The annual celebration of the Season of Creation invites the world’s 2.6 billion Christians
to prayer and action to protect Earth, our common home and to discern the guidance it
offers us for bringing about the New Creation of which Jesus spoke. The 2024 theme was inspired by the text of St. Paul’s letter to the Romans, 8:19-25, which acknowledges that Creation is groaning in pain. It identifies the pain as pain brought on by human selfishness and unsustainable ways of living on Earth. And it calls the whole family of Creation to work together actively in hope to bring about the reign of God’s justice for which Creation waits with eager longing (Romans 8:19). That mission is growing more and more urgent as the human community fails to respond adequately to the accelerating crisis of Creation in these times. What must we do to restore Earth, the “household of God,” to its full purpose as nurturing and protective home for all its inhabitants, human and other-than-human? Can we do all that needs to be done before it is too late, before the damage to Earth is too great? What can we do in the face of discouragement, eco-anxiety, and even despair to work with Creation in ways that will draw upon the profound hope at the foundation of our faith?

Creation waits for us, the children of God, to act and to embody hope so that our redemption and creation’s redemption may be revealed. How do we take action and embody hope in an era of climate crises? The most important thing you can do is TALK ABOUT IT!
 
· Commit to talking about climate change and biodiversity loss with at least 2 people in your  family or community
· Talk to your priest about bringing up creation care in a homily
· Invite the people you have conversations with to pray with you, to ask questions, and to seek out more information by reading Laudato Si’
· Take, and invite others to take, the Laudate Deum Pledge
 
Yes, talking about these things can be intimidating at first (see Courageous Conversations about Climate Change), but creation waits with eager longing for us to set it free!
 
To read the Pope's Message for the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation 2024, which launches the Season of Creation, please click here.

For more information and resources, please click here.