CSVF Blog

At Mass this morning, I encouraged everyone to pray for the past and future victims of Hurricane Gustav, which is expected to hit the Gulf South tomorrow. Being from south Louisiana, my plea was particularly heartfelt.  After Mass, to my surprise, many parishioners shared with me stories of their own relatives who live along the Gulf Coast.  It was a consoling moment as folks shared their stories and news.  And so we all join together in union of prayer for friends and loved ones who will be affected by Gustav.

Just to give everyone a sense of what people in Louisiana are feeling, I attach the following letter.  Since I don’t know the person who wrote it, I’ve left off her name.  A friend sent it to me, and so I pass it on to you.  Again, prayers.

Dear Friends,

Tonight, I am sitting here thinking a lot of things. For those of you who do not know, Hurricane Gustav, now a category 4 and forecast to become a category 5 tomorrow (which is the worst you can get with a hurricane), is quickly approaching the LA gulf coast. It takes a track toward land that makes the heart of many Louisianans drop. This could very well be the end of New Orleans if Gustav takes the track that both the meteorologists and National Hurricane Center have set down- very close to the mouth of the MS River- and truly a catastrophic path- one that send chills up and down my spine as I think of it now. Some have predicted that Gustav will very likely be worse than Katrina.

I have spent the day watching this storm, hoping with each newscast that someone would say this is a joke or that Gustav had just fallen apart over Cuba, but that hope is very quickly fading now. I watched many of my neighbors pack up and leave today. I saw the mass hysteria on the roads and at the grocery store when I went to gather supplies. It feels like an end of the world movie where the public panics, desperate efforts at the last moments to leave town with bumper to bumper traffic, no gas left at the pumps to fill up your car, and a monster looming near… this all just feels like a very, very bad dream that I think all of us keep hoping would just end- and all of us along the coast would wake up and find sunny skies with our old friend humidity alongside and nothing in sight in the Gulf.

Tomorrow, I leave to go into lockdown in the Emergency Room, where I work as an RN- right along where they have put the projected path of this hurricane. I have to stay behind because I have been scheduled to be part of this disaster team. It is my job, and I love being able to help people- it is why I chose this career. But tonight I am scared to death as many others are that I’ve spoken with. I will be separated from my fiancee and my family for God only knows how long as many others will be as they stay behind– the police department, fire department, paramedics, hospital personnel, national guard, etc.. It is frightening to know it may be a week or more before I can get in touch with those I love to know where they are and if they are ok– many of us are experiencing many emotions as we prepare tonight… It is frightening to think what this hurricane might mean for all of us who have made southeast LA our home.

I do not know where this will hit in the end. Forecasters have been wrong in the past… But I do know that wherever this hurricane hits- catastrophic doesn’t do justice to what this storm is capable of doing if it continues to strengthen as it has in the last 24 hours. I ASK FOR YOUR PRAYERS NOW for all of the people along the Gulf Coast, for all the families, and for all of us who remain behind and cannot leave. (Many of the older people in these communities do not want to leave and will not do so. Please pray for them and that they will leave as they have been directed to do by both city and state officials.)

I write to tell all of you a little about this because I know we can sometimes lose touch with the media and other parts of the world. I write to ask for your prayers for all of us down here. WE NEED ALL THE PRAYER WE CAN GET. PRAY FOR A MIRACLE- PRAY FOR A SPARING OF LIVES.

JUST PLEASE PRAY. AND ASK ALL OF THOSE YOU KNOW TO PRAY FOR US.

I love you all.

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