Let us pray, for God’s gift of creation

Haven’t heard about the World Day of Prayer for Care of Creation? Well, read on, because there’s lots going on as the Christian world focuses on the great garden that God has given us to care for.

First, a little background.

September 1st was proclaimed as a day of prayer for creation (World Day of Prayer for Creation, or Creation Day) by Ecumenical Patriarch Dimitrios I for the Orthodox in 1989, and was embraced by the other major Christian European churches in 2001 and by Pope Francis for the Roman Catholic Church in 2015.

Many Christian churches have since started celebrating the “Season of Creation” (also known as Creation Time) between that date and October 4, which is the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi (author of the Canticle of the Creatures in the 13th century).

The season is meant to give flexibility to celebrate prayer services for creation in alternative dates throughout the month, while engaging in different actions to care for creation throughout the season. Several statements from the past few years have called to observe this month-long Season of Creation, such as those of the Catholic Bishops of the Philippines in 2003, the Third European Ecumenical Assembly in Sibiu in 2007 and the World Council of Churches in 2008.

Here’s a few things to know about what’s happening.

On Monday, the Council of European Bishops’ Conferences (CCEE), Conference of European Churches (CEC) and European Christian Environmental Network (ECEN) issued a joint statement about the Time for Creation.

Today, the Patriarch Bartholomew issued his message for September 1.

And tomorrow, Pope Francis’ special message "Show Mercy to our Common Home" will be presented by Cardinal Turkson in the Vatican at 11.30am CEST. You can watch the press conference in this link.

Here in the state’s, the Catholic Climate Covenant issued this statement, and in it is offering their own resources for Catholics in the weeks ahead.

The Global Catholic Climate Movement will be hosting tomorrow an Online Ecumenical Prayer Service for the World Day of Prayer for Creation at 8am US EDT/ 2 pm CEST. More details can be found here.

Finally, here’s the "Pope Video" (produced by the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network), which is an excellent asset to promote this celebration.