The Australian Jesuit Province’s Reconciliation with Creation Committee is inviting people to celebrate the Season of Creation, with suggestions for a range of activities and prayerful reflections.
The Season of Creation starts with the World Day of Prayer for Creation on 1 September and ends with the Feast of St Francis of Assisi on 4 October. Pope Francis is calling us to ‘hear the cry of the poor and the cry of the earth’.
Here are a few ways you can mark the season:
1. Mark 1 September as the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation.
2. Follow the Season of Creation calendar 1 September – 4 October by the Mercy International Association.
3. Create a liturgy using 7 Days of Creation Reflection-Retreat: Scripture and Prayersby Father Charles Rue of the Columban Mission.
4. Undertake the Being with God in Nature online eco retreat with Peter Saunders.
5. Seek some new resources for your own formation, such as the 30-day meditations in Finding God in a Leaf by Brian Grogan SJ.
6. Take up the challenge to live simply in COVID-19 times, such as drawing attention to environmentally responsible ways of responding to COVID-19, being waste-wise, not using single-use plastic, doing the Responsible Café contactless coffee.
7. Be creative – paint, make a creation mandala, join the Knitting Nannas Against Gas.
8. Join the Faith Ecology Network events.
9. Save the dates 26 to 30 September 2021 for the International Ignatian Ecospiritual Conference.
10. Undertake a course such as Go Deep Greenby the Community of the Cosmic Person or the Laudato Si’: On Care for Our Common Home mini-course by the SDG academy.
11. Support the Green Faith Climate Emergency Declaration
12. Be inspired by the story of Sophia Skarparis (Plastic free Sophia), whose journey as an environmental activist began at North Sydney Parish.
You can find some more resources and ideas here.
For more information on the Season of Creation activities of the Australian Province Reconciliation with Creation Committee, please contact the RwC Project Officer, Ms Sue Martin, sue.martin@sjasl.org.au.