All Catholics are called to do this, but life concerns can get in the way sometimes. Thus, someone needs to specialize on using the Catholic worldview to test the concerns of man and his world.
This is the advantage of a hermitage or monastery. We are in position to offer this pure insight without the fetters of worldly measures.
