New Orleans – Raymond Brown lay on a stretcher at the airport – now a makeshift triage and transport center – under a green Army blanket and tried to rest and pray.
He was one of many across the flooded city whose thoughts turned to God and prayer Sunday after a week of devastation and flooding.
It wasn’t the first time the 89-year-old’s thoughts turned to a higher power. He had watched the water rise outside his home, where he was alone, without power or running water.
“I’d been poking my head out for days. I haven’t had food in 2 or 3 days,” Brown said. “I wasn’t scared, but I was nervous. I trust in God. He wanted me to hang in there.”
Brown was examined by a medical air evacuation team, from Lackland Air Force Base in Texas, and given peanut butter and crackers and a juice box. He was bound for Florida when he finally boarded a military C-130. He’s sending up prayers that his son, in Los Angeles, will find him there.
After a week of uncertainty, loss and hope, prayer took center stage Sunday – from Brown and others at the makeshift MASH at the airport, to a parish where a small congregation prayed for those most devastated by the storm, to the airport where victims waited to be flown away from New Orleans with no certainty of return, to the Army chaplain who sought religious materials and advice from the local priest.
At St. Mary Magdalen Church in Jefferson Parish, 19 people showed up for Sunday Mass, the closest church service to New Orleans since the hurricane and flooding stranded thousands of people last week and closed down the city.
“This is a tremendous challenge he (God) had given us, not to despair because he has a purpose for everything that happens on earth,” said the Rev. Robert Massett. “God is asking us to put up with a temporary interruption of the conveniences and luxury we know to help each other and support each other.”
Usually the church has six Masses each weekend, said Massett, 66. But Sunday, from the altar, he joked with the small group about when to meet again. They decided every morning at 9 a.m. was best, there would be enough light but it wouldn’t be unbearably hot yet.
The priest gave a short message of encouragement in troubled times.
He told the story of Victor Frankel, a Holocaust survivor who had it all one day and lost it all when Hitler took over and sent him to a concentration camp.
“He discovered the one thing they couldn’t take away from him: the freedom to give meaning to what was happening to him. And from that point on, he began to conquer what was happening to him,” Massett said.
He’s been giving similar counsel to those who have come to him, including an emergency medical technician.
“One EMT whose family left has been pulling people out – he was kind of shocked,” Massett said. “He stopped by, and he cried a little bit and we commiserated a little bit.”
The Army chaplain came seeking advice on how to celebrate Mass. Massett volunteered to say Mass at the large government compound a few miles away that houses military, FEMA and search-and-rescue teams.
Sarah Clement, 25, an Army reservist, accompanied the chaplain to the church.
“We have civilians and military who deserve time with God. What better time to do this than now,” she said.
There is no other time, said Maxine Bradford, 80, who attended the Mass.
“Faith is very important,” she said. “Sometimes we wander, but we’ve stayed strong through this.”
Staff writer Elizabeth Aguilera can be reached at eaguilera@denverpost.com.
230,000
Number of evacuees taken to Texas, where Gov. Rick Perry ordered preparations for airlifting some to other states because Texas is running out of room
90,000
Square miles of devastation, potentially an area larger than terrorists could affect with anything but the most lethal of weapons, homeland security officials say
$404 MILLION
Private donations to Katrina relief, according to The Chronicle of Philanthropy
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