Religious Education and Social Justice

The Season of Creation

The Season of Creation is a relatively recent addition to Catholic liturgical celebrations. In 2015, Pope Francis added the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation to the Catholic liturgical calendar to be celebrated on September 1st each year. 

In 2019, the Vatican asked Catholic communities and pastors everywhere to join ecumenical communities around the world in celebrating the Season of Creation from September 1st (Australia's first day of Spring) to October 4th (the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi). 

The Season of Creation is a liturgical season dedicated to prayer, reflection and celebration of God as Creator. It also celebrates and reflects prayerfully on the gifts of creation and the mission given to us by God to care for creation and respond to its needs and crises today.

Season of Creation 2020 Prayer

Creator of Life, 

At Your word, the Earth brought forth plants yielding seed and trees of every kind bearing fruit. The rivers, mountains, minerals, seas and forests sustained life. The eyes of all looked to You to satisfy the needs of every living thing. And throughout time the Earth has sustained life. Through the planetary cycles of days and seasons, renewal and growth, you open your hand to give creatures our food in the proper time. 

In your Wisdom, you granted a Sabbath; a blessed time to rest in gratitude for all that you have given; a time to liberate ourselves from vicious consumption; a time to allow the land and all creatures to rest from the burden of production. But these days our living pushes the planet beyond its limits. Our demands for growth, and our neverending cycle of production and consumption are exhausting our world. The forests are leached, the topsoil erodes, the fields fail, the deserts advance, the seas acidify, the storms intensify. We have not allowed the land to observe her Sabbath, and the Earth is struggling to be renewed. 

During this Season of Creation, we ask you to grant us courage to observe a Sabbath for our planet. Strengthen us with the faith to trust in your providence. Inspire us with the creativity to share what we have been given. Teach us to be satisfied with enough. And as we proclaim a Jubilee for the Earth, send Your Holy Spirit to renew the face of creation. 

In the name of the One who came to proclaim good news to all creation, Jesus Christ. 

Amen. 

May God bless us all and keep us safe.

Jane Wilkinson

Religious Education Leader