The World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation takes place on September 1st and celebrates God the Creator and the great mystery of creating the cosmos, while also encouraging us to heal our relationship with creation. It is a day that helps us reflect on the act of creation itself, a foundational mystery of our faith.
Inspired by rich traditions, this day is also known as Creation Day or the Feast of Creation and has been embraced by the Orthodox Church, the World Council of Churches, the Anglican Communion, and the Catholic Church. This day of prayer for creation nourishes the larger Season of Creation that flows from it which takes place from September 1 to October 4, the Feast of St. Francis.
This day is a moment to thank and praise the Triune God as Creator. As Pope Benedict XVI has reminded us, “The Redeemer is the Creator and if we do not proclaim God in His full grandeur –as Creator and as Redeemer– we also diminish the value of the Redemption.”
The history of the feast
Creation Day has a rich history that is connected with the roots of our faith.
Some Jewish liturgies for Rosh Hashanah celebrate “Today is the day of the world’s creation.” Among Orthodox Christians, there is an ancient practice of observing 1 September as the very “Day of Creation,” marking the moment in which it is believed that God began shaping the universe.
The Byzantine “Creation Era” calendar, which was used by the Ecumenical Patriarchate of the Orthodox Church for centuries, stipulated that God began the creation of the cosmos on September 1 of the year 5509 BC. Later calendars used by the Orthodox Church kept the tradition alive by maintaining 1 September as the first day of its liturgical year.
Interpreting that tradition within the signs of the ecological crisis, the Ecumenical Patriarch Dimitrios expanded the day to be a day of prayer for creation in 1989, encouraging “prayers and supplications to the Maker of all, both as thanksgiving for the great gift of Creation and as petitions for its protection and salvation.”
This special day for creation was embraced by the World Council of Churches in 2008 and the Anglican Communion in 2012. In 2015. Pope Francis followed suit and established the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation on September 1 for the Catholic Church.
The meanings of “creation”
The word “creation” has two meanings: both the wondrous act of making the cosmos and all that resulted from it.
The World Day of Prayer for Creation encourages us to focus on both the awesome act of creation and on the beautiful universe that came from it. We probe the theological mystery of God’s loving command “Let there be light” (Gen 1:3) and the resulting cosmos that God found “very good” (Gen 1:31).
A recent theological seminar in Assisi reflected on these meanings. More information is available in the report “A Liturgical Opportunity, An Ecumenical Kairos”.
How to celebrate the feast
As we hope and act with creation, Creation Day is a special opportunity to encourage your community to unite in prayer.
Ideas for how to celebrate the day itself are here, and more information about the Season of Creation is here.