What is this Season of Creation that everybody is talking about?

The international celebration of the Season of Creation runs until 4 October, the Feast of St Francis of Assisi. Here a Jesuit from the Jesuit Institute in South Africa offers a reflection on it.

We have heard by now that the Church has officially introduced a new liturgical season called the "Season of Creation." This season is like Advent and Christmastime, Lent and Eastertime, during which we focus on special dimensions of our life and the mystery of God's relationship with us. Specifically, in those other seasons, the focus is on the Incarnation, or God becoming human, and our Salvation through Jesus' Passion, Death, Resurrection, Ascension, and the coming of the Holy Spirit. But there was always something missing. Before God did anything on our behalf, God created us, all the things on the earth that have helped humans to develop and thrive.

God has also shown us who God is, by the multiplicity and wonders of all created things - from the immensity of the cosmos to the tiniest nanoparticles. "The heavens proclaim the wonders of the Lord. The skies show forth the work of God's hands." (Psalm 19:1). Paul reminds us that "What can be known about God is plain to them (people), because God has shown it to them. Ever since the creation of the world, God's invisible nature, namely his eternal power and deity, has been clearly perceived in the things that have been made." (Romans 1:19-20). So the Season of Creation is a time for us to meditate particularly on God active in the role as Creator, and to be grateful for every gift. During this joyful season, we remember that the Lord creates every day for us to rejoice and be glad. (Psalm 118:24).

This season is an opportunity for us to renew our relationship with God the Creator, with the created universe, and with our neighbours in the world. We begin on 1 September and end on 4 October, the Feast of St Francis of Assisi, the saint associated with caring for creation. In 2015, the year Pope Francis published his groundbreaking encyclical, Laudato Si', on Care for Our Common Home, he also established 1 September as the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation. Since then, Catholics have joined Christians around the world in praying for the care of our fragile planet. Already in 1989, Ecumenical Patriarch Demetrios had proposed that date for the entire Christian world to give thanks to God for the gifts of creation and to make petitions for its protection and salvation. Now, with the new season, we have a whole month to pray with the prayers and readings which the Vatican Liturgy Office has prepared for the Mass for the Care of Creation, and published on 3 July this year.

The theme for this year's Season of Creation is 'Making Peace with Creation.' The theme invites us to reflect on how we conflict with creation, how our consumerism is stopping creation from thriving, and whether we are seeking the very best for all of creation, every created species. We realise how our misguided human "me-first" behaviour has caused plants and animals to suffer. We can pray for God to strengthen our friendship with creation. Equally importantly, we need to take action, restore natural spaces, reduce our ecological footprint, and help future generations benefit from the created world. We can make firm resolutions to be more eco-conscious. We can spend time in nature, relaxing, exuding love, and absorbing the sounds and smells of God's benevolence in all that is created.

May this Season of Creation be the first of many where we put the natural world first in our decision-making.

LINK

www.jesuitinstitute.org.za/