The Season of Creation runs from 1 September (World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation) to 4 October (the feast of Saint Francis of Assisi) each year.
This ecumenical season is dedicated to prayer and action for the protection of creation. It is a time to renew our relationships with God our Creator, and with all creation, as we join together in prayer.
We give thanks for all that God has made, repent for the damage that we have caused and commit ourselves to take action to protect the earth our common home.
This year we have been made acutely aware of how interconnected we all are, and so we come together in hope that we can rebuild and heal our world.
There are many ways in which we can keep the season.
Two in particular are suggested.
The first…
The first is that each day we try to fast just a little – maybe cutting out a coffee, a cake, a drink – and put aside the money we could have spend on ourselves, and at the end of the month bring that money to church on Sunday 11th October for your gift (or part of your gift) to Cafod for Harvest Fast Day 2020.
Read here about other activities related to Cafod’s Harvest Fast Day 2020
Some of us, of course, are hard pressed at this time and have little or no money to share,, in which case, try to spend a little time each day praying for others in need, and for the work of Cafod. You might like to use the following prayer:
God, you call us out of darkness. May we hear your voice in the cry of our brothers and sisters in crisis. As you walk alongside us always, may we walk beside one another listening and responding in love. Shine the light of your compassion through us, dispelling chaos, fear and despair. Breathe hope and courage into all our hearts as we work together to rebuild once more. Strengthen us, Lord, and keep us steadfast. Bring healing and comfort to all and lead us renewed into your marvellous light. We ask this through Christ our Lord, Amen.
The second…
As we get closer to Harvest Fast Day you are invited to join with others in praying a Novena to Saint Francis, patron saint of those working to heal and safeguard the world God made and in which we live.
The Novena begins on Friday 25th September and continues until Sunday, 4th October, the feast day of St Francis.
On each of the nine days of the Novena there will be a brief reflection, asking St Francis of Assisi to pray for us and our world, based on his beautiful Canticle of the Sun.
Each reflection has four phases: Canticle; Amazon voice; penitential prayer; plea for intercession.
This novena is a song of penitence and praise, guiding us to care for the earth and for our most vulnerable sisters and brothers, especially the Amazon peoples. They are currently under grave risk from coronavirus, given their fragile situation, often in remote locations far from government services.
Communities with whom Cafod works are reporting a sharp increase in predatory attacks on land. People smugglers are also active and those being trafficked are in more danger than ever, having no access to healthcare.
The pandemic shows us that “we have not heard the cry of the poor and our seriously ill planet” warns Pope Francis, describing this as “a time to choose what matters and what passes away”. (Urbi et Orbi, 2020)
Last Sunday’s Gospel had Jesus laud Peter and place in his hands the awesome responsibility for binding and loosing on earth, a binding and loosing which would be accepted by heaven too.
And yet now Peter, perhaps even consciously choosing to step up to the plate, and exercise some of that responsibility delegated to him, on behalf of Jesus and the disciples finds that he has over stepped the mark;, misjudged the situation;, failed to understand the full cost of discipleship; and is now called Satan by the Lord he knows to be the Christ the Son of the living God.
Peter who moments before was praised for learning from God the Father, is now firmly put in his place and told he thinks in man’s way but not as God thinks.
How easy it would have been for Peter to have slunk away, shamed and dispirited. Yet that he…
Catholic Christianity places great value on the symbols and rituals of our faith. And rightly so – not a few of these come to us directly from Jesus himself, and are means of his sharing his life and saving love with us.
And yet, these things can sometimes become substitutes for faith and faithful living, masks that can obscure for us the life of love for God and neighbour to which all Christians are called.
Other things of faith offer great help to faithfulness, but must never be seen as sufficient of themselves for the good life.
St Paul’s letter to the Roman continues beyond the verses which we hear this Sunday to identify a variety of aspects of loving living. Many of those verses do not appear in the Sunday Lectionary, but they are given below for our prayer and for an examination of conscience.
Welcome to the coronavirus weekly update from Birmingham City Council.
The update lets you know about Birmingham City Council’s services, public health information, general advice on Covid-19, and other relevant news from the council and our partners to keep you informed. If you have friends and family who are not online, please share the information in this bulletin with them.
At the end of this Blog are two ways in which the Council invites you to help.
You can find a full suite of information about Covid-19 on the council’s website.
Covid guidance
Birmingham City Council Leader, Cllr Ian Ward, has announced new measures to keep the rate of COVID-19 infections reducing in the city. He urges Birmingham residents to help get children back to school, promises stronger action against those who don’t follow the rules around COVID-19, and unveils new measures to tackle business non-compliance.
With the bank holiday just starting, please, of course, enjoy yourselves – but stay safe and responsible – this bank holiday weekend. Don’t be afraid to leave and report a pub or restaurant if you feel they’re not compliant. Only socialise indoors with up to two households or your social bubble; bring your own cutlery to barbecues; and avoid gatherings of more than 30.
Watch this video clip from council Leader, Cllr Ian Ward, on staying safe when socialising – and this video clip from Cllr Ward explaining how businesses flouting the rules will be closed down. Have a great time – but keep taking responsibility for yourself and your loved ones!
Welcoming all Birmingham children back to school, Cllr Jayne Francis – the council’s Cabinet Member for Education, Skills and Culture – has spoken about why it’s so important that children return to schools and early years settings, and what measures are in place to make them safe.
The council has launched a new, free ‘drop and collect’ COVID-19 testing service in Birmingham. Staff from across the council, NHS and wider public sector have volunteered to take part. They will visit households across the city to offer test kits on the doorstep, even for those without symptoms, to support more testing.
To control COVID-19, testing and tracing must become a new way of life. A new video explains more – including symptoms to look out for.
Face coverings are now compulsory in many places. Unless you have a legitimate reason not to, you must wear a face covering to protect others from the spread of COVID-19 infection. Find guidance – with exemption forms to download and print – here.
Businesses flouting Covid-19 rules could be closed to protect Birmingham from a local lockdown. Last week, government designated Birmingham an Area of Enhanced Support following a surge in Covid-19 cases across the city. To help combat the spread, the council is working with West Midlands Police to use emergency regulatory powers to intervene if businesses fail to comply with risk assessments.
Do YOU have concerns about a Birmingham business which isn’t complying with the rules around COVID-19? Are they taking bookings for more than six people, or from more than two households? Or not taking customer details for ‘test and trace’? Report them an anonymously here. We have the powers to close them down, if necessary.
The NHS needs more COVID-19-convalescent plasma donors. Plasma donation is safe, easy and you could save lives. Can YOU help? If you’ve had COVID-19, you can donate at your nearest donor centre. Find out more here.
Catholics at University is a website to look for the Catholic Chaplain and Catholic Society at your University.
Most of our Universities and Higher Education Institutions have a dedicated Catholic Chaplain based in the university or the local parish.
The Catholic Chaplaincy is a place for students, especially, to explore their faith, to meet people with similar interests from a great range of backgrounds, and to get involved in activities and social outreach.
If they already have a strong faith, this is a chance to deepen it. If they are full of questions and doubts, this is a chance to share them and search for some honest answers about life and faith. Everyone is welcome.
The words of the psalm we will hear at Mass on Sunday could come from Jeremiah (see yesterday’s blog giving Sunday’s first reading) – and certainly it is easy to imagine Jeremiah praying these words.
They are words formed in the heart of one who is exhausted and feels apart from God.
In our days, and in our present circumstances, there are many such – and we ourselves may be of their number.
And yet they are words of hope and of resilience. And surely pleasing to God, when they are prayed not out of immediate satisfaction of all our needs but from a vulnerable and testing place, and yet prayed with longing and trust in the faithfulness of God.
Psalm 62(63):2-6,8-9
(NB the text set for Sunday is given below in bold and in ‘quote sections’ below; the rest is the immediate biblical text from which the Lectionary text…
Many Christians expect their relationship with God to be somewhat prim and proper.
Jeremiah, in this Sunday’s first reading, is caught up in something much more passionate and engaging than is common.
He feels he has been seduced, indeed ravished, by God. Indeed, he also feels that God has used him and cast him aside, or at least is very much aware that everyone else seems to think that, and he is humiliated by that and somewhat persuaded that they might be right.
And yet, there is still a certain fire in him, passion for the Lord.
It would be a mistake to think that Jeremiah was suffering from Stockholm Syndrome. Rather his relationship with God has roots deeper and thirstier for God than he knows. Jeremiah has some way to go in his relationship with the Lord – and his neighbours. He lives in challenging times but the love…