September 1^st, the World day of Prayer for the care of creation, opens the Season of Creation each year. Since adding this day to the Catholic liturgical calendar in 2015, Pope Francis has regularly issued an official message promoting the Season of Creation theme. It is a time to renew our relationship with our Creator and all creation through celebration, conversion and commitment. In addition to celebrating the joy of creation, we are called to reflect on our own lives and how we have over-used, abused or neglected to care for creation.  In light of these reflections, we are encouraging awareness-raising initiatives and lifestyle changes to protect the natural environment and address the crisis of climate change.

Pope Francis’s Message for the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation is, as it is each year, a contemplation on the this year’s global ecumenical theme “To Hope and Act with Creation,” a theme drawn from St. Paul’s letter to the Romans 8:19-25. This theme, he writes, is grounded on our faith, faith that comes from the Holy Spirit dwelling within us. The Spirit prompts us to live in authentic human ways, the ways revealed by Jesus, the creative and proactive ways of love that overcome all obstacles, even death. Christians are, then, to live lives of faith, active in charity and abounding in hope. We bear witness to that hope by caring for suffering humanity, nature itself, and our living environment, Earth. Our hope is based on the realization that everything is ordered finally to the glory of God. That ultimate truth does not deny the current reality that humanity and all Creation are bound by the slavery resulting from sinful abuse of Creation. All Creation groans in the process of “new birth,” of conversion from the arrogance of seeking power to exercise dominion over others and over nature. The path of this conversion is a new spirit of solidarity among all peoples and with Creation based on universal love and a mission of caring for Creation. That path is difficult and painful, like the groaning and pain of labor, but its success is assured in Christ. Pope Francis concludes his message with these words: In this way, our lives can become a song of love for God, for humanity, with and for Creation, and find their fullness in holiness.

Holy One, we are so grateful for the wonders of creation!  We thank you for creating our Mother Earth, whose gifts sustain, enrich, and inspire us.  Thank you for the elements of earth from which we are made and for returning us to Earth’s loving embrace when our journey here is completed.  We praise you for the wonders, beauty and power of creation with which you surround us each day.  Laudato Si—Praise be to You!!