By Sister Susan Chase, SCL
For several years now, Christians across our “small blue planet” have joined in celebration of the Season of Creation. It is a time set aside to pray in gratitude for the riches and beauty found in nature and without which we humans cannot survive. We pray also in sorrow as we reflect on the damage caused by human indifference, selfishness, and greed.
The Season begins September 1—the World Day of Prayer for Creation—designated as such by Ecumenical Patriarch Dimitrios of the Eastern Orthodox Church in 1989. Each year additional Christian denominations have begun offering worship services and inviting people of faith concerned about the future of Earth to come together to reflect and pray. This ecumenical project is supported by other major Christian denominations (2001) and by Pope Francis for the Roman Catholic Church in 2015. In recent years followers from most world religions have prepared materials for use during the Season of Creation.
Eventually, the Season of Creation expanded from just one day to include all of September to the beginning of October, ending with the October 4th Feast of Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of ecology and care for the Earth.
In Laudato Si’: On Care for Our Common Home, Pope Francis explains what St. Francis teaches us now in the 21st century.
“I do not want to write this Encyclical without turning to that attractive and compelling figure whose name I took as my guide and inspiration when I was elected Bishop of Rome. I believe that Saint Francis is the example par excellence of the care for the vulnerable and of an integral ecology lived out joyfully and authentically. . . shows us just how inseparable the bond is between concern for nature, justice for the poor, commitment to society, and interior peace.” (s.10)
The sciences teach us how all of creation is interconnected; when even one species is lost to the web of life, the entire set of relationships are affected. It’s not just living creatures, all dependent on the web of life from the tiniest insect, the smallest wildflower, to the largest mammals, to the giant redwood tree. We humans, not separate from but embedded and interconnected within the web of life, affect creation in so many damaging ways. It is not just living forms that depend upon and affect the web. Life also depends upon the non-living inanimate matter of the earth’s crust, the water of oceans, springs and rivers, the atmosphere enclosing our planet. Life requires the correct balance of clean air and water, a stable climate, and essential minerals to support plant life upon which all life depends. Think about it seriously. All the oxygen (O2) on Earth is produced by green plants. Amazing!
In section 10 from Laudato Si’, Pope Francis links integral ecology and care of the vulnerable. By integral ecology he means not just these ecological interconnections but includes the effects of the systems we humans have put upon everyone, especially on those found on the margins, the vulnerable, the poor. How do the systems we develop and values we prioritize—e.g., profit over people, power over relationships, and individualism over the common good—damage our common home and keep the most vulnerable marginalized?
The theme for this year is peace and justice flowing. The symbol is a mighty river. The river can be a powerful symbol for the Season of Creation as it encourages Christians and people of other faith traditions in joining together in prayer and action to address the climate crisis. In this sense, the people of God forming a community to care for the earth can be likened to multiple tributaries flowing into a mighty river bringing the water of life to a parched land, a thirsting people.
In his address for the World Day of Prayer, Pope Francis writes, “the global poor are materially harmed by the degradation of the planet and protected with care of creation. . . peace, justice, and the preservation of creation are three absolutely interconnected themes which cannot be separated and treated individually.”
God’s peace is more than the absence of conflict; this peace, often an aspect of righteousness, means being in right relationship with God and others, in this case including right relationship with creation.
We pray with the prophet Amos, “Let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.”
Four Season of Creation Events in Leavenworth and Online
1) Friday, September 1, 8 a.m. CST
Global Ecumenical Prayer Service
YouTube Online Event
2) Thursday, September 28, 4 p.m. CST
Leavenworth Area Prayer Service
Leavenworth Landing Park
3) Sunday, October 1, 12 p.m. CST
Blessing of the Animals
St. Francis de Sales Church, Lansing, KS
Assisi Grove
4) Wednesday, October 4, 8 a.m. CST
Closing Ceremony
Facebook Online Event
Other Season of Creation Resources
These two websites contain a wealth of resources for celebrations and worship services as well as graphics that can be downloaded for insertion into parish bulletins, posted on bulletin boards and sent to local media. Check them out.
