Prayer for Safety in Hurricane Season

The Bishops of the seven dioceses which make up the ecclesiastical Province of New Orleans (the State of Louisiana) on Friday, May 29, 2009, sponsored the annual Day of Prayer and Fasting for Safety During the Hurricane Season. We implore God, through the intercession of Our Lady of Prompt Succor, patroness of Louisiana, to preserve us from storms that might wreak devastation in our State. (The traditional Atlantic "hurricane season" for coastal states which border the Gulf of Mexico runs from June 1 to November 30 each year.)

One element of our prayer is the following text. Everyone is encouraged to pray this special prayer throughout the upcoming hurricane season:

Prayer for Safety in Hurricane Season

O God, Master of this passing world,
hear the humble voices of your children.
The Sea of Galilee obeyed Your order
and returned to its former quietude.
You are still the Master of land and sea.
We live in the shadow of a danger over which we have no control:
the Gulf, like a provoked and angry giant,
can awake from its seeming lethargy,
overstep its conventional boundaries,
invade our land,
and spread chaos and disaster.

During this hurricane season we turn to You, O loving Father.
Spare us from past tragedies whose memories are still so vivid
and whose wounds seem to refuse to heal with passing of time.

O Virgin, Star of the Sea, Our beloved Mother,
we ask you to plead with your Son in our behalf,
so that spared from the calamities common to this area
and animated with a true spirit of gratitude,
we will walk in the footsteps of your Divine Son
to reach the heavenly Jerusalem
where a stormless eternity awaits us.
Amen.

Most Rev. Maurice Schexnayder (1895-1981)
Second Bishop of Lafayette