The Season of Creation, which runs from 1 September through 4 October, is an annual celebration of prayer and action for creation that Christians on six continents have commemorated for years. The theme for this year is Jubilee for the Earth. Whether you will be taking time on September 1 to go on a meditative nature walk, celebrate liturgy in community, engage with Scripture, speak sacred words aloud, or sing your prayers, it matters. Here are some suggestions for praying on September 1st and throughout the Season of Creation.
Jubilee for the Earth
The annual ecumenical SEASON OF CREATION begins with the World Day for Prayer for the Care of Creation on Tuesday, September 1 and continues through the Feast of St. Francis on Sunday, October 4.
It is a time to renew our relationship with our Creator and all creation through repenting, repairing, and rejoicing together. It is a time to join our sisters and brothers in the ecumenical family in prayer and action for our common home.
This year, amid crises that have shaken our world, we are awakened to the urgent need to heal our relationships with creation and each other. During the season this year, we enter a time of restoration and hope, a Jubilee for our Earth, that requires radically new ways of living. This year, we unite around one shared purpose. With so much injustice all around us, now is the time to come together and show the world how to love each other and creation.
The Union of International General Superiors (UISG) have partnered with the Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation Commission and the Global Catholic Climate Movement to invite Christians throughout the world to unite in prayer and action to protect and nurture the goodness of God’s Creation.
This year, the theme for the Season is “Jubilee for the Earth”. We (UISG) invite you to consider the integral relationship between the rest of the earth and ecological, economic, social and political ways of living. This particular year, the need for just and sustainable systems has been revealed by the far-reaching effects of the global COVID pandemic. We yearn for the moral imagination that accompanies the Jubilee.
Our Dominican Family invites our Sisters, Associates and Friends to celebrate the SEASON with prayer and study that relates to the current “voting season.” Study modules have been developed on the intersection of climate crisis, migration, and racism. Two documents are involved: CONVERSATION CAFÉ: CLIMATE CHANGE IS THE OVERARCHING LIFE ISSUE from the Eco-Justice Committee of the Dominican Alliance and A REFLECTIVE VOTING GUIDE: CREATING COMMUNION AT THE INTERSECTION OF RACISM, MIGRATION, AND CLIMATE CRISIS from the LCWR Region 7 (Mchigan and Indiana) Promoters of Justice.
You are invited to study these documents individually and/or in small groups (ZOOM as necessary). Our committee is reaching out to Sisters and Associates to lead these small groups. If you wish to be a leader and have not been asked please contact us. mbclingman@grdominicans.org or lmitchell@grdominicans.org Contact us also if you wish to be in a small group. The study groups will probably meet for four weeks.
SEASON OF CREATION is also a time for prayer. Our penitential rites and intercessory prayers this month will be reflective of this JUBILEE. A special prayer service will be designed for the Feast of St. Francis. For other prayer suggestions go to:
https://seasonofcreation.org/2018/09/01/day-of-prayer-for-creation/
Pray with the world’s 2.2 billion Christians for care of Earth our Common Home throughout the month. Events throughout the Season of Creation are available for participation. Join with people all over the world to learn, reflect, pray, and act.