East Asia is living through the hottest summer ever measured. South Korea recorded 42.5°C at Yangsan on 2 August — its highest reading since records began in 1904 — and the heat has been linked to at least 31 deaths there. Japan has logged its first official "cruelly hot" days above 40°C, and Hong Kong its highest temperature since 1884. Farmers are lifting ruined harvests from ground turned oven-hot, hundreds of thousands of farm animals have been lost, and the elderly and those who work outdoors bear the greatest danger. We pray for all who labour and endure beneath this heat, and for the doctors, emergency crews and neighbours keeping watch over the vulnerable — may cool winds and gentle rains come soon, and every field grow green again.