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Vermilion Faith Community of Care
PO Box 554 Abbeville, La. 70511
Voice/Fax: (337) 893-5589 E-mail: vfcc@cox.net
Uniting the faith community of Vermilion Parish in service
through meeting critical human need.
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The Catholic Bishops of Louisiana declared Friday, June 2nd, 2006, to be a Day of Prayer and Fasting, asking the Lord’s intercession, that we be delivered from all storms. In the Diocese of Lafayette, regional prayer services were also held during the week of May 8-11, 2006.
In support of the Day of Prayer and Fasting, Bishop Michael Jarrell of the Diocese of Lafayette said, “After our experience in 2005, everyone is more aware of the coming season, and more determined to be prepared. Our manner of preparation is prayer. I trust that all Catholics will join in heartfelt petition for preservation of life and property. Our prayers will be offered through Christ our Lord and through the merciful intercession of the patroness of our Diocese, Mary, the Immaculate Conception.”
A Prayer for the Hurricane Season written by the second Bishop of the Diocese of Lafayette, La., Bishop Maurice Schexnayder is found below.
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A Prayer for the Hurricane Season
by Maurice Schexnayder, Second Bishop of Lafayette, La.
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 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 time. O Virgin Mary, 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.
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Many people bless their homes with Holy Water before any severe weather. Others break a piece of their blessed Palm branch and set it on the ground by their front door. Some people also bless their neighbors homes that are on each side of them, in front and in the back of them, as they are blessing their own home. (To do this, you simply turn and face that direction and sprinkle the Holy Water, saying 'In the Name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, I Bless this home, let it and all who dwell there, be safe, and unharmed.') When finished, you may also say the Our Father, Hail Mary, and Glory Be, and Come Holy Spirit Prayer. If evacuating, some people also bless their cars and ask for safe travel away, and a safe return.
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