Many terrible things happen to people in this vale of tears.
I have seen a few film clips of the flooding in Australia. I heard that the flooding has affected a vast expanse and many people.
I saw this good reminder on the blog Australia Incognita.
Please do keep praying for Queenslanders and other Australians affected by the floods – many Australians can and will offer practical aid, but few will also offer prayers (including for the dead), and personally I think the latter may well prove more important than the former!
And the worst is not over yet in many places, including Victoria and Tasmania.But you might also, in solidarity, remember those in other countries affected by catastrophic floods:
- in Brazil at least 356 have died following landslides (and this or worse could so easily have been Brisbane had the Wivenhoe Dam collapsed due to ‘overtopping’ as seemed possible at one point);
in Sri Lanka at least 23 are dead and one million people homeless following floods there.
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Father,
Toll count in Brazil is over 500 now, and thousands homeless.
3 dioceses affected.
Basic services not working (power, water, phone), and many spots isolated from the rest of the world.
Why do bad things happen to good people? why do good people suffer whilst those who openly flaunt their sins and demand that we accept and condone their lifestyles prosper?
TQVM Father for your concern about the floods in Brisbane.
We’ve come off rather more lightly than expected; but for the many who’ve nevertheless lost possessions, homes or loved ones, that’s probably cold comfort.
I’m sure WDTPRS-ers will be interested to hear that in one of the worst-affected areas – the Brisbane suburb of Oxley – the SSPX church (dedicated to Our Lady of Lourdes) was spared, with the floodwater virtually lapping at the foundations.
Deo gratias
Paul
there are some dead in queensland and a good number missing. Lots of property damage.
Thank you for the update. We are checking in with relatives in Victoria. The local paper (isn’t the internet great!) indicates that their town is surrounded by other towns in danger of floods.
May God be with those suffering from loss.
Thanks Fr Z.
Hope we won’t get any more rain. It is estimated that it will take 2 years for complete recovery and 3 billion dollars! At present there are 15 dead and 55 missing.
Jules
Sydney
Father,
Thank you for requesting prayers for those of us in Queensland. The flooding has been in some places, shockingly unusual, in others quite predictable. The winding Brisbane River has a long history of serious flooding. Without the Wivenhoe Dam built after the disastrous 1974 flood, this present flood would have probably equalled the 1893 flood – the worst on record.
The spirit of the people is truly marvellous, as a group and individually. From the 13yrs old boy who lost his life after telling rescuers not to worry about him but attend to his younger brother who was saved, to the hundreds of ordinary folk helping one another with Government co-operation only, at my local disaster assistance centre.
So Australia has justified the poet’s ( Dorothea Mackellar – “My Country”) reference to “drought and flooding rains” and her “beauty and her terror” – she nevertheless concluded “……the wide brown land for me”.
As for the “problem of evil”, I’m sad to say I think of other things like 100,000 abortions a year, toleration of abhorrent homosexual activity and growing talk of euthanasia – the evil the people perpetrate. Who are we to say we don’t deserve nature’s whims?
We do need to pray and I know very many Queenslanders are doing just that and will continue to do so. Sadly many may not – that is the measure of the need for the New Evangelisation.
The Brazilian tragedy is of such an appalling scale it is hard to comment – but redoubled prayer is approprite of course.But, I am ashamed to say, our media will quickly forget it .
Thank you Father once again for all you do. After three days without power and internet ,it is refreshing and re-assuring to get back to WDTPRS!
VEXILLA REGIS, thank you for the update. You are in our prayers as well as those suffering in other parts of the world.
Oh my! I see that Victoria is in trouble. The administrator for my website lives there and I cannot contact her and haven’t heard from her. If someone from there reads this, could you give an update for that area? I am so worried about her! Thanks in advance.
don’t forget those of us in the Philippines in your prayers.
We’ve had a million displaced by local floods in various areas of the Philippines, so far this year, and 40 dead from heavy localized rainstorms. Luckily, we are safe, and the rain didn’t destroy our irrigation dams, as it did last year.