The 2024 Season of Creation was presented this Friday, February 2. This year the theme “Hope and act with Creation” and the symbol “The firstfruits of hope”, inspired by Romans 8:19-25, will be our guiding inspiration.
The Season of Creation is the annual Christian celebration that calls us together each year to pray and respond jointly to the cry of Creation: the ecumenical family from around the world comes together to listen to and care for our common home. The “Celebration” begins on September 1st, the Feast of Creation, and concludes on October 4th, the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of ecology beloved by many Christian denominations.
Guided by St. Paul in his letter to the Romans
The biblical image depicts the Earth as a mother groaning as if giving birth (Rom 8:22). St. Francis of Assisi understood it this way when he referred to the Earth as our sister and our mother in his Canticle of the Creatures. The times we live in demonstrate that we do not relate to the Earth as a gift from our Creator, but as a resource to be used.
“Creation groans” (Rom 8:22) because of our selfishness and unsustainable actions that harm it. Together with our Sister, Mother Earth, creatures of all kinds, including humans, cry out because of our destructive actions that cause climate crises, biodiversity loss and human suffering, as well as Creation’s suffering.
However, Creation teaches us that hope is present in waiting, in the expectation of a better future (cf. Rom 8:20-21). To hope in the biblical context does not mean to remain still and silent, but to groan, to cry out and actively strive for a new life in the midst of difficulties. Creation and all of us are called to worship the Creator, working together for a dynamic future based on hope and action. Only when we work together with Creation can the firstfruits of hope spring forth. As in childbirth, we go through a period of intense pain, but new life emerges.
To delve deeper into the theological reflection that guides the 2024 theme and symbol, find more information here. You can also download the Season of Creation invitation here.
Transiting the “Preparation” stage
In February, following the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity celebrated in the northern hemisphere, the “Preparation” stage of the ecumenical season – a stage in which ecumenical leaders meet and convene their communities to discern how to listen and respond together to the cry of Creation – begins.
Visit the SeasonOfCreation.org website, where you will find theReligious Leaders’ invitation message and the available resources to be completed with the official Celebration Guide, available starting in June, after celebrating the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity in the southern hemisphere.