“Hope and act with Creation”: already now some guidelines for the Time of Creation which opens on 1 September. As a charismatic family, sisters and lay people, we are called to join the 2,200 million Christians around the world who are invited to pray and unite around a common purpose: the care of the Common Home.
For this reason, we want to UNITE with our own small possible steps to be implemented in our local realities:
- In our communities, works and services, prepare and celebrate the Prayer of the 11th of the month, in September dedicated to the theme of Creation Time 2024
- Plant a tree, if possible, or at least a small pot.
- Sending our photos to the photo competition ‘ALBUM: PRIZES OF HOPE’.
Details of this last initiative will soon be available in the communities and local AJA Groups for participation.
Creation Time
It all began in 1989 when Ecumenical Patriarch Dimitrios I proclaimed 1 September the “Day of Prayer for Creation” for the Eastern Orthodox Church. This initiative was embraced by other major Christian churches in Europe in 2001 and by Pope Francis for the Roman Catholic Church in 2015.
Recently, together we have begun to celebrate this “Time” from 1 September to 4 October, the feast day of St Francis of Assisi, author of the “Canticle of the Creatures” and patron of ecology.
Theme and Symbol 2024
This year’s Creation Time theme is “Hope and act with creation” and its symbol is “The Firstfruits of Hope”, inspired by Romans 8:19-25.
The biblical image depicts the Earth as a mother groaning as if she were giving birth (v. 22). Creation “groans” because of our selfishness and unsustainable actions that damage it. Creatures of all kinds, including human beings, “groan” because we do not relate to the Earth as a gift from our Creator, but as a resource to be used. And these actions cause climate crises, loss of biodiversity and human suffering as much as the suffering of Creation..
Creation “cries out and waits” in expectation of a better future (vv 20,21). Wait for the time when the sons and daughters of God will manifest themselves as they are’ (Vs 19) That is, actively cry out and strive for new life in the midst of hardship.
By working together with Creation, for a dynamic future based on hope and action, “the firstfruits of hope” will be born, which we can present to the Father like righteous Abel. Thus, just as in childbirth, we will pass through this period of intense sorrow, so that new life may arise.
Proposals of the Laudato Si’ Movement
The Guide to Celebrating the Time of Creation, the website of the Laudato si’ Movement and the Laudato Si’ platform offer us many suggestions and materials for action:
- Prepare prayer times and/or participate in opening prayer services on 1 September with religious leaders and on 4 October closing with the participation of young people from around the world.
- Participate in the Day of Action in Support of the Non-Proliferation Treaty for Fossil Fuels (NPTCF) on 21 September and in the online webinar to explain and reflect on phasing out fossil fuels
Our charismatic family
Daughter of Franche-Comté, a land of fertile valleys, Joan Antida uses biblical images related to cultivation: she refers to the foundation as a seed, for the congregation she uses the image of the vineyard, for the vocation she speaks of the plough… And today she challenges us to ‘be daughters of the Church’, praising God for the beauty of creation, to walk contemplating the paths that console the soul as she did for the collection of roots, fruits, leaves, seeds for the pharmacy at the service of the poor, for the desire for a house of formation with a gardener and an orchard.
In the Rule she drafted, the sisters are called to “be content with what is simply necessary”. In a world marked by grave and age-old injustices, it is a call to responsibility that involves us all: “To live simply, to allow others simply to live”.
