Shemitah Rising

There are three broadly defined camps in the world of Catholic journalism and blogging. One is a mainstream, nonpartisan, Catholic chicken soup for the soul variety represented by publications like Our Sunday Visitor. They are certainly not progressive, but not really traditionalist either. They are faithful to Church teaching, offering Church related news and human interest stories to inspire the faithful, but generally speaking stay away from controversial topics. Then we have the more conservative branch, exemplified by the National Catholic Register. They are going to be more outspoken on moral issues: the more partisan outlets will be critical of bishops, priests and theologians who propose a progressive vision, and can be very crudely described as the Republican Party at prayer. The other is the progressive wing of Catholic media represented by the National Catholic Reporter. They advocate for change on priestly celibacy and the all male priesthood. They focus on social justice issues, and look for a general relaxing of Church teaching on sexual morality. They can be described, again very crudely, as the Democratic Party at prayer. John Allen's new site, Crux, is a marvelous example of someone trying to bring all three camps together under one cyber roof. 

Along with these three prominent streams of Catholic media  and websites there is a fourth branch that operates quietly under the radar. I don't know hoe to categorize or name it, but concerns itself with what might be considered the more fringe topics of apparitions, super and preternatural phenomenon and prophesy. While just about all the writers in this category I've read can be safely described as conservative or traditional, they are either unknown to or ignored by most of the mainstream of all three stripes. They are best exemplified by Michael Brown who operates a site called Spirit Daily; a kind of Catholic Drudge Report. Like his secular inspiration (the layout of the main page is almost identical to Drudge's), Brown's page serves as a clearinghouse for articles from other sites. Not all, or even most of the stories he links to have to do with the extraordinary, but a good number either have direct or inferred connection with how what is seen and unseen interconnect. 

For the last year or so this "underground" prophetic Catholic blogosphere has been caught up with the possibility of a coming Shemitah (I've seen it spelled a couple of different ways). What is a Shemitah? It's a sabbath year occurring roughly once every seven when the economic deck is supposed to be reshuffled. The idea is that debts are forgiven, any ancestral lands that had to be sold revert to the original owner, and everybody starts from zero again. Ancient Israel was called to it, but never really did it. It's believed that if we don't do it, God will reshuffle the deck for us.

Jonathan Cahn, a messianic Jew, has been pushing the idea of a coming Shemitah for a few years now. His book, The Harbinger, is popular among both Catholics and Evangelicals who are interested in Biblical prophesy and how they might be playing out right now (I haven't read it myself). He predicts that this fall, September to be precise, is when it could hit. He is careful to say that it could because, as he explains, this is a cycle which God controls. It's foolish to try and tie the Shemitah to specific dates because God may decide to hold off, lighten its effects or cancel it all together if the people repent and return to him. He proposes that since 1967, when Jerusalem became the capital of Israel once again, we have been experiencing these Shemitah years. 1973, 1980, 1987, (1994 was a good year economically as far as I could tell), 2001, 2008: all these years saw great turmoil in the markets, and obviously 2001 also saw the 9/11 attacks, which directly led to the economic distress that fall. 

Roy Schoeman, a Catholic of Jewish heritage (he prefers being called a Fulfilled Jew rather than a "convert," but won't make a big deal about it) has also talked about the Shemitah, fleshing out that September is the month when Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement for Jews, happens, so that a reshuffling of the economic deck during that particular month makes sense. This is especially true if we consider the Shemitah a chastisement for sins, both personal and social, as both men do. Adding a Catholic twist, he also finds it interesting that September is the month we celebrate the Exaltation of the Cross: Jesus' death on the Cross being the great act of atonement for humanity. Atoning for our personal, economic and social sins during the month of Yom Kippur and the Feast of the Holy Cross is no coincidence to Schoeman. 

I started writing this post before Thursday's and Friday's 888 point cumulative drop in the Dow Jones, but the events of this week convinced me to follow through. I don't think one needs to be a mystic, though, to figure out that the economic situation internationally is a mess. The Eurozone crisis remains unresolved, China's currency is in flux, and the U.S. economy has been a house of cards for sometime. The West is increasingly secular and materialistic, rejecting Biblical morality with increasing speed. The Church exists in the culture, so as a result has absorbed a spirit of rationalism: many, including believers, have stopped seeing God as working with us through history. We don't believe that God chastises because it seems to go against the rational, gentile, if slightly detached, God of the contemporary theologian. 

But in Scripture God doesn't chastise to be cruel, but to correct and bring back. In the parable of the Lost Son, the father, who represents God, does lovingly embrace his wayward child upon his return. But he also allowed him to experience the humiliation of going hungry while feeding swine. He let his son wander, fall, thus permitting him to suffer the natural consequences of his folly. Once he comes to his senses the father welcomes him back home. One could argue the lost son, thinking more of his empty stomach than the wrong he had done, experienced "imperfect contrition." God accepts even imperfect repentance, though, as long as we come home. 

I won't go too far out on a limb here. I agree with Jonathan Cahn that making specific predictions is foolhardy. And I do have a natural aversion to reading too much into current events. The constant drum beat of wars, famines, earthquakes and recessions are not unique to our time. But if we see the signs of the times, and they do seem turbulent, more so than usual, we shouldn't be afraid to ask where God is in all this, and is he trying to say something to us. I'll have further thoughts on this soon.