The fourth of nine days of prayer and readings as tangible action to respond to the urgent climate change issues we all face.
The fourth of nine days of prayer and readings as tangible action to respond to the urgent climate change issues we all face.
Show Mercy to our Common Home
Despite our sins and the daunting challenges before us, we never lose heart. “The Creator does not abandon us; he never forsakes his loving plan or repents of having created us… for he has united himself definitively to our earth, and his love constantly impels us to find new ways forward.”
Laudato Si’, 13; 245
In a particular way, let us pray…
“O God of the poor,
help us to rescue the abandoned
and forgotten of this earth,
who are so precious in your eyes…
God of love, show us our place in this world
as channels of your love
for all the creatures of this earth”
Laudato Si’, 13; 246
God of mercy, may we receive your forgiveness
and convey your mercy throughout our common home.
Praise be to you!
Amen.
And God said, “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place and let dry land appear.” And the waters that were gathered together he called Seas. And God saw it was good. And God said, “Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind on earth.” And so it was. The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed according to their own kinds, and trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening and there was morning, the third day.
Genesis 1:9-13
Bless the Lord, fire and heat,
sing praise to him and highly exalt him forever.
Bless the Lord, winter cold and summer heat,
sing praise to him and highly exalt him forever.
Bless the Lord, dews and snows,
sing praise to him and highly exalt him forever.
Bless the Lord, nights and days,
sing praise to him and highly exalt him forever.
Bless the Lord, light and darkness,
sing praise to him and highly exalt him forever.
Bless the Lord, ice and cold,
sing praise to him and highly exalt him forever.
Bless the Lord, frosts and snows,
sing praise to him and highly exalt him forever.
Bless the Lord, lightnings and clouds,
sing praise to him and highly exalt him forever.
Prayer of Azariah and his Companions, Daniel 3:66-73
A reading from the Post Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Querida Amazonia, ‘to the beloved Amazon region’.
Pope Francis, 2 February 2020.
The Amazon is also the spinal column that creates harmony and unity: “the river does not divide us. It unites us and helps us live together amid different cultures and languages”.
While it is true that in these lands there are many ‘Amazon regions’, the principal axis is the great river, the offspring of many rivers:
“From the high mountain range where the snows are eternal, the water descends and traces a shimmering line along the ancient skin of the rock: the Amazon is born. It is born every second. It descends slowly, a sinuous ray of light, and then swells in the lowland. Rushing upon green spaces, it invents its own path and expands. Underground waters well up to embrace the water that falls from the Andes. From the belly of the pure white clouds, swept by the wind, water falls from heaven. It collects and advances, multiplied in infinite pathways, bathing the immense plain… This is the Great Amazonia, covering the humid tropic with its astonishingly thick forest, vast reaches untouched by man, pulsing with life threading through its deep waters… From the time that men have lived there, there has arisen from the depths of its waters, and running through the heart of its forest, a terrible fear: that its life is slowly but surely coming to an end”.
Common Prayer for Earth and for Humanity
Loving God,
Creator of Heaven, Earth, and all therein contained.
Open our minds and touch our hearts,
so that we can be part of Creation, your gift.
Be present to those in need in these difficult times, especially the poorest and most vulnerable.
Help us to show creative solidarity as we confront the consequences of the global pandemic.
Make us courageous in embracing the changes required to seek the common good.
Now more than ever, may we all feel interconnected and interdependent.
Enable us to succeed in listening and responding to the cry of the Earth and the cry of the poor.
May their current sufferings become the birth-pangs of a more fraternal and sustainable world.
We pray through Christ our Lord, under the loving gaze of Mary, Help of Christians.
Amen.
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