Sr Catherine Brennan, the Catholic representative on the Eco-Congregation Ireland committee has written an article for Intercom Magazine on Creation Time 2016. Intercom is a Catholic pastoral and liturgical resource of the Irish Bishops’ Conference published by Veritas.
Creation Time has been celebrated in all the Christian churches of the world for some years now from September 1st – Orthodox Feast of Creation to October 4th – Feast of St Francis. The theme this year is ‘Followers of Jesus, Caring for Creation’. Creation Time has special significance for the Catholic Church since the publication last year of the encyclical ‘Laudato Si – On Care of Our Common Home’.
Pope Francis has instituted the 1st September as an annual World Day of Prayer for Care of Creation. The day of prayer, the Pope said, will give individuals and communities an opportunity to implore God’s help in protecting creation and an opportunity to ask forgiveness “for sins committed against the world in which we live.”
Pope Francis said in his statement announcing the day: ‘As Christians we wish to contribute to resolving the ecological crisis which humanity is presently experiencing. In doing so, we must first rediscover in our own rich spiritual patrimony the deepest motives for our concern for the care of creation. We need always to keep in mind that, for believers in Jesus Christ, the Word of God who became one with us, ‘the life of the spirit is not dissociated from the body or from nature or from worldly realities, but lived in and with them, in communion with all that surrounds us’ (Laudato Si, 216).
Prayers and Resources available at the following websites for September:
www.ecocongregationireland.com
