World Day of Prayer

Perhaps this video -- released by the Pontifical Council on Justice and Peace -- could be part of our prayer for the World Day of Prayer for Creation.  It is six minutes long (which seems to be an eternity in cyberspace), but it is worth the time to read excerpts of Laudato Si superimposed on videos of  "our common home."

Reminder: World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation

Remember that Pope Francis -- following the lead of the Orthodox Church's remembrance since 1989 --  declared September 1 (that is, this Tuesday) as the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation.  An outline for a one-hour Eucharistic Adoration to mark this day is available here from the Vatican Office of Justice and Peace.  The Global Catholic Climate movement offers resources (available here) for individuals, groups and parishes.  Additionally, the USCCB offers resources (available here). Finally,  Laudato Si offers this prayer:

All-powerful God, you are present in the whole universe
and in the smallest of your creatures.
You embrace with your tenderness all that exists.
Pour out upon us the power of your love,
that we may protect life and beauty.
Fill us with peace, that we may live 
as brothers and sisters, harming no one.
O God of the poor,
help us to rescue the abandoned and forgotten of this earth,
so precious in your eyes.
Bring healing to our lives, 
that we may protect the world and not prey on it,
that we may sow beauty, not pollution and destruction.
Touch the hearts
of those who look only for gain
at the expense of the poor and the earth.
Teach us to discover the worth of each thing,
to be filled with awe and contemplation,
to recognize that we are profoundly united
with every creature
as we journey towards your infinite light.
We thank you for being with us each day.
Encourage us, we pray, in our struggle for justice, love and peace.

Summer List, Part 4

All summer long, we have been suggesting films and books.  Our last suggestion for the summer --  Oscar Romero: Love Must Win Out, by Kevin Clarke -- is another book in the Liturgical Press "People of God" series.  How timely this book is, given Romero's beatification in May 2015.  In the Introduction, Clarke suggests that this beatification could only occur because of the "unblocking" of Romero's cause by Pope Francis, who seemed to follow "parallel spiritual and practical tracks" with Romero.  Clarke suggests that Romero, while not a member of the Society of Jesus (the religious community of Pope Francis), was greatly influenced by his Jesuit education and by having undertaken the Ignatian Spiritual Exercises as a young man.  Clarke considers their simplicity, humility, modesty, renunciation of creature comforts, and delight in the people as some of the most obvious parallels between the two men.

While the discussion of Archbishop Romero often leads to debates about the role of clergy in situations of political upheaval, let us focus on one of Romero's greatest teachings, echoing the greatest teaching of Jesus Christ:  "Love one another."

One of the many stories Kevin Clarke chose to include in Love Must Win Out demonstrates this well (p. 103).  Archbishop Romero offered the homily at the funeral Mass of Father Alfonso Navarro Oviedo, a priest who was murdered just a few months after Romero's dear friend, Father Rutilio Grande had been murdered in 1977.  At Navarro's funeral, Romero told this story:  "A caravan was traveling through the desert, being guided by a Bedouin.  They had become desperate and thirsty and were searching for water in the mirages of the desert.  Their guide said: 'Not there, over there.'  He had spoken these words so many times that the members of the caravan became frustrated, took out a gun, and shot the guide.  As the guide was dying, he extended his hand and said one last time: 'Not there, over there.'  He died pointing the way.

"This legend becomes a reality in our midst: a priest dies forgiving and praying for his assassins. . . . Let us receive this message. . . .  We believe in God; we preach a hope in this same God, and we die convinced of this hope. . . . Hope is an ideal that never dies.  It is like the guide in the desert that says: 'Not there, not for those mirages of hatred, not for that philosophy of an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth -- no, that is criminal.  Over there: 'Love one another.'

"Do not walk on those roads of sin and violence. . . . You are going to build a new world, so walk on the road of love."

World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation

Pope Francis has announced a World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation, to be observed annually on September 1. Click here for more information.  (Providentially, yesterday this blog supplied a prayer for the care of creation.  Perhaps it will come in handy for you on September 1, as well.)

Observing the 11th of the Month

Click here to access a prayer prepared by the SCC North American Western Region to observe August 11th as a day to pray for peace.  This month's theme is "Protecting All of God's Creation." The Sisters of Christian Charity observe the 11th of each month by praying and fasting for peace.  For more prayers, go to the Western Region's website.

Month of Prayer

Bishop Arthur J. Serratelli, of the Diocese of Paterson, NJ -- where the Motherhouse of the Sisters of Christian Charity's Eastern Province is located -- has designated August as the Month of Prayer for Those Suffering Religious Persecution.  Bishop Serratelli asks that the Prayer for Those Suffering Religious Persecution (below) be prayed together at all Masses.  Additionally, the following may be added:  1. Petitions for Persecuted Christians in the Prayers of the Faithful at Mass; 2. Holy Mass using the liturgical texts designated "For Persecuted Christians"; 3. A Holy Hour with Scripture Readings, Eucharistic Adoration and Benediction for this specific intention; 4. An invitation to undertake some personal acts of prayer, sacrifice and charity for our suffering brothers and sisters.

Prayer for those suffering religious persecution

Good and gracious Father, whose own Beloved Son suffered violence and death for the salvation of the world, listen graciously to our cry for all who are being persecuted for their faith.

In your great mercy, comfort them with the Holy Spirit.
Give them strength in the face of hostility and courage in the face of trial.

Open the eyes of those who raise their hands in violence to see others as their brothers and sisters, children of the one Father of all.  By your grace, turn their hearts from hatred to love.

Through the powerful intercession of the Immaculate Queen of Peace, may justice and peace prevail so that all may have the freedom to worship you, the one true God and him whom you have sent, Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever.  Amen.

Laudato Si: We Need One Another

We continue our reading of Laudato Si:

228.  Care for nature is part of a lifestyle which includes the capacity for living together and communion.  Jesus reminded us that we have God as our common Father and that this makes us brothers and sisters.  Fraternal love can only be gratuitous; it can never be a means of repaying others for what they have done or will do for us.  That is why it is possible to love our enemies.  This same gratuitousness inspires us to love and accept the wind, the sun and the clouds, even though we cannot control them.  In this sense, we can speak of a "universal fraternity."  

229.  We must regain the conviction that we need one another, that we have a shared responsibility for others and the world, and that being good and decent are worth it.  We have had enough of immorality and the mockery of ethics, goodness, faith and honesty.  It is time to acknowledge that light-hearted superficiality has done us no good.  When the foundations of social life are corroded, what ensues are battles over conflicting interests, new forms of violence and brutality, and obstacles to the growth of a genuine culture of care for the environment.

230.  Saint Therese of Lisieux invites us to practise the little way of love, not to miss out on a kind word, a smile or any small gesture which sows peace and friendship.  An integral ecology is also made up of simple daily gestures which break the logic of violence, exploitation and selfishness.  In the end, a world of exacerbated consumption is at the same time a world which mistreats life in all its forms.