Week One | The First Day

September 1, 2019 frjcmerino The Daily Digital Journey | The Season of Creation 0

Creator of Life: 
     The Earth is full of Your creatures, and by Your wisdom you made them all. At Your word, the Earth brought forth plants, yielding seed of every kind and trees of every kind, the waters teemed with swarms of living creatures of every kind, and the world was filled with every kind of winged bird, walking animal, and creatures that creep upon the ground.
 

Mountains, plains, rocks, and rivers shelter diverse communities, and through the changing seasons Your Spirit renews the cycles of life.

 

During this Season of Creation, open our eyes to see the precious diversity that is all around us… We praise and thank you especially for the vastness of the oceans that reveal your beauty, power, and peace. Inspire us with ways to protect and keep the oceans healthy. Enlighten our minds to appreciate the delicate balance maintained by each creature. Inspire us to conserve the precious habitats that nurture this web of life.

 

In the name of the One who came to proclaim good news to all creation, Jesus Christ, Our Lord. Amen. 
“A World to Care For”
(Excerpts from Fr. Ed Ciuba’s
“Creation at the Crossroads”)
_______

 

GENESIS 1:27-31
 
So God created mankind in his own image,
    in the image of God he created them;
    male and female he created them.
 
God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”
 
Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move along the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food.” And it was so.
 
God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day.
 

Pope Francis begins his encyclical Laudato Si… with words from the “Canticle of the Sun,” composed by his namesake, St. Francis of Assisi: “Praise be to you my Lord, through our Sister, Mother Earth, who sustains and governs us, and who produces various fruits with colored flowers and herbs.” The next line of the encyclical speaks to our own time: “This sister now cries out to us because of the harm we have inflicted on her by our irresponsible use and abuse of the goods with which God has endowed her.” The challenge of protecting and caring for Mother Earth, our common home, is at the center of Pope Francis’ message. 

 

We humans are inflicting serious damage on our planet by exploiting its resources; polluting its water, air, and soil; and endangering its life-supporting systems. We are destroying the divine gift described by the author of the book of Genesis: valuable forests, wetlands, and other ecologically sensitive areas. We are killing off countless forms of life that took millions of years to evolve. Conservative estimates indicate that in the last quarter of the 20th century, 10% of all living species became extinct. For these reasons, Pope Francis in his encyclical calls upon all people of faith and good conscience to come together in dialogue about how this pattern of behavior can be reversed. 
 

“The urgent challenge to protect our common home include a concern to bring the whole human family together to seek a sustainable and integral development… The Creator does not abandon us; he never forsakes his loving plan or repents of having created us. Humanity still has the ability to work together in building our common home…

I urgently appeal, then, for a new dialogue about how we are shaping the future of our planet. We need a conversation which includes everyone, since the environmental challenge we are undergoing, and its human roots, concern and affect us all.”

~ Pope Francis, Laudato Si’, 13-14

  • What aspects of the created world do you personally find to be “very good”? Why?

  • Spend time outdoors in prayer in a favorite spot. Share what came out of prayer, and how that experiences connected you to God’s invitation to care for Creation.

~ THE MAJESTY AND GLORY OF YOUR NAME ~

by Tom Fettke

Sung by the Ateneo Chamber Singers (2001)

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