The Season of  Creation is as annual Christian celebration and an invitation to all people from around the world to participate through prayer, sustainability projects and advocacy efforts.

Beginning September 1, the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation continues through October 4th, the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of ecology and beloved by many.

This year’s theme is “A Home for All? Renewing the “Oikos of God.” Oikos is the Greek word for “home” and rooted in the concept of oikos, we celebrate the integral web of relationships that sustains the well-being of the Earth.

During  this Season of Creation let us each renew our call to care for and sustain this ecological turning so that life, and all creatures may find their place to flourish once again in our common home.

Recognizing that life as we know it has changed significantly in recent times, we can join with the world in commemorating the 6^th Anniversary of Pope Francis' first encyclical, Laudato Si'. In this profoundly moving letter, Francis is addressing every person on this planet with an open an urgent appeal for a new dialogue and conversation about the future of our common home — a home we all share, regardless of faith or ideology.  The conversation needs to include everyone, since the environmental challenge we are undergoing, and its human roots, concern and affect us all”. …

In Laudato Si', Pope Francis asks that we orient ourselves to hear the cry of the earth, which is inseparable from the cry of the poor. He writes, "a true ecological approach always becomes a social approach; it must integrate questions of justice in debates on the environment, so as to hear both the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor" (para. 49).

Our approach to "ecology" must include the poor and vulnerable just as much as the natural world we all share. “Strategies for a solution demand an integrated approach to combating poverty, restoring dignity to the excluded, and at the same time protecting nature.” (Laudato Si’, 139)

Questions for Reflection: What parallels do you see between the neglect and exploitation of the earth and the neglect and exploitation of the poor?

How are the poor part of your understanding of the way we are to heal the world around us?

Liz Sorensen Wessel
Pencil drawing by ~liz
Christ painting-artist unknown