The season of Creation begins on September 1st and ends on October 4th, when we celebrate the feast of St. Francis of Assisi. It is a season when Christians around the world are united in prayer and action for our Common Home. This year we are invited to ‘Listen to the Voice of Creation’ and the symbol is that of Moses and the Burning Bush (Ex 3: 1-12)
Our Common Home is holy ground where we take off our shoes and worship the God of all creation; where we can marvel at its wonderful diversity and enjoy the whole of creation while singing the praises of God. St. Francis of Assisi teaches us to see the beauty of Christ in all that exists and encourages us to widen our concept of family by acknowledging Brother Sun, Sister Moon and Mother Earth, who sustains and governs us.’ (Canticle of Creation)
During this season we are also reminded to renew and intensify our actions to stop the devastation that is happening as a result of climate change and its effects on the most vulnerable of human kind and other endangered species on this, our beautiful planet. In the Acts of the Chapter of the Infant Jesus Sisters, 2019, we committed ourselves ‘to hear the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor’. We celebrate the many efforts our Sisters and lay associates are making internationally to answer this call and to fulfil the promise we made ‘to go forth as instruments of prophetic hope in the heart of the world.’
When we reflect on the story of Moses and the Burning Bush, we will hear again the challenge to hear the cry of the poor, to know their suffering and to hear how God is calling us to do something about it with the assurance: ‘I will be with you’ (Ex 3: 1 – 12)
In his message for the Season of Creation, Pope Francis draws our attention to the upcoming United Nations Climate Change Conference, Cop 27, and Cop 15. The Pope solemnly reminds humanity of our grave responsibility for the impact of climate change. He calls on big corporations to stop destroying forests, wetlands and mountains and to stop polluting rivers and seas, and the poisoning of people and food’
In preparation for the Season of Creation there are many excellent websites designed to help us to reflect on and thank God for the wonders and variety of our amazing planet and how to work together for its conservation. This year we are being challenged once again to reflect urgently on the growing environmental crisis; to hear the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor; we are being invited to a new solidarity with the most vulnerable and most effected across all of creation. Let us listen.