We are called to personal and communal reflection and action
Week Five: 30 September – 4 October: Advocacy
This week of the Season of Creation calls us to amplify the many diverse voices that are crying out to us from our suffering Earth- home and from its most vulnerable creatures, both human and non-human. Most of us are aware of climate-change catastrophes, loss of biodiversity and other critical issues facing our planet, but awareness and lament are not enough. It is a well-known fact that those who have the least in our world and who have contributed least to the climate crisis suffer the most. Their voices cry out, but they are not easily heard at the national or global levels. Our call as Christians is to amplify these voices through advocacy.
While advocacy begins with listening, reflection and dialogue, it cannot stop there. In Laudato Si, Pope Francis challenges us on our lack of basic awareness of our common origin, of our mutual belonging and of a hope-filled future for everyone. He further reminds us that at this present time “a greater cultural, spiritual and educational challenge stands before us, demanding that we set out on the long and difficult path of renewal.” This week focuses us on this challenge and calls us to action.
How can we begin to advocate on behalf of Earth and earth’s vulnerable people? A few simple steps may put us on that path …
- Educate ourselves about at least one area of deep concern to people today: loss of biodiversity, air pollution, global warming, fossil fuels, water pollution. Talk to at least two other people about your concerns in this area
- Write and/or sign letters and petitions to provincial and federal governments related to one or other of these concerns that affect the people of your area
- Participate in a current advocacy campaign
- Sign the petition “Healthy Planet, Healthy People” calling on world leaders to advocate on behalf of our common home and our common family – at this link:
A short prayer service on the Gift of Water is provided for anyone who wishes to use it for personal or communal reflection. This prayer calls us to listen to Water and to ask forgiveness for our waste and carelessness regarding its use.
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Week Four: 23-29 September: The Burning Bush – Take Off your shoes
Week Four of this special season calls us to wonder and awe. Carl Sagan, astronomer, cosmologist and planetary scientist speaks of the thirst for wonder as a deeply human quality. He asserted that Nature is a lot better at inventing wonders than we are.
As we read, reflect and pray this week, let us look around us and really see the beauty of nature that our God has given us on this wonderful Earth.
As we look,
let wonder fill us;
let gratitude well up in us;
let the Divine Mystery present in all creation lead us to deeper respect and love;
let respect, compassion, awe and celebration be our response to whatwe hear and see and experience this week.
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Week Three: 15-22 September: The Burning Bush – God’s Presence
The fire that attracted Moses’ attention on Mount Horeb while he was tending his flock did not consume or destroy the bush. God’s fire is not ultimately destructive. It is rather a sign of God’s Presence and life-giving and life-sustaining energy.This marvellous phenomenon that Moses experienced declared God’s presence in the midst of ordinary life. Elizabeth Barrett Browning captures this reality inher little poem:
Earth’s crammed with heaven
and every common bush afire with God;
but only those who see take off their shoes …
the rest sit around and pluck blackberries.
As we ponder this evocative image, let us in this third week of the Season of Creation, reflect on all those situations/events/experiences that call us to stop, take notice of and engage with the experience. We have all experienced “burning bush” moments. These moments occur when we sense that God is seeking our attention, speaking to us, calling us to participate in what God is doing in our midst. The Burning Bush experience changed Moses’ life. These moments can change our lives and the lives of those to whom God sends us. They draw us into a deep engagement with the living God, Who is always present and active in our lives and in the lives of those around us, especially those who suffer oppression, alienation and injustice of any kind.
As we become more conscious that all of life is holy ground, we become more attuned to what Pope Francis calls the “sweet songs of praise” and the “anguished pleas” coming from all parts of creation, both human and non-human. Week Three offers us another opportunity to tune in to those voices of creation, and to bring them the loving heart of God.
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Week Two: 8 – 14 September: The Burning Bush – Physical Fires
Today the prevalence of deadly wildfires is a sign of the devastating effects of climate change on the most vulnerable of our planet. Disintegration of ecosystems have led to habitat destruction and loss of livelihood for many of Earth’s species. Forests are being wiped out, animals are being driven out of their natural habitat, and forced migration of peoples all over the world are all happening at an alarming rate.
In this second week, we are again urged to listen to and really heed the different voices of creation. Moreover, we are being called to recognize our negligence and destructive patterns and to lament and ask pardon for our refusal to heed the anguished cries of Earth and her creatures. Laudato Si speaks very poignantly of our current situation:
The pace of consumption, waste and environmental change has stretched the planet’s capacity that our contemporary lifestyle, unsustainable as it is, can only precipitate catastrophes.
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Week One: 1-7 September: Beginning the 2022 Season of Creation.
The theme for this year “Listen to the Voices of Creation” provides opportunities for deep reflection and sharing on the gift of creation, with its many different voices, both those that are loud and clear and those that are barely heard or not heard at all. Let this be an opportunity for us to take note of the many different voices that call us to listen, to really hear and heed what Earth and Earth’s people are asking of us in these times.
The symbol of the Burning Bush, the revelation of God’s Presence, is a reminder to us to “take off our sandals, contemplate our connection to holy ground, listen for the voice of creation and be filled with hope to quench the fires of injustice with the light of God’s healing love that sustains our common home.”
Indigenous women are the backbone of their communities and play a crucial role in preserving and passing on traditional ancestral knowledge. However, they face many major issues in their everyday life, some of which are high levels of poverty, low levels of education, limitations in access to health, basic sanitation and employment, and the prevalence of domestic and sexual violence.
The Season of Creation is an ecumenical time, inviting Christian communities around the world to unite in prayer and action for creation. Patriarch Dimitrios 1 proclaimed September 1 as a special day of prayer for creation for his Orthodox community in 1989. The World Council of Churches was instrumental in expanding this day of prayer to a full season, and in 2015 Pope Francis made the season official for the Catholic Church.
The Congregation of the Sisters of Mercy had received word from Mary (Tarrant) Hodge early in August that the people of St. Lawrence, little St. Lawrence, Lawn and surrounding areas wanted to have a celebration to recognize the ministry of the Sisters of Mercy in those areas and to officially thank them. Three Sisters, Sister M. Rose Murphy, M. Xavier Tarahan, and M. Stanislaus Taylor, had arrived in St. Lawrence in 1871 and the last Sister to minister there was Sr. Lucia Walsh who left in 2009. Would the Sisters who had ministered, or who had come from there be able to attend the festivities planned on the weekend of October 20th and 21st, 2012, asked Mary? She insisted that the Congregational Leader HAD to be there! The Planning Committee would not entertain her absence but were willing to change the date of the event to suit her agenda. Elizabeth Davis was free to go on the 20th and 21st.
Saturday, October 20th was the most beautiful day, weather-wise, that we had had all year! Sisters from St. John’s left very early in the morning when traffic was light and the moose had not yet ventured out from their night’s haunts. The sun shone its mightiest, the sky was cloudless, the environment was ecologically correct and when we drove off the Trans-Canada and travelled down the Peninsula highway the splendor of the gold, yellows, browns and sometimes reds of the autumn leaves was absolutely breathtaking. Those of us with digital cameras were kept busy trying to capture the beauty before us. This was particularly difficult especially if our driver had no intention of letting us out of the car to shoot the scenery!