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August 22, 2022What is the Season of Creation?
Throughout the year, Catholics celebrate the saving work of Christ in weekly liturgies that progress through the seasons of Advent, Christmas, Lent, Easter, and Ordinary Time. However, there is no “Season of Creation” in our Liturgical Year! So what exactly is this new season and who is celebrating it?
The Season of Creation began as the World Day of Prayer for Creation held on September 1st and first introduced by the Orthodox Church. It was adopted by other faiths and endorsed by Pope Francis, and has now grown into a month-long celebration ending on October 4th, the Feast Day of Saint Francis of Assisi, who is the patron saint of ecology and beloved by many Christian denominations. Throughout the season, people of faith come together in a celebration of prayer and action expressing gratitude and concern for God’s great gift of Creation and our “common home”. It is a time set aside to renew our relationship with God as our Creator, and with creation itself, through prayer, learning, celebration, and renewed commitment to care for God’s great gift to us.What does our Catholic faith tell us about Creation?
Caring for creation is part of living out our Catholic faith. Following the teachings of Jesus, the Church has called believers to work for the common good, dignifying life in all its forms, caring for our common home, and committing to the building of more just, supportive, and peaceful societies. Often, when we speak of creation, we think of nature, animals, landscapes, the sun, the moon, and the stars, but we are also aware that the human person is the culmination of our Father’s creative work, for “God saw all he had made, and indeed it was very good.” (Gen 1:31).
In his encyclical, Laudato Si’ On Care for our Common Home, Pope Francis wrote, “‘Everyone’s talents and involvement are needed to redress the damage caused by human abuse of God’s creation’. 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.” (LS 14).
With this in mind, we are all invited to participate in this year’s Season of Creation theme: “Listen to the voice of creation.” In his upcoming message, written to start off the season on the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation, Pope Francis says: “If we learn how to listen, we can hear in the voice of creation a kind of dissonance. On the one hand, we can hear a sweet song in praise of our beloved Creator; on the other, an anguished plea, lamenting our mistreatment of this our common home.”
Join in and listen! In upcoming weeks, the New Outlook will share news and reflections about this year’s Season of Creation, including events being offered locally and globally to help us listen more closely to how God is speaking to us through creation’s voice.
Katie Hirschboeck
Our Mother of Sorrows Parish
Creation Care Ministry Chair
&
Catholic Climate Ambassador
www.catholicclimatecovenant.org
