Hope: Catholics attend Mass in Ike-ravaged Houston

A beautiful tale emerging from the devastation wrought by Hurricane Ike (ph/t to Whispers):

"At the Co-Cathedral of the Sacred Heart, also downtown, about 80 parishioners scattered throughout the pews in a cathedral that usually seats about 2,000 for the 11 a.m. Mass.

"This is an opportunity, with a small crowd, to pray in gratitude that there was so little loss of life even though the loss of property is enormous," said Archbishop Emeritus Joseph A. Fiorenza of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston.

In his remarks and during his homily, Fiorenza called on those present to be grateful that the storm had not taken many lives, though he acknowledged that an exact toll was not fully available. He also reminded parishioners to remain calm and friendly to family and neighbors as people struggle without electricity.

"This calls us in times of great distress to have patience and kindness with one another, to realize we are going to have a long time of endurance and great inconvenience," he said. "But with good humor and God's grace and our public officials ... hopefully the time of great endurance won't be too long."

At least the Cathedral they fled to looks like it could weather a storm.

*Sigh.*

Hurricane Ike is very dangerous, prayers requested

I have many Catholic friends in the Houston-Galveston region. Hurricane Ike is currently heading for a direct hit on that area tonight. Ike is a larger storm than Katrina, covering most the gulf of mexico. In fact, "At 9:30am EDT this morning, Ike earned a 5.6 on this scale, the highest kinetic energy of any Atlantic storm in the past 40 years."

Here is the current warning issued for the storm. Simply put: "get out."

Prayers for those in the path of Hurricane Ike

Marcel of the Aggie Catholics blog asks for prayers:

The new forecast models have Hurricane Ike going almost directly over College Station. So, please pray for our safety. Also, with the move northward (toward Houston) we will be seeing a large number of evacuees come into town. Evacuations are being ordered, some mandatory, and we could have more than 1 million people moving inland...We need your prayers and so do those fleeing their homes in the wake of this storm. Pray hard!

Ike is currently on a direct-collision course with Galveston-Houston. A local science blogger writes:

Good evening. The track forecast for Ike tonight has edged significantly closer to the Houston-Galveston area, now bringing the storm ashore near Freeport.

As I wrote a few years ago, for Houston's sake, this is just about the worst possible place a storm could make landfall. (More)

Keep track of the storm here at StormPulse.

Tracking Hurricane Gustav

We should keep the residents of the Louisiana coast in our prayers, as hurricane Gustav makes landfall.

We should also pray for Catholic governor Bobby Jindal, who faces his first large-scale preparations for a hurricane since taking office, that he competently oversees the complicated logistics.

Weather: Season's first hurricane forms in Pacific off Mexico

iiiiiiiiiiiiiit's hurricane season!


Named Boris, it is heading towards Russia.

"Bishop of Orlando prays for God’s protection from hurricanes"

I like it when bishops and priests pray for the prevention of natural disaters. It demonstrates an understanding that God has the power to act in the natural order. Take a look at this good example:

Bishop of Orlando Thomas Wenski celebrated a special Mass on Monday asking for God’s protection during hurricane season. “At the beginning of this hurricane season, we turn to God and pray that we will be spared from the ravages of nature this year,” he said in his homily as he urged the faithful to place themselves under God’s dominion and to turn their hearts to the Lord.

... “Like the apostles in that storm tossed boast, in our fear we cry out: ‘Save us, Lord.'"

The bishop emphasized that prayer is neither an excuse for complacency nor “some magical way” to force God to do our bidding. Rather, he said, “prayer brings us to place ourselves under God’s dominion and not the other way around. And recognizing God’s dominion – that he is in fact in charge of our lives – gives us confidence to face whatever challenges that lie before us with confidence and trust in his Divine Providence.

“While we pray that God keep the storms away this year, we, in the very act of prayer, also seek to keep our hearts turned to the Lord whatever may happen. In fact, if our hearts are sufficiently turned to the Lord, then we won’t need any calamities to teach us to keep our priorities straight. If our hearts are turned to the Lord, we won’t need the fury of nature to remind us of the brevity of life, or of the importance of persons over possessions.” (CNA)

Longtime readers might remember, and recent readers should be warned, that I tend to watch hurricane season closely and sometimes post about it. If I had seven lives, one of them might be lived as a meteorologist. But since I don't, other interests come first. Like theology.

Related: "Don't pray to the Rain God - pray to the God of Rain says Archbishop!" (Oct. 24 2007)