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Tis the last day of August and tomorrow morning when we wake up, we’ll be entering the “Season of Creation.” It is a season that is only slowly beginning to get traction in the wider Catholic community. Indeed, I did not know the history behind it myself until I looked it up when preparing tomorrow’s preaching for September 1.
It turns out that in both Judaism and Orthodox Christianity, September is revered as the month in which God first began ordering the cosmos. Indeed, among the Orthodox it is often stated the God began creating on September 1, 5509 BC and for many years this date marked the beginning of the Orthodox liturgical year.
Aware of the growing climate crisis, in 1989, the Ecumenical Patriarch Dimitrios, declared September 1st a day of prayer for creation. The World Council of Churches joined suit in 2008; the Anglican Communion in 2012; and the Catholic Church only in 2015. It is now known as the “World Day of Prayer for Care of Creation” and opens a whole season that stretches till the Feast of St. Francis on October 4.
There are a growing number of resources available to help plan prayer services, facilitate reflection, and organize for action around reverence for creation. One of the best resources is the website for the Catholic Climate Covenant. The last time I wrote, I highlighted from this page the liturgical guide created by Fr. Jim Hug, SJ and Amy Woolam Echeverria. A personal prayer habit I’ve entered into for each September is listening this the Climate Vigil Songs album from The Porter’s Gate during my daily walks. Here is the link on Apple. (It's also available on Spotify, Pandora, and YouTube.)
The readings for September 1 from the lectionary are a little hard to help facilitate connection to the season, but for today I chose to reflect on the first reading from Deuteronomy. The preaching is loosely based on a meditation that we do with nine-to-twelve year old children in the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd called “The Maxims in the Cosmos.” It asks the question whether—if all of creation seems to have laws that it follows that allow life to flourish—is there also a law that we as humans have been given to follow so that we can play our role in the scheme of things? Ultimately the children always arrive at the conviction that, yes, yes we do. And it is what Jesus teaches us about love. The maxims and parables that he gives us are sometimes hard to grasp and to live out, but it is essential that we do so, lest we not be able to play our role in the cosmos like the rest of creation does.
This meditation was much on my mind as I was with a whole bunch of CGS catechists this past week in Phoenix, Arizona where we celebrated the 40th anniversary of our movement in the US and 70th anniversary internationally. As my friend Mary Mirrione reminded me, 40 and 70 are pretty big numbers in the biblical world and needed a big party to celebrate them. Celebrate we did. Close to 200 of us gathered in Phoenix with another 300+ catechists joining in online, many in watch parties.
After two restful weeks in Newfoundland tracking Vikings and moose immediately followed by a big party in Phoenix, it is a little hard to get back into the mindset of work. But Fall is going to be super busy and I do need to get my seat in gear.
A couple of upcoming more public events that if you are in the area maybe you’d like to be a part of:
- Milwaukee – I’ll be doing the Cornerstone Lecture for friends of the Sinsinawa Dominican community on Saturday, September 7 on the topic of Redeeming Power
- Cleveland – I’ll be talking about Redeeming Conflict for lay ministers and seminarians of the Diocese of Cleveland on Saturday, September 14
- Carmel, IN – Will be joining INPAC conference for school administrators to talk about De-escalating Tension in school settings on Thursday, September 26
- Friends in Campus Ministry – Make sure to show up for the annual fall conference on Zoom where I’ll be talking about the spirituality of administration on the afternoon of Thursday, October 3
- Hudson River Valley – I’ll be doing the Founder’s Day lecture at Mount St. Mary College in Newburgh on Tuesday, October 8 at 4 p.m.
- Friends in Catholic Health Care – Excited to be part of a CHA webinar for sponsors on October 10.
- Friends in Mercy-Sponsored Ministries – Can’t wait to be with you at the Mercy Education Conference in Louisville on October 11
- CGS Catechists in Canada – Looking forward to seeing you all in Calgary October 18-20! It’ll be a wonderful national gathering!
- Religious Vocation Directors – Can’t wait to see you all in Minneapolis on November 1
- Lasallian Folk – Super excited about being with you in Baltimore for Huether Conference on November 22
Okay, I think I’ll pause there for now! Obviously, the part of the Catholic Climate Covenant I need to think a whole lot more about is my carbon footprint related to air travel. I do really have some qualms about that, even as we’ve all learned in the last couple years how much more powerful and energizing it is to be with one another in person. When the main law we’ve been given to follow is love, it is sometimes hard to know what is the most loving way of being in the world. So, let us continue to pray about that.
(PS – One day left to hit my personal goal of 39 Amazon reviews for Redeeming Power by the end of the month. We are now at 16. Thank you JMRichardson and Helen W! We can do this. Only 23 to go. Friends, this is totally achievable.)
Photo: from my recent trip to Newfoundland!