Joplin, Missouri, Tornado: Charity Opportunity; Prayer; and Common Sense

On the 'charity begins at home' principle, Catholic Charities in Missouri is asking for donations, so they can pay for goods and services that will help folks in Joplin and elsewhere:

• Catholic Charities
  Archdiocese of St. Louis, Missouri
  • Support the Victims of the Joplin Tornado

Prayer couldn't hurt, either, in my opinion. No pressure, as usual.

Joplin, Missouri: Most Tornado Deaths Since 1953

I've posted about the May 22, 2011, tornado that went through part of Joplin, Missouri, in another blog:

• "Joplin, Missouri, Tornado: Minneapolis, Too"
  Apathetic Lemming of the North (May 23, 2011)

We know about 125 people who died in Joplin's Sunday dinner-time tornado. Folks died elsewhere, too - including Minnesota: but Joplin's death toll is far and away the highest.

I put excerpts from today's coverage of the disaster at the end of this post.¹ I think the experiences of a young Walmart employee, recounted in a Wall Street Journal blog, help illustrate what folks in Missouri and elsewhere went through.

What the Joplin Tornado Doesn't Prove

I'm about as sure as I can be, that the folks in Joplin, Missouri, didn't 'have it coming.' Neither, I think, did folks living in northeastern Japan, or in Haiti:

• "Japan's Earthquake, Divine Retribution, and the Tower at Siloam"
  (March 15, 2011)
• "Japan, Good Taste, Common Sense, and a Duck"
  (March 15, 2011)
• "Haiti: Voodoo, Pat Robertson, and the Catholic Church"
  (January 16, 2010)

Prayer and Common Sense

I don't know how popular the 'prosperity gospel' is these days. Bottom line, it's a bad idea. I've mentioned it before. (January 27, 2009)

Much more to the point, the Holy See had a few words to say about the prosperity gospel, and related topics. ("Jesus Christ the Bearer of the Water of Life, A Christian reflection on the 'New Age,' " Pontifical Council for Culture/Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dailogue (February 3, 2003))

On the other hand, the Lord's Prayer includes "...give us this day our daily bread..." so I figure it's okay to ask God for material things. Within reason: Just before "give us," we say "...Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven...."

I've read Job, so I know better than to demand an explanation from the Almighty: or to understand what the great I AM has in mind when tornadoes rip through towns.

So, what's the point of prayer, if I can't ask for a vacation home and yacht - and get it?

" 'Prayer is the raising of one's mind and heart to God or the requesting of good things from God.'² But when we pray, do we speak from the height of our pride and will, or 'out of the depths' of a humble and contrite heart?³ He who humbles himself will be exalted;⁴ humility is the foundation of prayer. Only when we humbly acknowledge that 'we do not know how to pray as we ought,'⁵ are we ready to receive freely the gift of prayer. 'Man is a beggar before God.'⁶"
(Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2559)

There's more. Quite a lot more, including these sections:

• Prayer in the Christian Life (2558-2565)
• The Life of Prayer (2697-2724)
  • Vocal Prayer (2700-2704)
  • Meditation (2705-2708)
  • Contemplative Prayer (2709-2719)
• The Lord's Prayer / "Our Father!" (2759-2776)
  (Catechism)

Tornadoes and Common Sense

I've spent most of my life in the upper Midwest - a trifle north or 'tornado alley,' but close enough to get practice heading for shelter. I have no problem asking my Lord for protection from the storm, but I also think it's prudent to use the brain He gave me. Which is why my household has a small room in the basement, with stone walls on three sides, as a designated storm shelter.

Finally, again:

• Catholic Charities
  Archdiocese of St. Louis, Missouri
  • Support the Victims of the Joplin Tornado

Prayer couldn't hurt, either, in my opinion. No pressure, as usual.

More-or-less-related posts:

• "Joplin, Missouri, Tornado: Minneapolis, Too"
  Apathetic Lemming of the North (May 23, 2011)
• "Heavy Weather Weekend"
  Apathetic Lemming of the North (May 22, 2011)
• "Charity, Nuns, and an Overloaded Helicopter"
  (April 28, 2011)
• "Haiti: T-Shelters, Catholic Relief Services, and Lent"
  (March 30, 2011)
• "Haiti's Enu Zizi? Ena Zizi: Any Way You Spell it, She's Quite a Lady"
  (January 20, 2010)
  Particularly
  • Wanting Explanations, Accepting What Is
  • People Pray, and Live; People Pray, and Die

News and views:

• "Tornadoes death toll rises, more storms forecast"
  Elliott Blackburn, Carey Gillam, Corrie MacLaggan, Suzi Parker, Steve Olafson, Jim Forsyth, (editing: Greg McCune) Edition: U.S., Reuters (May 25, 2011)
• "At Joplin Walmart, Death, Survival and the 'Best Soda I Ever Had' "
  Amy Merrick, Dispatch, WSJ Blogs, Wall Street Journal (May 25, 2011)

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¹Excerpts from news and views:

"Tornadoes death toll rises, more storms forecast"
Elliott Blackburn and others, Edition: U.S., Reuters (May 25, 2011)

"The death toll from a monster tornado that savaged Joplin, Missouri, rose to 125 on Wednesday and tornadoes overnight in nearby states caused at least 14 more deaths.

"Bulldozers pushed through rubble in Joplin and teams searched through the night over a six-mile-long path of destruction looking for survivors but found no one alive in the rubble, authorities said.

"At least 823 people were injured by the tornado that hit on Sunday at dinner time, and an estimated 1,500 remain missing....

"...The Joplin tornado on Sunday was rated an EF-5, the highest possible on the Enhanced Fujita scale of tornado power and intensity, with winds of at least 200 miles per hour.

"EF-5 tornadoes are rare in the United States but already this year there have been at least four. They are so destructive that experts said they can turn a house into a missile...."

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"At Joplin Walmart, Death, Survival and the 'Best Soda I Ever Had' "
Amy Merrick, Dispatch, WSJ Blogs, Wall Street Journal (May 25, 2011)

"When Cameron Paul, a Walmart employee in Joplin, Mo., was growing up, he and his father would go storm-chasing. From what seemed to be a safe distance, Mr. Paul's father, a freelance photographer, would shoot pictures of funnel clouds. In southwest Missouri, there were plenty to keep them busy....

"...None of that prepared him for Sunday evening, when Mr. Paul, 19 years old, was working as a customer-service manager at a Walmart Supercenter in Joplin. The employees knew a storm was coming and herded customers to the back of the store, as they'd been trained. Mr. Paul and a co-worker stayed in front, hurrying more people inside from the parking lot. Some said they lived in mobile homes and came to Walmart to seek shelter.

"Shortly before the tornado hit, one woman left the building because she wanted to buy groceries and was told she couldn't until the storm passed. Mr. Paul doesn't know what happened to her. Some people who waited in their cars in the parking lot didn't survive....

"...He watched helplessly as a support beam fell onto a couple and their child only a few feet away, killing them. After that, he kept his head down.

"The tornado passed. Huge chunks of hail began to fall. Looking up, Mr. Paul saw a woman clutching a child near a shopping cart. He called them over and stood, holding one end of the broken piece of roof, so they could crouch beneath it. He held a milk crate over his own head to protect himself from the hail....

"...Several customers appeared to have broken backs, including a woman with three children. Mr. Paul and his co-workers carefully placed blankets around the injured adults. Another Walmart employee wrapped trash bags around the children to keep them warm...."

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