Each month, Pope Francis puts forward a prayer intention and asks Catholics around the world to join him in prayer. These monthly prayer intentions reflect the concerns of the Holy Father for humanity and the sacred mission of the Catholic Church. In September, Pope Francis has asked us to pray for the cry of the Earth. Please join Emma Beach in praying, and then creating concrete actions in our own lives to care for our common home.
Transcript
The month of September hosts the Season of Creation. A time for all Christians to pray, to advocate and to care for the Earth. Pope Francis asks us to pray that each one of us will hear and take to heart the cry of the Earth and of the victims of natural disasters and climactic change, and that all will undertake to personally care for the world in which we live. He emphasises the need for prayer and for action. So we start with prayer as we know that God gives us wisdom to see and to hear the cry of the Earth and the courage to make a change.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
Good Father, Your gifts of creation tell us of Your great love for us.
The cry of the earth strikes in the heart of Your Son Jesus, and cries out to us, “I want mercy and not sacrifices.”
Our Common Home implores us to enact bold and radical changes in our way of life.
We ask for courage, and a holy indignation to commit ourselves to a cultural change that welcomes the cry of the earth and the poor.
We ask for the fire of Your Holy Spirit to burn in our hearts, so that we may contemplate and give thanks.
Welcome Your voice and care for Your creation, and feel as one in You.
May our gestures of love and care for everyone and everything, rise up to You as a universal prayer of adoration, thanksgiving and forgiveness.
May our daily living reflect a temperate and modest lifestyle that moderates how excessively greedy we can be with the world and each other.
May we embrace this cry for Your help transforming it with our decisions into a loving and consoling melody.
Amen.
Pope Francis implored us to pray and to act to ensure we care for the common home. What concrete actions will you do to take care of your environment, community and hence, your relationship with God? Will you pack lunch in a reusable container? Plan to use public transport when you could have used a car or take time to read and think about the impact of rising sea levels in the Torres Strait. What steps forward towards God can you do today?