HONG KONG (SE): On September 1, the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation, the group, Catholic Care for Creation, held an online prayer service to thank God for the wonderful work which he has entrusted to our care, and to ask forgiveness for sins committed against nature.
It was also livestreamed on the Facebook page of Boiling Point, the online youth platform of the Diocesan Youth Commission and the Diocesan Audio-Visual Centre.
Catholic Care for Creation said that the major celebrations of Christmas, Easter and other feasts should also be occasions praising the beauty of God’s creation. It also called on people to humbly admit to having harmed the environment and to make reparation for the damage caused
The prayer service began with the Lord’s Prayer and a call to appreciate Creation. Participants were invited to meditate on the beauty of God’s handiwork as pictures of the earth, lakes, trees and flowers were displayed.
Quoting from Pope Francis’ 2015 encyclical, Laudato Si’, On care for our common home, the group called on people to acknowledge sins against creation that “degrade the integrity of the earth by causing changes in its climate, by stripping the earth of its natural forests and destroying its wetlands; for human beings to contaminate the earth’s waters, its land, its air, and its life.”
People were invited to follow the example of St. Francis of Assisi who showed us “how inseparable the bond is between concern for nature, justice for the poor, commitment to society, and interior peace.”
While facing the pain of the destruction of nature, humanity must first repent, follow Christ and live out the faith by protecting the environment.
Catholic Care for Creation urged people to pray for the Church so that it can spread the message to protect nature and the environment across different cultures in these challenging times.
It also prayed that people learn to be responsible with resources, stop overconsumption, live a more sustainable lifestyle and protect our home, and for nations to respect international environmental agreements.
The prayer service ended with a song by the band, AMDG, and the GsM Choir on the effects of climate change and the loss of cold winters.
The theme of this year’s Season of Creation is: A home for all? Renewing the Oikos of God. It began on September 1 and ends on October 4, the feast day of St. Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of ecology and ecologists.
The Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarch, Dimitrios I, proclaimed September 1 as a day of prayer for creation in 1989. Other major Christian Churches embraced the day in Europe in 2001, and Pope Francis announced in 2015 that the Catholic Church would officially celebrate the season as well.
