Celebrating a new form of the Catholic Mass “for the care of creation”, Pope Leo XIV urged Catholics to contemplate nature as well as the ways they have shirked their responsibility to care for it. Source: NCR Online.
“From contemplating creation and encountering its creator, there arises an awareness of our particular place within God’s wondrous plan, and of the responsibility that we bear both personally and collectively for preserving the original harmony,” Pope Leo said while celebrating Mass in the papal gardens at Castel Gandolfo, outside Rome yesterday.
During the Mass marking the Church’s celebration of World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation and attended by Vatican staff, Pope Leo said the Gospel invites believers to contemplate God’s creation, “a task that is certainly not difficult in the setting of these beautiful gardens”.
It was only the second time the Pope has celebrated a Mass “for the care of creation” using a new formulary for the Mass he introduced into the Roman Missal last July.
The new formulary can be used during the Season of Creation – a month-long period devoted to prayer and action for the care of creation which runs from September 1, the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation, to October 4, the feast of St Francis of Assisi.
This year’s observance ends during the 800th anniversary of the death of St Francis: the founder of the Franciscan order, namesake of Pope Francis and a central inspiration for the late pope’s encyclical on the care of creation, Laudato Si’, on Care for Our Common Home.
Beginning Mass amid the lush green surroundings of the papal garden on Tuesday, Pope Leo invited the congregation to “recognise with humility the ways in which we have been unfaithful in safekeeping creation and caring for the dignity of each person.”
In his homily, the Pope asked the faithful in the coming weeks to “set aside a few moments to pause from the frenzy of our daily lives, in order to savour the profound harmony of which we ourselves are a part.”
“Let us place in ‘silent mode’ the many noises generated by human activity, so that we may hear the melodious voice of creation, through which God, the author of all things, speaks to us,” he said.
FULL STORY
Pope asks Catholics to acknowledge ‘unfaithful’ attitudes for care of creation (By Justin McLellan, NCR Online)
