Transmitting the Gift of Creation Biblical and Liturgical Texts
The celebration of creation time has its origin in the Orthodox tradition. It was taken up by the World Council of Churches and recommended to the Catholic Church by Pope Francis. From September 1st until the feast of St. Francis of Assisi on October 4th, Christians thank for the gift of creation and reflect on how they can protect it and pass it on to future generations.
LITURGICAL PRAYER
Reader : O Christ Jesus, you said : All : “I am the way, the truth and the life”
R : You told us : All : “I am the wine and the bread, I am the light of the world”
R : You told us : All : “I am the Good Shepherd and the Gardener”
R : You told us : All : “I am the resurrection and the life”
Silence
Reader : O Christ Jesus, this is what you have done :
All : You forgave your enemies and you even loved them.
Reader : Here is what you experienced :
All : You healed the sick, you were with the suffering and you showed solidarity with the oppressed and the excluded.
Reader : O Christ Jesus, forgive us, if we have followed you only with our lips but not in life.
All : Help us follow your path. Amen
BIBLICAL TEXTS AND REFLECTIONS
God looks at His beloved creation (Song of Songs 2:8-13)
“Here comes my beloved! He climbs the mountains, he crosses the hills, he runs like the gazelle, like the little one of a deer. Here he stands behind our wall; he looks out the window, he watches through the trellis. My beloved spoke; he said to me: ‘Rise, my friend, come, my beautiful one. For winter is over, the rainy season is over, it is gone. In the countryside, flowers appear. The time for songs is coming.’ “
In a language overflowing with images, the text invites us to imagine God as a lover of his creation who jumps, his heart full of joy, on the hills and mountains. How he must be shaken today, if he looks at his beloved creation and sees how damaged and hurt it is by our unmeasured consumer life.
Unity between word and deed (Mk 7:18-23)
“And you, too, are you without intelligence? Do you not know that nothing that penetrates man from the outside can make him impure? It is from within, from the heart of man, that perverse thoughts emerge: misconduct, theft, murder, adultery, greed, wickedness, fraud, debauchery, envy, defamation, pride and excess. All this evil comes from within, and makes man unclean.”
Jesus demands from us authenticity, unity between word and deed. How we act in practice is more important than what we say. We talk a lot about the environment. What are we really doing? If we only discuss the ideal without it determining our daily decisions, we contribute to the world exploding. And how do we want young people to understand the concern for the preservation of creation, if we put in their minds the idea that these are material things that make them happy and that success is measured by money? Such ideas make greed and envy arise in their hearts and stifle the desire for what really makes them “Blessed”.
INFO
●Fact sheet prepared by Fr. Wolfgang Schonecke/ Netzwerk Afrika Deutschland: www.netzwerkafrika.de
● Source and other texts in English : www.ecocongregationscotland.org/materials/creation-time/
● Drawing : Sr. Johanna Senn CPS
● Translation into French : P. Alois Schmid
● Other interesting sites : o https://seasonofcreation.org/fr/guide-fr/ o https://eglisesvertes.ca/
● TRANSLATION TO ENGLISH : Webmaster with the help of DeepL