Wow - the first day of September - hard to believe. We are 2/3 the way through 2020. And what a year it has been so far. We hear Paul speaking about the true nature of our spirituality. The truly spiritual follower of Christ, is not filled with a worldly spirit, but rather the spirit of God. The spirit of the world may be filed with the spirit of the present age, not the spirit of the eternal truth of God.
As we hear this discussion of Paul, today, September 1, Pope Francis calls us to an annual day of prayer for the care of creation, which was established back in 2015. This day gives us an opportunity to pray, reflect, and act to care for God’s creation. All of us, both those who most contribute to climate change and those whom it most affects, pray today for our stewardship of the Earth. This day unites our Catholic day of prayer with the world day of prayer for the care of creation established under the Patriarch of the Orthodox Church in 1989.
This is what Pope Francis wrote when he established this day of prayer: "The annual World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation offers to individual believers and to the community a precious opportunity to renew our personal participation in this vocation as custodians of creation, raising to God our thanks for the marvelous works that He has entrusted to our care, invoking his help for the protection of creation and his mercy for the sins committed against the world in which we live."
I want to close my homily with one of the prayers that Pope Francis wrote in his encyclical letter LAUDATO SI in 2015. That encyclical addresses our “urgent challenge to protect our common home … to bring the whole human family together to seek a sustainable and integral development, for we know that things can change."
A Prayer for Our Earth
All-powerful God, you are present in the whole universe and in the smallest of your creatures.
You embrace with your tenderness all that exists.
Pour out upon us the power of your love,
that we may protect life and beauty.
Fill us with peace, that we may live
as brothers and sisters, harming no one.
O God of the poor,
help us to rescue the abandoned and forgotten of this earth, so precious in your eyes.
Bring healing to our lives,
that we may protect the world and not prey on it,
that we may sow beauty, not pollution and destruction. Touch the hearts
of those who look only for gain
at the expense of the poor and the earth.
Teach us to discover the worth of each thing,
to be filled with awe and contemplation,
to recognize that we are profoundly united
with every creature
as we journey towards your infinite light.
We thank you for being with us each day.
Encourage us, we pray, in our struggle
for justice, love and peace.
-From Pope Francis, Laudato Si
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