St. Medard, patron saint of bad storms, pray for us!
We are in the midst of hurricane season here in the United States. It runs each year from June 1 through November 30.
The possibility of hurricanes hitting home should be on the minds of people living in South Florida. But it has been a number of years since one struck here in Palm Beach County, so many people have been rather complacent.
My husband and I bought our home on Singer Island eight years ago, three years after Hurricanes Frances (105 mph winds) and Jeanne (120 mph winds) hit the area just twenty days apart in September of 2004. The following year Wilma (105 mph winds) hit South Florida, causing 25 deaths and again leaving a number of counties in the dark.
The outlook for the 2015 season:
“It’s very unusual… This is by far the longest that state has gone without a hurricane hit going back to 1851…
Florida is just one of those areas that is most vulnerable because they’re in an area,
geographically, in which tropical storms can easily maneuver and make landfall.”
—AccuWeather meteorologist and hurricane expert Dan Kottlowski on the 2015 hurricane season
Hurricane protection prayer at Mass:
Every Sunday when I go to Mass at St. Paul of the Cross Church in North Palm Beach, I am struck by the standard weekly petition for protection from hurricanes in the Prayer of the Faithful:
That we would receive the grace of physical protection from
all storms, disaster and calamity this hurricane season, we pray…
Lord, hear our prayer.
Calling again on St. Medard:
I first wrote about St. Medard in February of 2014 in anticipation of the winter snowstorm Pax: “Praying to Saint Medard, the patron saint of bad storms.”
St. Medard seems to be the perfect patron saint for the hurricane season. A sixth-century bishop, preacher, and missionary, he is the patron saint for protection from bad storms. As a child, so the legend goes, he was once sheltered from the rain by an eagle hovering over him. His feast day is observed each year on June 8.
Let us call upon the intercession of Saint Medard to keep us safe and to protect all those who are vulnerable during the hurricane season.
Saint Medard, patron saint for protection against bad storms, we ask you to intercede for us during the storms of our lives as well as the storms in nature.
Protect our families and our homes.
We pray for assistance for the victims of snowstorms, hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, and other natural disasters, especially for the upcoming snowstorm that is headed our way tonight.
Loving God, send in more helpers, and multiply resources and supplies for the aid of those in need.
You calmed the storm on the Sea of Galilee; deliver us from the storms that are raging around us now.
Saint Medard, pray for us.
Amen.
Check out St. Medard on Pinterest.