Faith and Mission

The Season of Creation

This annual Christian celebration is to listen and respond together to the cry of Creation: the ecumenical family around the world unites to pray and protect our common home.

The Season “Celebration” began on 1 September, the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation, and ends on 4 October, the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of ecology, beloved by many Christian denominations.

When we live in a country like Australia, and around our bayside suburbs of Mentone or Bentleigh East, it can be hard to imagine that there are concerns about the environment. 

When we look around, we tend to see beauty and majesty, maybe some signs of pollution or littering, but not rising sea levels, land degradation or excessive pollution. However, we know that: 

• Water is treated as though there is an endless supply
• Many migrants and refugees are displaced by drought, floods, or lack of food
• Two thirds of the world’s population lives with water scarcity or stress
• Forests are being destroyed and mismanaged
• Tropical forests and coral reefs are under threat through human activity
• Our air is being polluted by continued use of greenhouse gases
• Our rivers and waterways are being polluted
• Our soil is eroding
• Sea levels are rising
• Many plants species and animals are disappearing
• Toxic wastes are harming our health

At the World Day of Peace gathering in 2014, Pope Francis said the human family has received from the Creator a common gift: nature. 

“In a word, nature is at our disposition and we are called to exercise a responsible stewardship over it. Yet so often we are driven by greed and by the arrogance of dominion, possession, manipulation and exploitation; we do not preserve nature; nor do we respect it or consider it a gracious gift which we must care for and set at the service of our brothers and sisters, including future generations.”

The message is clear: we are called to ecological conversion, because the choices we make here have an impact on other people and other places. 

Our foundation of ecological conversion is faith based. In the Book of Genesis, humanity is given the task of being stewards of creation, that is, we are called to respect and care for ourselves, others and the natural world – as God’s works of creation.

God’s signature is in every part of creation. When we notice the traces of God in our world - in ourselves, in others and in nature - we realise that heaven is not ‘up there’, but all around us. This is a sign that the reign of God is emerging among us here and now.

For Indigenous peoples, “Caring for country” means participating in activities on Aboriginal lands and seas that promote ecological, spiritual and human health. 

There are strong associations between caring for country and positive health outcomes for indigenous peoples. Indigenous spirituality is shaped by a deep awareness of the land, the air, the seas and waterways, and all wildlife that inhabits these. 

Miriam-Rose Ungunmerr-Baumann, an Aboriginal Elder teaches us about Dadirri. 

“Dadirri is inner, deep listening and quiet, still awareness. Dadirri recognises the deep spring that is inside us. We call on it and it calls to us. This is the gift that Australia is thirsting for. It is something like what you call ‘contemplation’. When I experience Dadirri, I am made whole again. I can sit on the riverbank or walk through the trees; even if someone close to me has passed away, I can find my peace in this silent awareness. There is no need of words. A big part of Dadirri is listening. Our Aboriginal culture has taught us to be still and to wait. We do not try to hurry things up. We let them follow their natural course - like the seasons.”

Pope Francis continues to encourage us to listen to the voice of Creation. 

The Season of Creation is an opportunity to cultivate our 'ecological conversion', a conversion encouraged by Saint John Paul II as a response to the 'ecological catastrophe' predicted by Saint Paul VI back in 1970.

When 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.

The sweet song of creation invites us to practise an 'ecological spirituality', attentive to God’s presence in the natural world. It is a summons to base our spirituality on the 'loving awareness that we are not disconnected from the rest of creatures, but joined in a splendid universal communion.'

In this Season of Creation, we pray once more in the great cathedral of creation, and revel in the 'grandiose cosmic choir' made up of countless creatures, all singing the praises of God. 

Let us join Saint Francis of Assisi in singing: “Praise be to you, my Lord, for all your creatures”. 

Let us join the psalmist in singing: “Let everything that breathes praise the Lord!” ( Ps 150:6). Rome, Saint John Lateran, 16 July 2022. 

Have a Ball Foundation 

The Have a Ball Foundation is a charity that provides sporting balls to kids in schools and communities in the remote areas of outback Australia. All new and used sports balls brought in by our Beda Community will be collected this Friday 15 September. 

Ria Greene 

Deputy Principal - Faith and Mission