The official beginning of the Season of Creation may be a week away – it opens with the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation on September 1. But concerns, prayers, and above all immediate and sustained action for the care of creation cannot wait until September 1, especially not this year.
With thousands of fires raging in the Amazon, Pope Francis himself has just called for prayers that the fires “might be contained as soon as possible.” But even before the pontiff weighed in, the topic had been flooding social media. The hashtag #PrayForAmazonas was the top trending topic worldwide on Twitter in the middle of last week (according to the New York Times), as images of the Amazon rain forest on fire went viral. Earlier, the Bishops of Latin America and the Caribbean had named the devastating fires and the deforestation occurring with them, not only in the Amazon but also in, for example, Alaska, Siberia, Greenland, and the Canary Islands, as an ecological devastation “of planetary proportions.” The Bishops also noted that the “tremendous natural tragedy” destroying the Amazon is turning the upcoming Synod of Bishops for the Pan-Amazon Region into one of “deep sorrow.” And they urge everyone to help “save the lungs of the world,” because “if the Amazon suffers, the world suffers.”
Here is one small step to take: If you and your congregation are not familiar with the upcoming Season of Creation, and have never as much as included creation and its care in your community’s intercessions, check out this website with lots of materials: Season of Creation.
For specifically “Roman Catholic Resources,” just check the relevant section. And as for actions to take other than prayer, there is an excellent “Calendar with an action a day” to mark the Season of Creation.
And these actions a day do not have to wait until September 1. The Season of Creation, after all, is everyday life on planet earth. And the Amazon fires continue to burn.
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