Prayer for Protection during 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 on 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.
(Composed by Most Rev. Maurice Schexnayder (1895-1981),Second Bishop of Lafayette (1956-1973), following Hurricane Audrey in 1957)
