Many Churches celebrate September as the Season of Creation.
Over the past three years, SouthWest United has participated in this event, with each Sunday being the focus of a particular part of creation. The first Sunday is celebrated as Ocean Sunday. The second Sunday is Fauna and Flora Sunday, followed by Storm Sunday and Cosmos Sunday.
This year, September 1st will be celebrated as The World Day of Prayer for Care of Creation. As Pope Francis was so prominent in Canadian news in response to a request for an apology to First Nation People, I thought we might share in his prayer for this year.
A Prayer for Our Earth
All-powerful God, you are present in the whole universe and in the smallest of your creatures.
You embrace with your tenderness all that exists.
Pour out upon us the power of your love, that we may protect life and beauty.
Fill us with peace, that we may live as brothers and sisters, harming no one.
O God of the poor,
Help us to rescue the abandoned and forgotten of this earth, so precious in your eyes.
Bring healing to our lives, that we may protect the world and not prey on it, that we may sow beauty, not pollution and destruction.
Touch the hearts of those who look only for gain at the expense of the poor and the earth.
Teach us to discover the whole of each thing, to be filled with awe and contemplation, to recognize that we are profoundly united with every creature as we journey towards your infinite light.
We thank you for being with us each day.
Encourage us, we pray, in our struggles for justice, love and peace.
- From Pope Francis, Laudato Si
As we give thanks for the beauty of the summer and the hope of the harvest to come, I hope you will take a little time to give thought to the great gift of creation which has sustained us over the centuries and which, with the care and love of all, will continue to be a blessed home for all of creation.
In peace, Pastor Beryl, DLM