The World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation is celebrated each year on September 1.
To celebrate the gift of creation, the Papal Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development has declared a Jubilee Year on the occasion of the fifth anniversary of the Pope Francis’ encyclical Laudato Si’- On the Care of Our Common Home.
The program for the Jubilee Year, which began on May 24 of this year and will run until May 24 next year, highlights global initiatives and best practices. To learn more about the Jubilee Year, visit:
http://www.humandevelopment.va/en/news/laudato-si-special-anniversary-year-plan.html
Also, the international ecumenical endeavor, Season of Creation, has set for this year’s theme, “Jubilee for the Earth: New Rhythms, New Hope.”
Season of Creation, reminds us that during the season this year, we enter a time of restoration and hope, a jubilee for our Earth, that requires radically new ways of living with creation. Christians around the world will use this period to renew their relationship with our Creator and all creation through celebration, conversion, and commitment. This year’s Season of Creation is a time to consider the integral relationship between rest for the Earth and ecological, economic, social, and political ways of living.
Pastors and parishes are invited to include prayer petitions for Care for Creation during the celebration of the Divine Liturgy throughout September. Parishes may also choose to mark the World Day of Prayer for the Care for Creation through the video celebration of the Akafist Service Thanking God for Grace, Creation, and all Good Things (text also attached).
Pope Francis’ Common Prayer for the 5th Anniversary of Laudato si’:
Loving God, Creator of heaven and earth and all that is in them,
You created us in your image and made us stewards of all your creation, of our common home.
You blessed us with the sun, water and bountiful lands so that all might be nourished.
Open our minds and touch our hearts, so that we may attend to your gift of creation.
Help us to be conscious that our common home belongs not only to us, but to all future generations, and that it is our responsibility to preserve it.
May we help each person secure the food and resources that they need.
Be present to those in need in these trying times, especially the poorest and those most at risk of being left behind.
Transform our fear, anxiety and feelings of isolation into hope so that we may experience a true conversion of the heart.
Help us to show creative solidarity in addressing the consequences of this global pandemic.
Make us courageous to embrace the changes that are needed in search of the common good.
Now more than ever may we feel that we are all interconnected, in our efforts to lift up the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor.
We make our prayer through Christ our Lord. Amen.