Every year the Season of Creation begins on September 1, which is the “World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation” and ends on October 4, which is the Feast of Saint Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of the ecology and animals. It is a time for us to renew our relationship with our Creator and all His creation through prayer and action for our common home.
This year’s theme is “Let Justice and Peace Flow’’ and the symbol is “A Mighty River.”
The theme is derived from the Prophet Amos, who said “But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream!” (Amos 5: 24). Catholics are called in this Season “to join the river of justice and peace, to take up climate and ecological justice, and to speak out with and for communities most impacted by climate injustice and the loss of biodiversity.”
The Season of Creation coincides with appeals made by Pope Franics in his 2015 encyclical, Laudato Si’: On Care for Our Common Home. He writes about the earth’s future and calls the Church and the world to acknowledge the urgency of the environmental challenges and join him in embarking on a new journey toward an integral ecology, a just connection between humans and our environment.
“The most important teaching of Laudato Si’ is that we are meant to be in loving relation with God, with our human siblings and with the rest of Creation,” said Marilyn Kott, a member of the Diocesan Laudato Si Committee. “The Season of Creation gives us the chance to try to really consider what that means and figure out how to act upon it.”
Here are some recommended ideas for communities of faith to participate in the Season of Creation this year:
• Host an ecumenical prayer service with your church community or with Christians outside of your denomination. A prayer service, sample flyers, bulletin inserts and pulpit announcements that you can use can be found at www.seasonofcreation.org
• Hold your worship service outside to celebrate in the context of God’s creation, possibly at a site of environmental significance. If in a place of natural beauty, give thanks to God and commit to protecting the site and others. However, if it is a place of environmental degradation, focus on our environmental sins, the creatures who have been lost and commit to healing and restoring actions.
• Organize a creation walk or pilgrimage to meditate on the gift of God’s creation and our commitment to be in deeper communion will all life. Invite the group to pray ecologically themed prayers such as those that can be found in the Laudato Si’ Movement prayer book which can be found at www.laudatosimovement.org
• Incorporate the symbol of a mighty river in your events. Introduce this year’s symbol of the “Mighty River” to your group and explain its meaning, you may even include the sounds of running water, then dedicate a few minutes to open dialogue where they can share their feelings about the theme and what activities the group could organize.
• Invite teenagers to research the main rivers in your region. Ask them to choose one river and find its main characteristics and history.
• Invite children to draw or paint a river to be used in celebrations and activities. They may each do an individual drawing or invite all the kids to finger paint a river together, so that their individual strokes represent flowing water and tributary rivers.
•Participate by raising our voices to others, to advocate on behalf of our Common Home. Advocating can include joining groups which restore habitat, improve public policy, and serve those disadvantaged by loss of habitat and home.
On August 6, 2015, the Feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord, Pope Francis instituted “World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation,” to be celebrated on September 1, as had been custom in the Orthodox Church since 1989.
“The annual World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation will offer individual believers and communities a fitting opportunity to reaffirm their personal vocation to be stewards of creation, to thank God for the wonderful handiwork which he has entrusted to our care, and to implore his help for the protection of creation as well as his pardon for the sins committed against the world in which we live,” Pope Francis said in his letter declaring the World Day of Prayer.
The Season of Creation ends on Oct 4, the Feast Day of Saint Francis of Assisi who is not only the Patron Saint of ecology and the animals but is also where Pope Francis got his papal namesake and the inspiration for the title of his 2015 encyclical letter, “Laudato Si’.”
In the very first sentence of Laudato Si’, Pope Francis quotes Saint Francis’ Canticle of the Creatures saying “Laudato Si’, mi’ Signore” – “Praise be to you, my Lord,” which is the repeated refrain in Saint Francis’ canticle.
Pope Francis used this canticle to show how “Saint Francis of Assisi reminds us that our common home is like a sister with whom we share our life and a beautiful mother who opens her arms to embrace us” but Pope Francis goes on to say that “this sister now cries out to us because of the harm we have inflicted on her by our irresponsible use and abuse of the goods with which God has endowed her.” He then makes an urgent appeal “for a new dialogue about how we are shaping the future of our planet… All of us can cooperate as instruments of God for the care of creation, each according to his or her own culture, experience, involvements and talents.”
The Holy Father announced Aug. 30 that he will release a sequel to Laudato Si’ in the form of an Apostolic Exhortation, this year on Oct. 4, the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi.
At many parishes in the Diocese, the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi is an occasion for clergy to offer a Blessing of the Animals, inviting local Catholics to bring their pets to church to receive a special gesture of God’s love for them.
You can act in the Season of Creation by participating in any of the ideas suggested above and you can also enroll in the Laudato Si’ Action Platform, where you can commit to crafting your own Laudato Si’ plan and track your progress yearly. The action platform can also help you discern and implement your response to Laudato Si’ through a process-oriented approach that can be adapted to the needs of your institution, community, or family.
However, you choose to act, let this Season of Creation be a time where we all come together to praise our Creator, all of His creation and take action for our Common Home.
Elena Macias is the Managing Editor of the Inland Catholic BYTE.