Office for Christian Unity
Thursday 26 September 2024
Meditation
The whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth (Romans 8:22)
Extract from “Peace, a path of hope: dialogue, reconciliation and ecological conversion”: message from Pope Francis on 12 December 2019.
The biblical image depicts the Earth as a mother groaning in childbirth. The times we live in show that we don’t understand relating to the Earth as a gift from our Creator, but rather as a resource to be used. Saint Francis of Assisi understood this when he referred to the Earth as our sister and mother in his Canticle of Creatures. […] Creatures of all kinds, including humans, are crying out because of the consequences of our destructive actions, causing the climate crisis, the loss of biodiversity, human suffering as well as the suffering of Creation. Yet there is hope, and hope for a better future. Hope in the biblical context does not mean standing still and silent, but rather groaning, crying and actively striving for new life in the midst of struggle. […]
Both Creation and humanity are conceived from the beginning in Christ and, therefore, are entrusted to each other. […] The children of God are those who stretch up their hands towards the Creator, recognizing themselves as humble creatures, to praise and respect God, and at the same time to love, respect, care for, and learn from God’s gift of Creation. Creation is not given to humanity to be used and abused; rather, humanity is created as a part of Creation.
Intercessions
Prepared by our brothers and sisters in Chambéry, France.
To be adapted according to your location
Let us pray for the cry of the Earth (cf. Pope Francis, September 2024 )
If we were to take the planet’s temperature, it would tell us that the Earth has a fever. It is sick, like any sick person. But are we listening to this pain?
Lord, we pray that each of us might listen with our hearts to the cry of the Earth and the victims of environmental disasters and the climate crisis, making a personal commitment to care for the world we in which we live.
The 79th session of the UN General Assembly took place from September 10 to 24, and in this context Christians organized a day of action to advocate for a treaty on the non-proliferation of fossil fuels, for the states to sign.
Lord, we pray that this initiative will succeed and that the majority of countries will become aware of this urgency and sign this treaty.
In Chambéry, several churches including ours, concerned about protecting our earth and all its creatures, have signed up to the “Green Church” label,.
Lord, we ask you for the grace to work more closely together, pooling our ideas and energies to “hope and act with creation”.