Dear Brothers and Sisters!
“Hope and Act with Creation” is the theme of the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation, to
be held on 1 September 2024. The theme is drawn from Saint Paul’s Letter to the Romans (8:19-
25), where the Apostle explains what it means for us to live according to the Spirit and focuses on
the sure hope of salvation that is born of faith, namely, newness of life in Christ.
- Let us begin with a question, one perhaps without an immediately obvious answer. If we are
truly believers, how did we come to have faith? It is not simply because we believe in something
transcendent, beyond the power of reason, the unattainable mystery of a distant and remote God, invisible and unnameable. Rather, as Saint Paul tells us, it is because the Holy Spirit dwells within us. We are believers because the very love of God “has been poured into our hearts” ( Rom 5:5) and the Spirit is now truly “the pledge of our inheritance” ( Eph 1:14), constantly prompting us to strive for eternal goods, according to the fullness of Jesus’ authentic humanity. The Spirit enables believers to be creative and pro-active in charity. He sends us forth on a great journey of spiritual freedom, yet one that does not eliminate the tension between the Spirit’s way of thinking and that of the world, whose fruits are opposed to each other (cf. Gal 5:16-17). We know that the first fruit of the Spirit, which sums up all the others, is love. Led by the Holy Spirit, believers are children of God and can turn to him with the words “Abba, Father” ( Rom 8:15), just as Jesus did. Moreover, they can do so with the freedom of those who no longer fall back into the fear of death, for Jesus has risen from the dead. This is our great hope: God’s love has triumphed and continues to triumph over everything. Indeed, even in the face of physical death, future glory is already assured for those who live the new life of the Spirit. Nor does this hope disappoint, as was affirmed in the recent Bull of Indiction of the forthcoming Jubilee. [1] - The life of a Christian, then, is one of faith, active in charity and abounding in hope, as we await
the Lord’s return in glory. We are not troubled by the “delay” of the Parousia, Christ’s second
coming; for us the important question is whether, “when the Son of man comes, he will find faith
on earth” (Lk 18:8). Faith is a gift, the fruit of the Spirit’s presence in us, but it is also a task to be
undertaken freely, in obedience to Jesus’ commandment of love. Such is the blessed hope to
which we must bear witness.
Yet where, when, and how are we to bear that witness? Surely by
caring for the flesh of suffering humanity.
As people who dare to dream, we must dream with our eyes wide open, impelled by a desire for love, fraternity, friendship and justice for all. Christian salvation enters into the depths of the world’s suffering, which embraces not only humanity but also the entire universe, nature itself, and the oikos, the home and living environment of humanity. Salvation embraces creation as an “earthly paradise,” mother earth, which is meant to be a place of joy and a promise of happiness for all. Our Christian optimism is founded on a living hope: it realizes that everything is ordered to the glory of God, to final consummation in his peace and to bodily resurrection in righteousness, as we pass “from glory to glory.” Nonetheless, in the passage of time we are not exempt from pain and suffering: the whole creation groans (cf. Rom 8:19-22), we Christians groan (cf. vv. 23-25) and the Spirit himself groans (cf. vv. 26-27). This groaning expresses apprehension and suffering, together with longing and desire. It gives voice to our trust in God and our reliance on his loving yet demanding presence in our midst, as we look forward to the fulfilment of his plan, which is joy, love and peace in the Holy Spirit.
Read more of Pope Francis’ letter.
