By: Sister Albertina Nts’ebo Nkunyane (LSA Lesotho Chapter)
The Season of Creation is celebrated yearly starting from 1st September to 4th October, the feast of St. Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of ecology. The theme for 2025 is “Peace with Creation,” reminding us that true peace includes harmony between humanity and the environment that sustains us. The celebration of Season of Creation this year started with the Holy Mass on 1st September.
During this sacred season, I organized a cleaning campaign together with learners from several schools under our care. These included Bernarda Home Economics, Holy Cross High School, St. Thomas Aquinas English Medium Primary School, Bernarda Pre-School, and Holy Cross Primary School. I visited each of these schools on different days to speak with the students about the importance of caring for creation and celebrating 10 years of Laudato Si, Pope Francis’ encyclical on the care of our common home, first published on 24th May 2015.
The students participated enthusiastically in cleaning their school surroundings, collecting litter, and learning about how even small actions can make a big difference in protecting the environment. Together, we reflected on how to live peacefully with creation, not exploiting or neglecting it, but nurturing it with love and responsibility.
At the end of each session, the students made personal and group resolutions to:
- Keep their environment clean and free from litter;
- Reduce plastic use and encourage recycling;
- Plant trees and protect nature;
- Care for animals and show kindness to all people, as part of God’s creation.
In Holy Cross Health Centre where I serve, we also joined in the spirit of the Season of Creation. Every morning, before beginning our work, we read creation stories from Scripture as part of our daily reflection on the Word of God. Patients and staff alike were encouraged to see the healing power of creation and the need to preserve it for future generations.
“What kind of world do we want to leave to those who come after us, children who are now growing up?” Laudato Si, 160. I also shared teaching
about the Season of Creation with patients, helping them understand that caring for the environment is part of our Christian faith and a form of gratitude to God, the Creator.
As we close this year’s Season of Creation, we give thanks to God for the beauty of the earth and for the young people who have shown such enthusiasm in becoming stewards of creation. May our shared efforts bring us closer to living in true peace with creation, where humanity and nature coexist in respect, balance, and love.
“Let everything that breathes praise the Lord!” (Psalm 150:6)
Sister Albertina Nts’ebo Nkunyane Lesotho