“To Hope and Act with Creation”: Season of Creation 2024

Season of Creation 2024 Prayer

Triune God, Creator of all,
We praise you for your goodness, visible in all the diversity that
you have created, making us a cosmic family living in a common
home. Through the Earth you created, we experience love and
nourishment, home and protection.
We confess that we do not relate to the Earth as a Mothering
gift from you, our Creator. Our selfishness, greed, neglect, and
abuse have caused the climate crisis, loss of biodiversity, human
suffering as well as the suffering of all our fellow creatures. We
confess that we have failed to listen to the groans of the Earth,
the groans of all creatures, and the groans of the Spirit of hope
and justice that lives within us.
May your Creator Spirit help us in our weakness, so that we may
know the redeeming power of Christ and the hope found in him.
May the groans of the Spirit birth in us a willingness to serve you
faithfully, so that we may hear and heal Creation, to hope and act
together with her, so that the firstfruits of hope may blossom.
Loving and Creator God, we pray that you will make us sensitive
to these groans and enable us to have the same compassion as
that of Jesus, the redeeming Lord. Grant us a fresh vision of our
relationship with Earth, and with one another, as creatures that
are made in your image.
In the name of the one who came to proclaim the good news to
all Creation, Jesus Christ.
Amen.

The Season of Creation has a special significance for the Catholic Church, particularly since Pope Francis established 1 September as an annual World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation. The Season of Creation is marked throughout the Christian world from 1 September to 4 October (Feast of Saint Francis of Assisi) and celebrates the joy of creation as well as encouraging awareness-raising initiatives to protect the natural environment. This year’s theme is “To Hope and Act with Creation”.

We invite you to spend time with us here at Knock Shrine at this time of year, as the seasons turn and the gardens at Knock Shrine take on the golden hues of Autumn. The new Creation Walk at Knock Shrine is based on Brian Grogan SJ’s book ‘ Creation Walk – The  amazing story of a small blue planet’. The walk weaves its way through secluded pathways, allowing us the opportunity to reflect prayerfully on God’s Creation. The walk begins at Knock Museum.