Season of Creation

The Season of Creation (September 1 to October 4) is a special time to come together and celebrate the gift of Creation. We know the effort and love you put into every gesture and action, and we want them to be reflected.

On September 1st we celebrate the Season of Creation together.

Since we know you love being part of the moments that unite us for our common home, we invite you to the global event where small actions can inspire great change. Reserve your spot and join from anywhere in the world:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B2FfqzbevHc

Peace with creation!

Season of Creation (Week 2 Reflection)

On this second week of Season of Creation, we reflect on the global impact of climate change, the water supply, right to life with dignity, social love that encourages culture of care. 

Psalm 146:8
The Lord sets the prisoners free;8     the Lord opens the eyes of the blind.
The Lord lifts up those who are bowed down.
    the Lord loves the righteous.

Mark 7:32-35 They brought to him a deaf man who had an impediment in his speech; and they begged him to lay his hand on him. He took him aside in private, away from the crowd, and put his fingers into his ears, and he spat and touched his tongue. Then looking up to heaven, he sighed and said to him, “Ephphatha,” that is, “Be opened.” And immediately his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly. 

This Week's Laudato Si:

Article 25 (highlight): The effects of climate change are affecting environment, social, political, economic systems around the world especially the vulnerable people without financial reserves, legal protection, and physical safety.  The developing countries are mostly impacted by the climate change due to their dependency on the natural resources that are highly vulnerable with the natural disasters and severe weather conditions.  As a result, the people and animals impacted by the climate change are forced to migrate to a place of refuge.

Article 28 (highlight): The availability of water for drinking, land crops, vegetation and water-dependent industries is critical for the life's sustainability.  There are parts of the world where water is inaccessible while there are parts of the world where there is an abundant supply of water.

Article 43 (highlight):  Right to life and happiness is for everyone.  The throw-away culture has impacted the mindset about the value of human life.  It is always to be treated as indispensable rather than treating life as conditionally irrelevant.

Article 231 (highlight): A better world can be made possible by social love where this exists in various human relational aspects life: political, economic and cultural.  The culture of care can spread in all aspects of life where charity has a place in all of these dimensions as well.  We are called to include our actions in these spaces as God's invitation for us to relate with these for our maturity and sanctification.

Prayer Intention:

"That each of us will work together to heal Mother Earth in our own ways, using our own gifts and talents to help her nourish and protect us better, let us pray to the Lord …"

We are invited to ponder how we can integrate our spirituality in all the dimensions of life as all of these are affecting individually and collectively in the way we are consuming and producing for making life and happiness possible.

This morning of September 8, on the feast of the Nativity of our Blessed Mother Mary, we had the Archdiocese of San Antonio celebrated the Season of Creation.  People were grateful for Archbishop Gustavo for celebrating the Annual Mass for the season followed by the pilgrimage.  It was 1.5-mile walk pondering the many ways that the people can reflect, pray and act on the Care of our Common Home due to the environmental degradation.  

Learn More:

"Laudate Deum": Apostolic Exhortation to all people of good will on the climate crisis (4 October 2023) | Francis (vatican.va)

Laudato si' (24 May 2015) | Francis (vatican.va)

Homily Helps September 2024 (Cycle B) | Catholic Climate Covenant

Season of Creation

Care for Creation | Archdiocese of San Antonio (archsa.org)

Season Of Creation 2024 | Catholic Climate Covenant

Caring for Creation Mass and Pilgrimage - El Camino de San Antonio Missions (caminosanantonio.org)

From the Season of Creation San Antonio Archdiocese Pilgrimage

Season of Creation (Week 1 Reflection)

It is the Season of Creation once again where people all over the world are intentionally praying, pondering, having a conversation, and taking action together.  It started with ecumenical Patriarch Dimitrios I in 1989 when the church leader designates September 1 as the start of the World Day of Prayer and ends on October 4 which is the Feast of Saint Francis. We invite you can join us in praying for the Creation and collaborate with each other for anything that shows how you are good stewards of God's kingdom.  Reflecting the selected articles from Laudato Si, reflect on the ways that you are called to advocate and practice for the healing of our planet.

Selection from Catholic Climate Covenant with our summarized, reflection questions for your contemplation. 

Sept 1: We pray…

• For this World Day of Prayer for Creation and the start to the global ecumenical Season of Creation: may we be doers, and not hearers only, of honoring and respecting God’s first act: Creation.

• That we are to daily honor God, our neighbors, and all of creation, as "wise and intelligent people" who live on God’s creation.

This Week's Laudato Si

Article 68 (highlight):  The creation operates in balance.  There is production and consumption. This is part of the laws of nature.  It operates in a healthy way only if we give it a space to grow, ripen, rot or decompose and be used again in ecosystem.  Just as God rested on the seventh day when God created the universe/and cosmos, every parts of creation need rest for a reason.

Reflect the relationship that you have with others in creation.  What kind of food do you use for your daily food?  How is it package?  Where does it come from?  Did it come from traditional or mass farming?  Did the producer use organic fertilizers as opposed to comercialized fertilizers that can yours?  The Bible is teaching us that anthropocentrism is about all man's way at all cost but as you can see, God is please with what God created everything and human beings are stewards of all of these.

Genesis 29-30  And God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit; you shall have them for food. And to every beast of the earth, and to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.” 

Article 208 (highlight): We can show concern for things that are beyond us.  There is an attitude of indifference where we do not concern ourselves with what is happening to our brothers and sisters including the other parts of nature surrounding us. 

Reflect on how you are currently consuming reasonably according to your needs.  How to mitigate the disregard for other creatures?  How are you going to be more mindful to put limit on how you use the natural reasources?

Article 231 (highlight): Social love and culture of care will connect our lives more socially, politically, economically and culturally so that our spirituality is more integrated.  Our relation can mature towards a responsible and systemic charity for regeneration and renewal of our commitment to care for our common good where we have concrete actions on our social responsiblity.

Reflect on ways that that you can incorporate regeneration part of the culture, to have a renewal and systemic change to heal the creation.  What are the laws that can be passed to stop single use plastics on food?  What are the laws that can be used for plastic utensils usage to be stopped so that people would use real utensils, real plates or sustainable?  How is the farming in your area?  Are the fertilizers destroying the quality of soil after a harvest?  

Are there organic alternatives to what you are using right now?

Mark 7: [Jesus responded to the Pharisees and scribes], "Well did Isaiah prophesy about you hypocrites, as it is written: This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me … teaching as doctrine"

Learn more here:

• Laudato Si: Laudato si' (24 May 2015) | Francis (vatican.va)
• Season of Creation 
• Catholic Climate Movement Liturgy Guide for Season of Creation: Homily Helps September 2024 (Cycle B) | Catholic Climate Covenant
  
• Individual and Systemic Actions
• Webinar on Connecting Faith and Action
• The Pathway to Ecological Citizenship and Spirituality by Catholic Climate Covenant

The Interconnectedness of Creation and our Purpose

In the most recent parish event before our young ones got dismissed from religious education for vacation, we had a great time being with the children of St. Peter Prince of the Apostles.  We had an opportunity to teach them about Laudato Si.  The religious education director Deacon Rich gave us about 40 students.  Our main topic was about the encyclical in short version.  We had the interconnectedness of the creation as our ice-breaker. We only had less than an hour.  With the number of students that we had we decided that we will enjoy the ice-breaker and keep them engaged with this activity that they were enjoying.   We started with a tree.  A child picked up a tree, another child picked up a bee, another picked up a human being, another picked up a flower, another picked up a bird, another picked up a soil, and so on.  The children were so engaging in thinking how the creatures and biome are connected to each other.   If one does not exist, the food chain, habitat, or the source of energy is cut off.   One feeds on another and one needs another to exist.  Everything has a mission and purpose.   One cannot do the job for what it is designed for and such creature has a special purpose or mission.  A lion nor an elephant can replace the worker bees.  Worker bees cannot exist without the mother bee, and mother bee produces the worker bees and male bees.   Knowing that we have an environmental crisis where everyone can contribute, we ask the children how can they take care of the earth.  

Most of the children who participated received a seed. For the question and answers reusable utensils, which hopefully they will carry with them and use to avoid plastic spoon, fork and knife. Some of the children receive a reusable produce net bag.  Everybody was able to stop and ponder, who is this creature and how is this creature connected to another? 

Spiritual Care Department supported the Earth day by being able to raised the importance of advocacy that plastic pollution has become an epidemic in the world.  It is all around our home, communities, parishes, schools, restaurants, streets, rivers, beaches, etc.  How do we stop and be more aware that we are all contributors to this epidemic?  How do we stop our arrogance against nature that we cannot do whatever we want in terms of our shopping, eating, and living practices having the plastics parts of the daily consumption and trash?  By the questions that we gave to the employees in one of our hospitals, it helped to stop people that there is an issue and they too can raise awareness that there is an issue to be tackled.  We sponsored a raffle in one of our hospitals during the Earth Month to raise awareness and ask the people about the three questions:

1. What is the theme of this year’s (2024) Earth Day? Stop Plastic

2.   Plastics are a danger to humanity and all living creatures, disrupting the delicate balance of life on earth. True

3.  United States Health costs this much increase due to chemicals used in plastics: $200 Billion

It was reported that there will be more plastics in the ocean than fish by 2050.  This is how bad the situation is unless something radical is put in place to stop the epidemic on plastic.  Daphne Bramham: There could be more plastic than fish in oceans by 2050 | Vancouver Sun

Pope Francis, through Laudato Si, is teaching us that we are all connected and where everything impacts another creature or entity in the bios.   Pope Francis has been advocating and inviting people of the world towards ecological conversation.  Even further, Yaka in his article “Rethinking Justice: Struggles for Environmental Commons and the Notion of Socio‐Ecological Justice,” argues that with a socio-ecological consciousness we become aware that human and non-human life can co-exist with dignity. 

Everybody has their own way of expressing their care of the earth and perhaps some are not yet aware of how their carbon footprint impacts the bigger picture.  Each of these contributes to the climate change which we all share.   Pope Francis wrote the Laudate Deum as a follow-up on what has transpired since the Laudato Si in 2015. 

Reflection Questions:

·       What have you done differently for Laudato Si or what are you able to do for Laudato Si Care of our Common Home? 

·       How do you see the Laudate Deum of Pope Francis helping in raising the urgency of the Climate Crisis?

·       What are you able to do for your community knowing about this topic?

June 5 is the World Environment Day, let us be mindful that the environment is a common good and deserves our attention to be mindful stewards of it.  Find out more about this event in https://www.unep.org/events/un-day/world-environment-day-2024

Written by Sr. Marylou Rodriguez CCVI.

Short Film Series about Eco-Sites & San Antonio Events

Eco-Sites

 

Events

All videos were created and produced by S. Marylou Rodriguez CCVI.

The Transcendental Participation

 

The Transcendental Participation 

by Sr. Marylou Rodriguez, CCVI

God showed us how the power of contemplation and actions can free the people from slavery and oppression (John 5:8).  God wants our participation.  Human beings can participate in creation or destruction. They can contribute to good or to bad in the world.   

As human beings, we thrive through cooperation, collaboration, and just social interactions.  We naturally are attracted to beauty, goodness, and things that make us joyful, but we can become immune to what is wrong. 

We can make bad choices repeatedly and refuse to recognize those. Or we can take time to contemplate our actions and make choices to cultivate the good. We have the power to break the convenient sinful habits with something that is good. 

Someone pays for the wrong convenience that we opt to choose.  The fracking and burning of fossil fuels producing various single-use disposable items, and mass-produced resources in capitalist economy contribute easily to global climate crisis.  Someone who is poor and vulnerable, with the least means to mitigate the risk, eventually can reap the bad effects of our actions. 

What alternatives do we have?

The Vatican’s Dicastery for Promoting Integral Development and the Laudato Si Movement worked together to produce the film called “The Letter.”  It shows the frontline leaders who advocate for the Care of our Common Home as they voice their respective concerns to Pope Francis.  A large portion of the global carbon footprint comes from the developed countries due to massive production and consumption.  Thus, the developed countries need to take the big leap of faith and take the big steps in fulfilling the commitment to the Paris Climate Agreement.

Sr. Mary Lou Rodriguez in behalf of the Incarnate Word Sisters Justice, Peace, and Creation Committee with friends invited the Village at Incarnate Word to have the film "The Letter" in Laudato Si anniversary week. The film was produced for people to learn to care for our Common Home. The film includes frontline leaders from all over the world advocating for social and ecological causes in their own respective areas.  

The event was held on May 25, 2023, at 2:30 pm beginning with a prayer led by Sr. Josetta Eveler. The prayer helped to unify hearts and mind to pause and to ask God for guidance in understanding and how each person might take action.  The gathering included a tea break and at the end a short reflection in which participants were invited to share what they felt and what they would be taking with them.  One of the participants shared that he did not know what was happening in the other parts of the world.  He admitted that there are things that we take for granted.

Sisters Consuelo, Juanita, and Angela encouraged everyone to remember that we are part of the solution.  They highlighted the importance of looking at our daily consumption and our actions (e.g., recyclables, reusables, etc.).

Jesus asked the blind man to pick up his mat and walk.  He did not magically heal the blind man and continue to leave him in a place of despair. The man had hoped for salvation for thirty-eight years. Jesus wanted him to actively participate in his cure.  The solution to Climate Change will not magically happen.  We have the abilities to put the solution into action.  God wants us to pick up our mat and walk.       

Earth Day at UIW

A few days before the event, Sr. Marylou R. head out to Marquee Plaza to fall in line among the hundreds who wanted to get a free tree to make the City of San Antonio green. This was the prize that we planned to give away for the UIW students and advocate for Care of Our Common Home. Sr. Mary P, Sr. Josetta E, and Sr. Marylou R helped each other to get the materials set-up especially the QR codes for the bookmarks. 

"The Incarnate Word Sisters, a Holy Cross Brother Adolf, Alejandro and Pax Christi’s Texas President Arthur set-up the booth to get ready for the UIW’s Earth Day fashioned by variety of nature lovers. Some participants were introducing their green organizations, some others were selling eco-friendly items, giving away free plants and healthy food items, and so much more. Apart from the bookmarks that talk about the Laudato Si and the United Nation’s Climate Action, we also gave prayer cards from the vocation ministry.  There were plentiful of students, faculty, administrators, and other nature lovers who made the day extra special. There were talks and poems the passersby can hear in front of the Student Engagement Center.  We talked to the students about the Laudato Si Animators program which is a free educational and certification program sponsored by the Laudato Si Movement open for anyone who would be interested in Climate Action and solving the Climate Crisis.  We gave away Texas Native Flowers Seeds and stressed the importance of native plants. Our visitors were happy to know about the Laudato Si and the need for the voice of the poor, voice of nature, voice of the youth, and voice of the indigenous to be heard.  These are the vulnerable voices highlighted from the movie called “The Letter” by Pope Francis.  At the end of the event for our booth, a student adopted an avocado tree.  Through Earth day events, God’s work in creation can be given an importance and people can share the many ways we can listen to the cry of the unheard, unspoken, and sometimes silent." - Sr. Marylou R, CCVI.

JPIC efforts & the better goal

According to our Constitution, the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word, “(we) are called to promote human dignity and to educate for social justice”. So, the International Justice, Peace, and Integrity of Creation (JPIC) Committee encourages us to respond with action, prayer, and education to the "cries of the poor and the earth", as Pope Francis said in the Laudato Si. Indeed, the calling of our Chapter in 2022 is to be “Presence and Communion.”  This calling has strengthened our desire to seek better ways to communicate and feel part of the same body. One of the actions in responding to that call is: "We will opt for the care of our Earth and its resources so that they are treated with the necessary respect; and sustainability is ensured for future generations." - Declaration of the Congregational Direction 2022 

The framework of our JPIC efforts are based in the Scriptures, Catholic Social Teaching, and our CCVI legacy. I invite you to watch The Story of Solutions as an illustration of what means to apply our framework.

The Sower’s Generosity

Today is the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation! Let's pray, educate ourselves, respond, and celebrate together this Season of Creation (Sept 1 - Oct 4)!

Sister Martha Ann shares this superb reflection written by Barbara Brown Taylor. Sr. Martha Ann says: "think of our JPIC image of the woman throwing seed"

JPIC stands for Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation

The Sower’s Generosity

Author and preacher Barbara Brown Taylor considers her usual response to the parable of the Sower scattering seed on different types of ground. Gospel passage (Matthew 18–23).
I started worrying about what kind of ground I was on with God. I started worrying about how many birds were in my field, how many rocks, how many thorns. I started worrying about how I could clean them all up, how I could turn myself into a well-tilled, well-weeded, well-fertilized field for the sowing of God’s word. I started worrying about how the odds were three to one against me—those are the odds in the parable, after all—and I began thinking about how I could beat the odds . . . by cleaning up my act.
That is my usual response to this parable. I hear it as a challenge to be different, as a call to improve my life, so that if the same parable were ever told about me it would have a happier ending, with all of the seed falling on rich, fertile soil. But there is something wrong with that reading of the parable, because if that is what it is about, then it should be called the parable of the different kinds of ground.

Taylor asks whether our familiar interpretation may miss the more dramatic message of God’s radical grace:

Instead, it has been known for centuries as the parable of the Sower, which means there is a chance, just a chance, that we have got it all backwards. We hear the story and think it is a story about us, but what if we are wrong? What if it is not about us at all but about the sower? What if it is not about our own successes and failures and birds and rocks and thorns but about the extravagance of a sower who does not seem to be fazed by such concerns, who flings seed everywhere, wastes it with holy abandon, who feeds the birds, whistles at the rocks, picks his way through the thorns, shouts hallelujah at the good soil and just keeps on sowing, confident that there is enough seed to go around, that there is plenty, and that when the harvest comes at last it will fill every barn in the neighborhood to the rafters?
If this is really the parable of the Sower and not the parable of the different kinds of ground, then it begins to sound quite new. The focus is not on us and our shortfalls but on the generosity of our maker, the prolific sower who does not obsess about the condition of the fields, who is not stingy with the seed but who casts it everywhere, on good soil and bad, who is not cautious or judgmental or even very practical, but who seems willing to keep reaching into his seed bag for all eternity, covering the whole creation with the fertile seed of his truth.

Barbara Brown Taylor, The Seeds of Heaven: Sermons on the Gospel of Matthew (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2004), 25–26.

Sumate for our common home

Súmate is back!

This contest is an excellent opportunity to work as a team, collaborate with those in need, and take care of our common home.

Let's value life; let's be agents of transformation. Our planet is our home. It is the place where we enjoy our families and our friendships. Our common home is waiting for us to value and protect it.

"Young man, young woman, to you I say, arise" (Lk 7:14). It is time to get out of our comfort zone and be part of the change.

Contest rules: https://bit.ly/3MfvZbE

Care of our Common Home - A Filipino View

Marylou Rodriguez, our novice sister, shares with us her presentation prepared for the Philippine Sisters Gathering at Zoom (October 17, 2021). Through the reality in the Philippines, Marylou shares how each effort and/or action no matter how small it is perceived can make a difference. 

You can watch the presentation by clicking here:

https://my.visme.co/view/dmpd1jyv-plastic-and-sustainability

JPIC Commission and Religious Participation in COP26

 The JPIC Commission gives important details about the what is being done and what can be done about the religious participation in COP26. Many religious women and men are listening to the cries of the Earth and the Poor. They are raising awareness about difficult world situations, giving answers at a local level and international level, advocating to give voice to the voiceless and find solutions together to face the world's crisis. Here there is a video which explain the JPIC Commission USG-UISG and presents examples of how religious preparing and will participate in the COP 26. Enjoy this video! 

In addition, a Religious Addressing Factors of Climate Change for COP26 video presented by Sowing Hope for the Planet features clips from a recent webinar where religious shared their actions and perspectives on climate change activism. The participants shared experiences on how climate change affects farming communities and access to food, as well as their efforts towards raising awareness about unethical investing and other strategies that we can use to mitigate the effects of climate change. 

Finally, the Solidarity in Building a Better world video features inspiring and engaging conversations from religious encouraging involvement in the Laudato Si' Action Platform, resources available from the LSAP website, preparation for COP26, local contributions to climate change activism and news and shared perspectives from members around the world including Japan, the Philippines, the USA, Peru and Bolivia. 

Laudato Si Action Plataform - Season of Creation efforts

 Advocacy opportunity and resources 

As you know well, human activity is warming our planet at an unprecedented rate. The UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) warns that humanity only has a few years to avoid catastrophic climate change. Solutions exist now that can help slow and even reverse this climate warming. However, we need faith-filled voices to strengthen our nation’s moral and political will to enact bold policies that dramatically reduce greenhouse gas emissions and care for the common good. 

Take action 

The Catholic Climate Covenant is offering us the opportunity to take action NOW! Here are three simple and impactful actions you can take TODAY! 

1. Sign and share The Catholic Climate Action Petition for Individuals, 

2. Ask authorized leaders or representatives of Catholic institutions to sign the Climate Action Letter is for Catholic Institutions.

Utilize new EPA report on inequitable impact of climate change 

Compelling advocacy narratives combine stories of impacted persons with concrete data. The new report from the Environmental Protection Agency on social vulnerability and climate change could be a useful tool as you shape messaging for your congregation, leadership, and elected officials. This report improves our understanding of the degree to which four socially vulnerable populations— defined based on income, educational attainment, race and ethnicity, and age—may be more exposed to the highest impacts of climate change. The data tracks with the Preferential Option for the Poor and helps us see how to advocate for those most vulnerable. You can access the full report HERE. 

The Season of Creation continues! Webinars and resources 

● Cry of the Earth, Cry of the Poor: Reducing our Carbon Footprint - In this webinar hosted by the Catholic Health Association on Sept. 23 from 1-2PM ET, Gary Cohen, president and founder of Health Care Without Harm, along with representatives from Ascension and Providence St. Joseph Health, will share how they are working to eliminate the carbon emissions of their organizations as well as concrete actions health care organizations can take to adopt renewable energy and achieve carbon neutrality. Learn more and register here. See all of CHA's 2021 Feast of St Francis resources. 

● Season of Creation Liturgy Guide authored by Jim Hug, SJ and a talented creative team and with the partnership of the Ecology Desk of Vatican Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development: Laudato Si’ Action Platform and LISTEN: Laudato Si’ International Scholars of Tertiary Education Network. Click HERE to download in English and HERE for Spanish. 

● Information and the guide for the Season of Creation 2021 can be found at https://seasonofcreation.org/ 

● Vatican News coverage highlighting ecumenical nature of the season. 

Examples of impactful action as you prepare your LS plan 

Thank you to everyone who continues to share their community and congregation efforts to prepare for the Laudato Si’ Action Platform. In the last update, we highlighted an example of a diocesan action plan that contained practical examples that could be applied to religious orders. If you are looking for more examples of impactful action, check out the LSAP resource HERE with specific activities by LS goal.