As I compose this message on Thursday morning, the eyes of our nation -- at least the eastern part of it -- are turned toward Hurricane Earl in the north Atlantic Ocean to see where it will go in its unpredictable course.  God grant that it will spend itself at sea and not cause death, injury, or damage to people on land.  It is more than just of theoretical interest to me and my travel group because our plans are to fly from Houston to New York City early Friday morning -- September 3.   And if the weather is bad in the New York area, we might not be able to land there, and therefore not even be able to go in that direction.  If our plans can  be carried out, we will spend three nights in New York City and then go aboard a cruise liner, the Eurodam, and make a very nice trip from New York up to a number of ports in New England, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island, into the St. Lawrence River, to the city of Quebec which we will be able to visit before flying home from there. We hope to return to Houston safe and sound on September 16th.  After that, I hope to resume these messages.  Meantime, I ask your prayers for me and my travel companions and for all those who are in any way threatened by the hurricane in the Atlantic.

This coming Monday, September 6th, is our annual Labor Day observance when we who love God put our devotion to our heavenly Father together with our esteem for the human ability to work and thus support ourselves and our families and also make a contribution to the well-being of the world in which we live. We are surrounded by the evidence of the great need for honest human work.  Thousands of people leave their own native lands in order to find work elsewhere when they do not have the opportunity to support themselves at home. And very often, this movement of people from place to place causes disruption in families and marriages and a great deal of suffering which results from these difficulties.  We must recognize that these men, women, and children are our brothers and sisters whom we have an obligation to help just as we would expect them to help us if the situation were reversed.  We must beware never to think simply in terms of economics, demographics, and politics, but always in terms of the words of Jesus: whatever you have done to these, the least of my brothers, you have done to me.  It is always a question of love.

May God make us truly grateful for all that we have, and give us the grace to express that gratitude by working for the well-being of those less fortunate than ourselves.  God bless you.   

Fr. Victor Brown, O.P.