Caring for our Common Home
Laudato Si' Week 16-24 May
May 24 is the fifth anniversary of the encyclical "Laudato si' - Praise Be to You." It is a ground-breaking encyclical addressed to all people by Pope Francis which asserts that spiritually and morally everything is interconnected. It brings contemporary science and theological truth together in dialogue on environmental issues. The week 16-24 May has been set aside to focus on ways our human family are helping to care for all creation.
Psalm 104
Bless the Lord O my soul!
O Lord my God how great you are,
Clothed in majesty and honour,
Wrapped in light as with a robe.
You stretch out the heavens like a tent,
On the waters you establish your dwelling.
You make the clouds your chariot;
You ride on the wings of the wind.
You make the winds your messengers,
Flame and fire your servants.
Global Prayer at Noon Sunday 24 May
Catholics across the globe will be united in spirit on this coming Sunday. Here is the prayer we could say together at noon (local time). Gather with a small group and pray that we can experience a true conversion of the heart.
There are suggestions for you to organise your own prayer service.
There is an opportunity to join for an online Laudato Si Mass. Visit this Prayers page from the Laudato Si website for more information.
Resources for Liturgies
Caring for God's creation - resources for liturgy, preaching and taking action. US bishops 2020. Here
Short 2 min video to bring to mind Laudato Si' Here
A Christian Prayer in Union with Creation. Here.
Mercy World Library has a very comprehensive selection of videos and prayer resources. Here
Karakia composed by Helen Fisher: He waiata mo Laudato Si - Music and words. Here
Litany using statements from Pope Francis’s encyclical. Here.
Coronavirus in a time of climate crisis by Pa Peter Healey sm. Here
Vatican Video using Laudato si’ quotes and images in three languages. Dur 6:18mins. Click Here
More resources available from the Global Catholic Climate Movement website including a video from Pope Francis. Click Here
Echoes from AFrica-Europe region from Sr Catherine Jones SM. Click Here
Meditation
Benediction by Karl Jenkins from his Mass for Peace is a sublime visual and aural experience. Allow yourself 7:33 minutes to meditate on the awe and wonder of creation and all that is. To view click here
(Main image on title page taken from the space station showing the thin layer of the troposphere encircling Earth and looking towards the moon. NASA)
And everything is connected. Ā, kei te honono i ngā mea katoa
We have forgotten that we ourselves are dust of the earth, our very bodies are made of her elements, we breathe her air and we receive life and nourishment from her waters.(#2)
We have to realise that a true ecological approach always becomes a social approach; it must integrate questions of justice in debates on the environment, so as to hear both the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor.’ (#49)
The Lord, in the culmination of the mystery of the Incarnation, chose to reach our intimate depths through a fragment of matter. He comes not from above, but from within, he comes that we might find him in this world of ours. (#236)
The Lord, in the culmination of the mystery of the Incarnation, chose to reach our intimate depths through a fragment of matter. He comes not from above, but from within, he comes that we might find him in this world of ours. (#236)
