The Season of Creation is an initiative and an ecumenical effort of which the Catholic Church is a part, which is part of the “Laudato Si Year” and it seeks to stimulate its ecological conversion. Pope Francis has made the invitation to celebrate this Season of Creation, which acquires special relevance in light of the Coronavirus pandemic. This is a celebration that takes place every year from September 1 (World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation) until October 4 (Feast of Saint Francis of Assisi); This year the theme of the celebration is “Jubilee for the Earth”. To do this, a guide has been developed that can help us familiarize ourselves with this initiative and plan the celebration in our particular areas.
The Pope recently stated that “we cannot pretend to be healthy in a world that is sick. The wounds inflicted on our mother earth are wounds that also bleed in us. ” For the Redemptorist Family, Pope Francis’ Magisterium on integral ecology is a moral and spiritual guide that moves us to contribute from our charism to the healing of the wounded world, and to live in solidarity according to the invitation of the last General Chapter. The efforts that are currently being made to overcome the pandemic should lead us to recognize that we, as individuals and as a Congregation, also have a role to play and that, to achieve this, we need a new “universal solidarity” (LS 14) and an “Ecological conversion”.
In the same way, the Dicastery for Integral Human Development has presented the document “On the way to the care of the Common House – Five years after Laudato Si.” This document constitutes a useful tool, especially in these uncertain times, because it offers guidance on the reading of the encyclical Laudato Si and promotes operative lines that can inspire concrete actions in our communities. The coincidence of the special Year on LS with the tragic health and socioeconomic events caused by the pandemic, makes the message of the encyclical even more prophetic because it is delivered to us as a moral and spiritual compass of extraordinary current importance on the common path towards a more caring and sustainable world.
Fr. Cristian Bueno, C.Ss.R.
General Secretariat for Evangelization
Doc inter-dicasteriale In cammino per la cura della Casa Comune_2020
the Liturgical Guides for the Celebration: SOC_2020_Final_Jubilee_for_the_Earth
