Oremus!

Let us pray for the people of the Caribbean - especially the three million people of Jamaica - as Hurricane Dean bears down on them. This storm is currently a Category 4 hurricane, and it is poised to become a Category 5 - which is as high as the scale goes. It looks like Jamaica will take a direct hit, probably about 2 pm EST - only a few hours after many of us in America will be in church for Sunday services.

Within a couple days from now, there may well be thousands of people, perhaps even tens or hundreds of thousands, left homeless and destitute, exposed to the elements, and fighting for their very lives. Many will die. The magnitude of this storm is hard to fathom.

Let us pray for the Lord's mercy toward the weak and helpless, for the safety and well-being of those in harm's way, and for the workers and volunteers who will be risking their own lives in rescue and recovery efforts.

Let us also keep the people of Mexico and Texas in our prayers, as they will likely also take a direct hit from this storm. We in New Orleans cannot be certain that Hurricane Dean will not swing northward and hit our still-vulnerable city and region, but as of now, the computer models and forecasters seem to have a fairly solid consensus that we will not be in the cross-hairs this time.

There will be years of opportunity for Christians to show mercy to their neighbors in need as a result of this storm and others like it that will no doubt plague the Caribbean and the Gulf Coast during this active phase for cyclones.

But for now, prayers are in order.