We wish to encourage all our Catholic family - parishes, schools, communities and individuals to join in prayer to mark the Season of Creation from 1 September to 4 October - the feast of Saint Francis of Assisi.
The Season of Creation is the annual Christian celebration to pray and respond together to the cry of Creation: the ecumenical family around the world unites to listen and care for our common home. The “Celebration” begins 1 September, the Feast of Creation, and ends 4 October, the Feast of Saint Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of ecology beloved by many Christian denominations.
This year the theme “Hope and act with Creation” and the symbol “The firstfruits of hope”, inspired by Romans 8:19-25, will be our guiding inspiration.
The biblical image depicts the Earth as a mother groaning as if giving birth (Rom 8:22). St. Francis of Assisi understood it this way when he referred to the Earth as our sister and our mother in his Canticle of the Creatures. The times we live in demonstrate that we do not relate to the Earth as a gift from our Creator, but as a resource to be used.
“Creation groans” (Rom 8:22) because of our selfishness and unsustainable actions that harm it. Together with our Sister, Mother Earth, creatures of all kinds, including humans, cry out because of our destructive actions that cause climate crises, biodiversity loss and human suffering, as well as Creation’s suffering.
However, Creation teaches us that hope is present in waiting, in the expectation of a better future (cf. Rom 8:20-21). To hope in the biblical context does not mean to remain still and silent, but to groan, to cry out and actively strive for a new life in the midst of difficulties. Creation and all of us are called to worship the Creator, working together for a dynamic future based on hope and action.
Only when we work together with Creation can the firstfruits of hope spring forth. As in childbirth, we go through a period of intense pain, but new life emerges.
This year let us ACT in our parishes: include Creation in our liturgy, pray for Creation, take up challenges like the LiveSimply Award, host screenings of The Letter and more
Image: c. marcin mazur/cbcew
Humanity’s abuse of nature requires a true conversion and invites us to change our lifestyles.
Pope Francis made this appeal in his Message for the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation, to be held on September 1, 2024, which was published Thursday 27 June.
The message signed by Pope Francis on June 27 is broken up into nine sections, which all highlight our responsibility to take care of our Common Home. It stresses that, as Christians called to live in faith and charity, caring for the environment is “a task to be undertaken freely, in obedience to Jesus’ commandment of love.”
Summary and Full Message for World Day of Creation
This guide will help you learn about and plan for this season. It includes ideas for prayer, including an ecumenical prayer service and ways to incorporate and reflect on this year’s theme and symbol. In addition, it offers ways to participate in this year’s joint advocacy initiative to support the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty which calls for a halt to new fossil fuel projects (see more at fossilfueltreaty.org).
Season of Creation Celebration Guide
Triune God, Creator of all,We praise you for your goodness, visible in all the diversity that you havecreated, making us a cosmic family living in a common home. Throughthe Earth you created, we experience love and nourishment, home andprotection.We confess that we do not relate to the Earth as a Mothering gift fromyou, our Creator. Our selfishness, greed, neglect, and abuse have caused
the climate crisis, loss of biodiversity, human suffering as well as the suf-fering of all our fellow creatures. We confess that we have failed to listen
to the groans of the Earth, the groans of all creatures, and the groans ofthe Spirit of hope and justice that lives within us.May your Creator Spirit help us in our weakness, so that we may know theredeeming power of Christ and the hope found in him. May the groans ofthe Spirit birth in us a willingness to serve you faithfully, so that we mayhear and heal Creation, to hope and act together with her, so that thefirstfruits of hope may blossom.Loving and Creator God, we pray that you will make us sensitive to thesegroans and enable us to have the same compassion as that of Jesus, theredeeming Lord. Grant us a fresh vision of our relationship with Earth, andwith one another, as creatures that are made in your image.
In the name of the one who came to proclaim the good news to all Crea-tion, Jesus Christ.
Amen.
Find these and more Season of Creation resources on the Season of Creation website:
Season of Creation.org
CAFOD and the Season of Creation website have both provided bidding prayers which can be used during the Season of Creation You can easily choose one prayer for each week.
CAFOD bidding prayers
Season of Creation bidding prayers
From CAFOD: Nine brief reflections asking St Francis of Assisi to pray for us and our world, based on his beautiful Canticle of the Sun. This novena is a song of penitence and praise, guiding us to care for the earth and for our most vulnerable sisters and brothers, especially the Amazon peoples. They are currently under grave risk given their fragile situation, often in remote locations far from government services.
Communities with whom we work are reporting a sharp increase in predatory attacks on land. People smugglers are also active and those being trafficked are in more danger than ever, having no access to healthcare.
Use these video prayers over nine days or at nine moments of personal prayer. Each has four phases: Canticle; Amazon voice; penitential prayer; plea for intercession.
Novena to St Francis
These Ignatian-type Examens are based on the Laudato Si “call to heed the Cry of the Earth and Cry of the Poor”. Take time to reflect with these spiritual exercises for primary and secondary school students.
Primary School Examen
Secondary School Examen
CAFOD Care of Creation Prayers
Of our 245 schools, 135 have registered for the LiveSimply Award, and 55 have achieved it. More than any other Catholic Diocesan Education Service in the country.
Students have said:
“We are God’s hands on earth… we must do things to help!”
“Faith without action, isn’t really faith at all.”
The LiveSimply Award is delivered by CAFOD and covers three elements:
Living Simply - this is the personal and spiritual side of the LiveSimply journey. It is the opportunity to slow down, spend more time in prayer & reflection, spending time in nature appreciating God’s creation, and spending quality time with others (putting the electronic gadgets away!).
Living Sustainably – this is the care for the environment element, hearing the cry of the earth (Laudato Si’) including refuse, reduce, reuse, repurpose, re-gift, repair, recycle, litter picking, pre-loved book/toy/clothes swops/sales, growing your own vegetables, bird feeders, bat boxes, bug hotels and involvement in environmental activities etc.
Living in Solidarity – this is the care for our human family element, Taking direct action to help our sisters and brothers. This includes campaign action to raise awareness or challenge structures that impact negatively on our global neighbours; fundraising to help communities in need (CAFOD Big Lent Walk) and other actions that make a difference to our global family e.g. Fairtrade.
More parishes in the Archdiocese of Birmingham have taken the award than in any other Diocese in England and Wales. Could your parish be the next to take it?
Livesimply award: Catholic communities inspired by Pope’s encyclical to live sustainably
LiveSimply award
Why not host a screening of The Letter in your parish or community during the Season of Creation?
The Letter, tells the story of the Laudato Si’ encyclical letter and how the climate crisis is strongly affecting the Earth and all those who inhabit it. It brings Pope Francis' vision of integral ecology to life, finding new hope together.
If you sign up to host a screening you can access exclusive how-to guides, toolkits, and training opportunities.
Trailer: The Letter
The Letter Film
The First Fruits of Hope - Rom 8:19-25
Join with Dan and Emily each weekday of Creation, for these short times of prayer and song to celebrate the Season. Beginning on 2nd September and ending on the Feast of St Francis of Assisi 4th October 2024, the popular resource of OPEN is used in primary schools across the country each day. This series of films take you right out into creation to celebrate this year's theme.
OPEN for Creation 2024
A full School Retreat
Let All Creation Sing
Latest news and information on the environment in the Archdiocese:
Environment in the Archdiocese
As the Invocation at Adoremus youth event took place during the Season of Creation, Salford Seminarian Paul Chisnall and Columban Justice, Peace and Ecology Coordinator James Trewby braved the rain to offer workshops exploring the call to 'Care for Our Common Home'. Read more
Parishioners at Our Lady of the Wayside, Shirley, presented with the CAFOD LiveSimply award Read more
Part holiday, retreat, course in the Lake District, exploring the teachings of Pope Francis’ Laudato Si’ On Care of Our Common Home. Saturday 5 - Saturday 12 October. Read more
By the Laudato Si' Institute at Oxford University. Read more
Our 2024 conference will focus on ‘quick wins’ for working towards NetZero, along with highlights of good practice. Read more
We are seeking Environment Champions to support Care for Creation in your parish, cluster or deanery. Read more