WORLD DAY OF PRAYER FOR THE CARE OF CREATION

Ten years ago today, Pope Francis established the first World Day of Prayer for the Care for Creation. It coincided with the publication of his great encyclical Laudato Si.’ September 1, the World Day of Prayer for the Care for Creation, marks the start of the Season of Creation that lasts until the feast of St. Francis on October 4.

This prayer follows the style of St. Francis’ Canticle of Creation with its series of praises of the creator and creation. Pope Francis named Laudato Si’ from this prayer. I’ve set the praises into our Canadian context to echo some of the themes of the encyclical. The text is accompanied by photographs that were largely taken as part of Northern Light: A Canadian Prayer Book project (Novalis, 2020).

Praised be

Canada’s sun-kissed Prairies and wave-scoured coasts;

Her green-darkened forest floors and glacier-sharpened mountain peaks.

Praised be

The deep blue iris and the pink prairie crocus,

Beaver dammed ponds and scruffy Osprey nests.

Praised be

Snow-coated spruce and fall-gilded maple,

Snow Goose and Sandhill Crane winging southward.

Praised be

Mica-flecked granite and fossil-rich limestone,

The song of the Grey Jay and the lament of the Loon.

Praised be

Wide Saskatchewan skies and star-filled Arctic nights,

Columbia River Coho surging upstream and basking St. Lawrence Belugas.

Praised be

White Atlantic lighthouses and safe Pacific inlets,

Billions year-old shield rock and newly ploughed PEI potato fields.

Praised be

The prowling Polar Bear and the delicate Monarch butterfly.

The Hoodoo dinosaur fossils and icebergs gliding down the Labrador coast.

Praised be

Mist shrouded lakes and the upward thrusting mountains

Sacred topography and grace imbued horizons of sky and sea.

And praised be

Those who care for creation in prayer, word and deed,

The wisdom keeping sages telling tales of the ancients.

Praised be

The visionaries who care for the earth as we care for one another.

The holy voices who speak for the endangered and work for the dispossessed.

Praised be

St. Francis who opened our hearts to brother sun and sister moon

and Pope Francis who taught us again to see the creator in creation.

Praised be

One another in our rejoicing of this sacred time

When we embrace beauty, life, and justice.

Les Miller is a husband, dad, grandfather and catechist. He has served the Catholic education community for 40 years as teacher, chaplaincy team leader, Department Head. AQ Instructor, textbook writer, and Religious Education and Family Life Consultant. Les authored the 25 Questions Series, Words for the Journey and award-winners Catholic Teacher’s Companion and Northern Light. Currently, he is an instructor and advisor with the Archdiocese of Toronto’s online Catechist formation program and lead contributor to the St. Monica Institute’s series on praying with art, Abide in Beauty.