From September to October each year, the Christian community celebrates the Season of Creation by praying and acting together to protect our common home. The season is celebrated by tens of thousands of Christians around the world annually.
The Season of Creation begins on September 1, the World Day of Prayer for Creation. We invite you to plan your participation in the season, and, as a first step, to visit SeasonOfCreation.org. You’ll find a wealth of resources and a registration form for your event.
The theme of this year’s Season of Creation celebration is “the web of life.” We Catholics are uniting with others in the Christian family to protect every creature in God’s beautifully complex web of creation.
Protecting creation in all its glory coincides with another special event this year. In October, just after the Season of Creation closes, bishops from around the world will join His Holiness for a synod on the Amazon, an occasion for prayerful reflection on how we protect the Amazon and the people who share it.
The preparatory document for the synod calls us to listen “to indigenous peoples and to all the communities living in the Amazonia.” In that spirit, we share with you a statement of spirituality from an indigenous community in the Amazon. “Good living is abundance in life and harmony between brothers and sisters. Equilibrium in the world and protection of the forest. Having food that satisfies us and that gives us more strength, more life. Having health and living in a healthful way with the offerings of mother earth. FInding the light inside each human being.”
The Season of Creation is an opportunity to celebrate the abundance of life and protect the light inside each member of God’s creation.
As you plan your Season of Creation activities, we invite you to consider initiating the season with a Laudato Si’ Mass on September 1. As we move through the season, let’s continue to celebrate together.
A wealth of resources for implementing Laudato Si’ in your community is available. These include hands-on projects like developing a community group such as Laudato Si' Circles, liturgical suggestions, advocacy ideas, and much more. All resources are available at SeasonOfCreation.org. We look forward to celebrating with you.
The Season of Creation begins September 1, the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation. It concludes on October 4 (Friday), the feast of St. Francis of Assisi.
For the first time ever, the Vatican is directly encouraging Church leaders to participate in the Season of Creation through a letter to all pastors from Msgr. Bruno Marie Duffe, Secretary, Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development at the Vatican.