What is the Season of Creation?
The Season of Creation is a time of grace that the Church, in ecumenical dialogue, offers to humanity to renew its relationship with God as Creator and with all that God has created. It begins September 1, World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation, and ends October 4, the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi. This year’s theme for the Season of Creation is To Hope and Act with Creation. Saint Anne invites each of you to respond in prayer and action to the urgent needs of our common home and all of creation.
September 1, 2024 World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation
His Holiness Pope Francis calls for worldwide unity in safeguarding creation, encouraging all to
embrace environmental responsibility on the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation, September 1, 2024.
Please follow this link to read Pope Francis’ message: https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/messages/cura-creato/documents/20240627-messaggio-giornata-curacreato.html
The statement of the United States Catholic Conference of Bishops on the World Dau of Prayer for the Care of Creation can be found by following this link: https://www.usccb.org/news/2024/creation-gods-gift-humanity-steward-not-prey-upon-pope-says
Triune God, Creator of All,
We praise you for your goodness, visible in all the diversity that you have created, making us a cosmic family living in a common home. Through the Earth you created, we experience love and nourishment, home and protection.
We confess that we do not relate to the Earth as a Mothering gift from you, our Creator. Our selfishness, greed, neglect, and abuse have caused the climate crisis, loss of biodiversity, human suffering as well as the suffering of all our fellow creatures. We confess that we have failed to listen to the groans of the Earth, the groans of all creatures, and the groans of the Spirit of hope and justice that lives within us.
May your Creator Spirit help us in our weakness, so that we may know the redeeming power of Christ and the hope found in him. May the groans of the Spirit birth in us a willingness to serve you faithfully, so that we may hear and heal Creation, to hope and act together, so that the firstfruits of hope may blossom.
Loving and Creator God, we pray that you will make us sensitive to these groans and enable us to have the same compassion as that of Jesus, the redeeming Lord. Grant us a fresh vision of our relationship with Earth, and with one another, as creatures that are made in your image.
In the name of the one who came to proclaim the good news to all Creation, Jesus Christ.
Amen.
A history born of ecumenism
In 1989 Ecumenical Patriarch Dimitros I proclaimed September 1 as the Orthodox Day of Prayer for Creation. Subsequently, the World Council of Churches (WCC) extended the celebration until October 4, the feast day of St. Francis of Assisi. In turn, in 2015 Pope Francis made the Season of Creation official for the Roman Catholic Church. In this regard, Pope Francis expressed in 2015:
“The annual World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation will offer individual believers and communities a fitting opportunity to reaffirm their personal vocation to be stewards of creation, to thank God for the wonderful handiwork which he has entrusted to our care, and to implore his help for the protection of creation as well as his pardon for the sins committed against the world in which we live. The celebration of this Day, on the same date as the Orthodox Church, will be a valuable opportunity to bear witness to our growing communion with our Orthodox brothers and sisters.”
The Pope and the Vatican
In recent years, the Pope and the Vatican have shown more prophetic leadership in strongly encouraging all Catholics to participate in this ecumenical season. The Vatican’s Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development writes letters each year inviting all Catholics to “join the ecumenical family in celebrating the Season of Creation.” The Dicastery repeats Pope Francis’ call for all Catholics to join the Season and has also encouraged “bishops and ecclesial organisms to make statements to raise awareness of this celebration, helping the faithful to discover that ‘living our vocation to be protectors of God’s handiwork is essential to a life of virtue; it is not an optional or a secondary aspect of our Christian experience.’ (LS 217)
A new theme each year
Each year, the Ecumenical Steering Committee suggests a theme and provides resources to guide the celebration of the Season of Creation.
Opportunities for Prayer & Learning
August 22 through October 4
PRAYER
Moments of Reflection to Hope and Act with Creation
Anticipatory Prayer for the Season of Creation
August 22, 23, 26, 27, 28, 29 & 30 – Saint Anne Chapel
8:45 – 9:00 a.m.
Immediately following the 8:15 am Mass, members of Creation Care will lead ecumenical prayers in anticipation of the Season of Creation. Many of these prayers were voiced by the leaders of thirteen Chicagoland Christian churches, who signed the Declaration of Care for Our Common Home. The Declaration was installed on the wall of Holy Name Cathedral on May 18, 2024.
Archdiocese of Chicago 10th Annual Solemn Vespers for the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation
Saturday, August 31 6:00 – 9:45 p.m.
Saints Peter and Paul Greek Orthodox Church
1301 Wagner Road, Glenview, IL 60025
Carpool/caravan from Saint Anne Parish Center parking lot to Glenview
This ecumenical service, in conjunction with Our Lady of Perpetual Help, brings together the Catholic and Greek Orthodox communities of Greater Chicagoland to give thanks for God’s gift of creation and to recognize the conservation efforts of his disciples. Solemn Vespers will be followed by a reception and lecture by Dr. Debjani Ghatak, a highly acclaimed hydro-climatologist and lecturer at the School of Environmental Sustainability, Loyola University Chicago, who will dig deeper into the causes of change and what future scenarios look like for our state and country.
Feast of Saint Francis and the Blessing of Animals
October 4 4:00 – 5:00 p.m.
Saint Anne Courtyard (behind the Saint Anne School Gymnasium in front of the Creation mural) followed by a procession around to the St. Francis Laudato Si’ Garden on the north side of the chapel. Bring your pet, a photo of your pet or an animal that is important to you, or an image of an animal that is endangered. Together we will bless our beloved pets
LEARNING AND REFLECTION
World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation
Sunday, September 1
Take ten minutes, read, and reflect on Pope Francis’ message which can be found on this link:
or off the Saint Anne Creation Care page: https://www.stannebarrington.org/seasonofcreation/
Enrollment Demonstrations of the Laudato Si’ Action Platform for Families
• Saturday and Sundays, September 1, 7 & 8
Gathering Space All Masses
• Wednesday, September 4
Saint Anne School during Curriculum Night
• Wednesdays, September 11 and 18
Gathering Space immediately following 8:15 morning Mass
• Tuesday/Wednesday, September 24/25
Parish Center Saint Anne Children’s Faith Formation – Family Event
The Laudato Si’ Action Platform (LSAP) is an initiative of the Vatican, inspired by Pope Francis’ encyclical letter, Laudato Si’: On Care for Our Common Home. It is a virtual platform and worldwide community taking action to care for the earth and the poor. Participants of all backgrounds, faiths, and experience levels share reflections on their lifestyles, evaluate opportunities for change, and set concrete action plans that renew relationship with God, with others, and with nature to answer the Cry of the Earth, the Cry of the Poor and the Cry of Future Generations. Members of the Saint Anne Care for Creation Ministry will demonstrate the simple steps for enrolling you individually or your household on the Platform.
The Way of Creation/Via Creationis
Friday, September 6 7:00 – 8:30 p.m.
Seven stations both inside and outside the Church.
The Via Creationis or the Way of the Creation is a new prayer to celebrate and contemplate Creation. Just as the Way of the Cross commemorates the mystery of the Passion, the Way of Creation commemorates the mystery of Creation. It does so by “reading” the two sacred books that God wrote, the Book of the Scripture and the Book of Nature, to appreciate the great mystery of God’s creation of the cosmos. The seven stations that compose it, following the famous “seven days” of Genesis, are seven gifts that God considers “good”: the light, the sky, the Earth and the sea, the celestial bodies, water and air creatures, land creatures and finally a compilation of all created things. At each station, the Lord is praised and thanked for giving us this “goodness”. Immediately following our reflection time, desserts will be served in the Gathering Space.
Creation Walk with Fr. Rodolfo
Saturday, September 14 Citizens Park north parking lot
8:00 a.m. Details to follow.
FaithBridge Conservation Celebration
Saint Anne is a member of FaithBridge, an interfaith organization that aims to build bridges between people and communities in McHenry and Lake Counties, Illinois. Their mission has a two-fold purpose: promoting mutual understanding and respectful relationships among diverse religious communities and advancing unity and diversity for the common good.
Saturday, September 21 Pleasant Valley Conservation Area,
13115 Pleasant Valley Road, Woodstock, IL 1:00 – 4:00 p.m.
Spend an enjoyable afternoon in this beautiful setting. The afternoon will include learning and service–feeding the bees and planting tomorrow’s forests, farming initiatives by Smart Farm, praying, reflecting, and storytelling. Saint Anne parishioner, Cindy Cramer, will speak about the Catholic Church’s work through the Laudato Si’ Action Platform.
If you wish to update your contact information with the parish or otherwise have a question, please email us!
PARISH OFFICE HOURS
Monday – Friday, 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
(Closed for Lunch from 12:00 – 1:00 p.m.)
Contact Us
120 N. Ela Street • Barrington, IL 60010
(847) 382-5300
Fax: (847) 382-5363
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