Please pray for the people of Louisiana. I say this not only as a person who has family in the area, but as someone who just visited the coast (Grand Isle) two months back and fell in love with it immediately. I don't think it will be the same in my lifetime. Everyone relies on the ocean for their livelihood there. If the ocean life or wetlands are impacted for any period of time everyone's employment will be at risk - the fishermen will have nothing to bring in, the tourist industry will fall apart, the sportsmen will have no reason to make the long and winding drive down, everyone will suffer. These are not rich people, but they are faithful. Priests bless the fleet of ships that fish the waters, shrines to the Virgin dot the roads, and there is an enduring faith plainly visible on the faces of the people.
Words can't express how much my heart goes out to a people who have kept a stiff upper lip through catastrophe after catastrophe.
Breeze full of scent; mountains reaching to the skies;
Waters like a boundless mirror,
Reflecting the sun's golden rays and the scudding clouds.
All nature murmurs mysteriously, breathing depths of tenderness,
Birds and beasts bear the imprint of your love,
Blessed are you, mother earth, in your fleeting loveliness,
Which wakens our yearning for happiness that will last for ever
In the land where, amid beauty that grows not old,
Rings out the cry: Alleluia!
- Second Kontakion, An Akathist in Praise of God's Creation
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