Prayer

The Season of Creation is here, an annual Christian celebration of prayer and action for our common home, which begins with the arrival of Spring, and lasts to the Feast of St Francis of Assisi on 4 October.

In this second week of the Season of Creation, the theme is that of conversion. As the ACBC Social Justice statement says:

“This underpinning of love in all creation and all of humanity allows us two responses. One is that we live in a world of wonder… A second is that we are invited into ongoing conversion to transform our outlook and actions to be in accord with the loving presence of God at the heart of all reality, to be attentive to the beauty in all things, to recognise Christ in the stranger, and to hear and respond to the cry of the earth.”

“Pope Francis invites us to conversion saying: “many things have to change course, but it is we human beings above all who need to change” (LS 51). The state of our common home calls us to a “profound interior conversion… whereby the effects of [our] encounter with Jesus Christ become evident in [our] relationship with the world around [us]”(LS 52). It is not just a matter of awareness or changing our minds, but a shift at the level of the heart and will that results in changed action.”

“The call to care for creation goes to the heart of what it means to be human before God and in the world. It requires a profound conversion expressed in new ways of living, both personally and collectively. What seeds of change can we water today?”

The second prayer comes from a prayer card titled A Prayer for Conversion, and goes as follows:

Ever present God,
giver and sustainer of everything that has life,
maker and fulfilment of all that exists,
although we fail to respect your creation,
listen to the prayers of our heart:

We too are creatures.
Turn our hearts to your love and care for all creation.
With you we gave names to all living things.
Turn our minds to your vision of the heavens and the earth.
We live off the bounty of earth, sea and sky.
Turn our hands to your stewardship.
O God come to our aid
O Lord make haste to help us.

Through Christ, in whom all things are made
and held in being,
we pray for the power of your Spirit:
to transform our words and actions,
to care more deeply for all creatures,
to save what is threatened,
to mourn what is lost,
to seek Christ in the cry of the earth
and the cry of the poor,
and
to give glory to your name through all creation.

DOWNLOAD THE PRAYER CARD

During this Season of Creation, I would invite you to download and read the Social Justice Statement, and to download and share the resources and prayers with your family and your community, which can be accessed by clicking down below:

READ THE SOCIAL JUSTICE STATEMENTLEARN MORE & DOWNLOAD RESOURCES

I also encourage you to learn more about the Laudato Si’ Action Platform, a great initiative the Vatican launched this year.

I look forward to writing to you next week to share another prayer from the ACBC for this Season of Creation.

Blessings,

Sr Monica Barlow RSJ
Sacramental and Liturgy Consultant