In his prayer for September, Pope Francis returns to one of his central preoccupations – the threat to our environment and to the people affected by it. Coincidentally, many Christians celebrate September as the season of creation, concluding on the Feast of St Francis of Assisi on October 4.
Pope Francis’ prayer echoes the themes of his reflections on the Environment in Laudato Si’ and Laudate Deum. He emphasises the cry of the Earth threatened and wounded by Global warming. He insists that this is not a natural phenomenon but is the result of human exploitation of the environment in the pursuit of profit. As he focuses on human responsibility for the threat to the world and to human beings, especially to the poor who bear the burden of global warming, he stresses the corresponding human responsibility to care for the world. Though technological developments, which have helped create the crisis, can also be part of its healing, a change of heart and of human behaviour will also be needed.
For that reason, Pope Francis calls for this change of heart. In it we should pay attention to the hurt suffered by our environment and allow it to touch our hearts. It must become personal. If we see it as something that affects only the natural world and not us, we shall ignore it. Pope Francis sees the environment as us and us as our environment. If the earth cries out, we shall feel the pain. The intensity and frequency of the floods and fires around the world that are associated with global warming should touch our hearts. We should also share the pain of those whose families have died, have been made homeless, and who go hungry because of these events. They are our brothers and sisters and perhaps prophets of our descendants’ fate.
If these people are our people, this world torn by extreme climate change is also our only world. When we take to heart a wounded world and wounded people, we shall naturally want to heal the wounds. Pope Francis insists that the state pf the environment should become personal. We should not have only a general desire to see the world healed but a personal care for the world that is wounded. Then our care will be reflected in the way in which we live. It begins at home and colours all our behaviour. It helps shape what we eat and drink, how we dispose of the wrappings, how and whether we travel, what we read and which television programs we look at, where we holiday, what causes we support and what controversies we become involved in.
When things become personal to us, we can easily become earnest and preoccupied. The season of creation provides an antidote to that. Its focus on St Francis of Assisi reminds us of what a blessing it is to take delight in our environment of which we are part. It takes us out of ourselves to notice the movement of the seasons, the beauty of water, trees and hills, to feel the rise and fall, the texture of the paths beneath our feet, the freshness of rain after a heatwave, the fit of well-designed houses in a treelined street.
The Season of Creation is a time for celebration and gratitude as well as solicitude.
Pope Francis’ Intention for September: For the cry of the Earth?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.
The Season of Creation: September 1 – October 4