Laudato Si' Week - Session 1 - A New Dialogue

During Laudato Si' Week all are invited to commemorate the Anniversary of Pope Francis' first encyclical, Laudato Si'. The encyclical, on ecology and climate change, is an open appeal for dialogue and conversation about the future of our common home — a home we all share, regardless of faith or ideology. These Laudato Si' reflection sessions are an invitation for you to see and experience God in new ways while being attentive to your own context and lived experiences. As we gain new perspective to how our work and lifestyles fit within a much larger ecology, let us then consider what actions we can take to care for our common home.

A NEW DIALOGUE

According to Christian theology, God created the world and entrusted it to us as a gift that we are responsible for protecting. This includes us. We are, after all, part of creation. However, Pope Francis reminds us that the voice that initiates this dialogue is, in fact, the earth itself. The earth cries out today because of our failures.

Take a moment and consider how you are personally addressed by the world around you. So many voices clamor for our attention – how do you make sense of it? What do you hear? Can you hear the cry of the earth? How have the ways you hear these cries changed over time??

Pope Francis insists that our contemporary ecological crisis is a summons to a profound interior conversion so that we might renew our responsibility to care for ourselves and for each other within the world that is our common home.

Let us pray the Prayer for Laudato Si’ Week:

Creator, Redeemer, Holy Spirit,
thank you for the gift of Laudato Si’, which teaches us
that "The Creator does not abandon us;
he never forsakes his loving plan
or repents of having created us.
Humanity still has the ability to work together
in building our common home."
Creator, you give us life.
Help us to honor you
as we care for your precious creation.
Redeemer, you give us hope.
Help us see new ways of living
as we turn from the path of destruction.
Holy Spirit, you give us unity.
Help us find strength in the love between us
as we seek healing for the Earth.
Amen.