In 2015, Pope Francis dedicated September 1 as a world day of prayer for creation, following this observance by the Eastern Catholic and Orthodox Churches. The day of prayer is intended to offer a fitting opportunity to reaffirm our vocation as caretakers of creation, to tend God’s temple garden, and to give thanks to God for His wonderful handiwork entrusted to our care.
Pope Francis’ message for this world day of prayer for the care of creation for 2024 is, to hope and act with creation. This theme draws from Saint Paul’s Letter to the Romans (8:19-25), ‘for the creation waits with eager longing… to be set free from bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.’
In his message, Pope Francis encourages us
‘to live an incarnational faith, one that can enter into the suffering and hopes of others…
to rethink, among other things, human power, its meaning, and its limits…
to extend harmony among humanity, and to creation, in a sense of responsibility for a humane and integral ecology, the path to salvation for our common home and for us who inhabit it.’
Pope Francis prays for the assistance of the Holy Spirit, ahead of this upcoming Jubilee Year 2025, to help us ‘live a life that becomes a song of love for God, for humanity, with and for creation, and that finds its fullness in holiness.’
Let us pray, with the Holy Father’s September prayer intention:
We pray that each one of us will hear and take to heart the cry of the Earth and of victims of natural disasters and climactic change, and that all will undertake to personally care for the world in which we live.
See Pope Francis’ full message here, and see the poster here.