Anyone who has the good fortune to visit the Vatican should take up the opportunity to visit the Sistine Chapel and gaze upon the frescoed ceiling painted by the great Rennaisance artist, Michelangelo Buonarotti, the most famous part of which is surely ‘The Creation of Adam.’
“The Whanganui river in New Zealand is the first river in the world to be recognised as an indivisible and living being, after being granted personhood in 2017. It has been granted the same legal rights as a human being.”
No doubt this sounds very strange to us, but a couple of weeks ago I started reading a book by the late Fr. Denis Edwards called: “Ecology at the heart of faith” published in 2006. I highly recommend reading it and meditating on the various sections, reflects Fr Nick de Groot SVD.
As Christian communities around the world celebrate the Season of Creation this month, some green-thumbed members of the Divine Word Missionaries AUS Province are proving that caring for creation can begin with small actions, close to home.
The Season of Creation is an annual ecumenical celebration of prayer and action to protect creation, beginning on September 1, the Day of Prayer for Creation, established by Pope Francis in 2015 and running through to October 4, the Feast of St Francis, who is the patron saint of ecology in many traditions. This year’s theme is ‘Let Justice and Peace Flow’.
The Season of Creation – the annual Christian celebration of listening and responding together to the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor – is drawing to a close and once again, it has been an important reminder of how faith communities can respond together to the climate crisis.
The Season of Creation began on September 1, the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation, and ends on October 4, the Feast of St Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of ecology.
On January 19, 1909, four days after the death of St Arnold Janssen, his successor, Fr Nicholas Blum, wrote a letter to all the congregations founded by St Arnold with this request: to keep Arnold Janssen’s memory alive, to continue and expand his work in his spirit, reflected SVD Superior-General, Fr Budi Kleden SVD in a YouTube message on St Arnold's feast day recently.
His life-force, his spirit, is well-formulated in the prayer he passed on to us as his legacy: “May the holy triune God live in our hearts and in the hearts of all people”.
Mother earth, mother nature, or as we hear in Isaiah, if a mother should ever forget the child of her womb, I shall never forget you, says God. I am THE MOTHER of all that is. I have born you in my womb, and my joy is complete when you are in my arms, happy and complete. It is my joy to give you life and for you to have it to the full. Remain in my love.
The power of giving life is not only a biological reality, as precious and special as that is, but giving life also includes those who nurture, those who listen, those who care for, those who reach out to others, reflects Fr Nick de Groot SVD.
If there’s one thing the COVID-19 pandemic has shown us it is how deeply the globe is interconnected.
This interdependence is something I’ve been pondering on as Christians across the world prepare to join together over the next month to celebrate the Season of Creation.
How many times have we been fascinated by the beauty of creation, while contemplating a starry night, sitting along the banks of a river caressed by a light breeze, admiring a sunset or rainbow, or watching children play together happily without regard for race, colour, or social class?
The roof of St Maximilian Kolbe parish in Kingston-Marden, Queensland is freshly adorned with rows of solar panels – a concrete sign of the parish community’s commitment to playing its part in preserving God’s creation in the spirit of Pope Francis’ Laudato Si.
Parish Priest Fr Sunil Paul Nagothu SVD says parishioners have worked hard to raise funds to support the transition to renewable energy, with the purchase and installation of the solar panels now providing a sustainable power solution for the parish.