The Season of Creation
To Hope and Act With Creation
The firstfruits of hope,
inspired by words of t Paul in the Letter to the Romans 8:19-25.
Romans 8: 19-25
for the whole creation is waiting with eagerness for the children of God to be revealed.
It was not for its own purposes that creation had frustration imposed on it, but for the purposes of him who imposed it-with the intention that the whole creation itself might be freed from its slavery to corruption and brought into the same glorious freedom as the children of God.
We are well aware that the whole creation, until this time, has been groaning in labour pains. And not only that: we too, who have the first-fruits of the Spirit, even we are groaning inside ourselves, waiting with eagerness for our bodies to be set free. In hope, we already have salvation; in hope, not visibly present, or we should not be hoping — nobody goes on hoping for something which is already visible. But having this hope for what we cannot yet see, we are able to wait for it with persevering confidence.
music from Ps 8 . .
The image in the letter to the Romans pictures the Earth as a Mother, groaning as in childbirth (Rom 8:22). Saint Francis of Assisi understood this when he referred to the Earth as our sister and our mother in his Canticle of Creatures. The times we live in show that we are not relating to the Earth as a gift from our Creator, but rather as a resource to be used. “Creation is groaning” because of our selfishness and our unsustainable actions that harm her. Along with our Sister, Mother Earth, creatures of all kinds, including humans, cry out because of our destructive actions causing climate crisis, loss of biodiversity, and human suffering as well as Creation’s suffering.
music from Ps 8
that our sense of God’s presence and praying may give us a deeper understanding of Mother Earth as our common home;
that, empowered by the Spirit, we may listen with our hearts to the Cry of the Earth and the Cry of the Poor.
that empowered by the Spirit we may change our lifestyle for a healing of our earth and a care for all people. .
