Praying at home today:
The Season of Creation – Pope Francis’s Laudato si’

For four weeks, following the first Sunday in September until the day before Harvest Sunday, we will be focussing on the season of creation, in preparation for the COP26 Climate Conference in Glasgow.

Although we will follow our usual form of prayer, our readings and some other material will follow those given in Daily Prayer of the Scottish Episcopal Church for this Season of Creation.

This is a good time to be grateful for our beautiful, yet fragile world, and to dedicate ourselves anew as faithful stewards to its protection.

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A warm welcome to PrayingAtHome.com, where you can find worship resources for praying at home today or wherever you are.

We hope these readings, prayers, music and the short reflection will help you stay in touch with the Church and to sustain you on your journey through life.

If this is your first visit to this website, then you might like to read about the common elements and the suggested structure for each day’s prayer.
Everything’s optional!

Opening to the Word

You can spend a few moments in silence,
focussing on your breathing
to become more mindful of the present moment
and to open yourself more fully
to God’s presence within you.

O God, you created the heavens and spread out the earth
You gave breath to all people
and spirit to everything which walks on the earth.

Isaiah 42:5

The Lord is a great God, and a sovereign above all gods.
In God’s hand are the depths of the earth;
the heights of the mountains are God’s also.

The sea is God’s, for God made it, and God’s hand formed the dry land.
O come, let us worship and bow down,
let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker!

Psalm 95:3-6

Short reading

Bless the Lord, O my soul.
O Lord my God, you are very great.
You are clothed with honour and majesty,
wrapped in light as with a garment.

Benedic, anima mea, Domino:
Domine Deus meus, magnificatus es vehementer.
Confessionem et decorem induisti,
amictus lumine sicut vestimento.

Bénis l’Eternel, mon âme!
Eternel, mon Dieu, tu es infiniment grand,
tu es revêtu de splendeur et de magnificence.
L’Eternel s’enveloppe de lumière comme d’un manteau.

Psalm 103(104):1-2a

The Liturgy of the Word

Here is today’s Bible reading.

• Psalm 103(104):1-23

Short reflection

During these four weeks of the Season of Creation, I’m reading Pope Francis’s encyclical letter Laudato si’, mi’ Signore – Praise to you, my Lord (LS) – and I hope to share with you a few nuggets from the Church’s social teaching on Creation and our stewardship of this planet we call our home.

In this second week, he explores what theology (Faith seeking understanding) has to say, with particular reference to the Bible (LS62).

The mystery of the universe

Francis differentiates between nature and creation: the former usually refers to a system, which can be studied, understood and controlled, whereas creation is

a gift from the outstretched hand of the Father of all, and as a reality illuminated by the love which calls us all together.

LS76 

Judaeo-Christian thought tells us that “By the word of the Lord the heavens were made (Psalm 32(33):6); this, then, wasn’t an arbitrary of chance event, but a decision by God to create the world. Unlike pagan mythology, creation is of the order of love. “For you love all things that exist, and detest none of the things that you have made; for you would not have made anything if you hated it” (Wisdom 11:24).

Such is God’s tenderness that every creature is loved, and given its own place in the world, even those creatures alive for only a few fleeting seconds of existence (LS77).

However, despite its grandeur and immensity, nature is not divine; thus our human responsibility for nature. If we acknowledge its value and fragility, “we can finally leave behind the modern myth of unlimited material progress”, and thus take up the challenge “to devise intelligent ways of directing, developing and limiting our power (LS78).

Faith allows us to interpret the meaning and the mysterious beauty of what is unfolding (LS79).

Here Francis addresses the problem of evil:

Creating a world in need of development, God in some way sought to limit himself in such a way that many of the things we think of as evils, dangers or sources of suffering, are in reality part of the pains of childbirth which he uses to draw us into the act of cooperation with the Creator.

God’s divine presence, which ensures the subsistence and growth of each being, “continues the work of creation”.

Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae, I, q. 104, art. 1 ad 4 (cf. LS80)

Human beings have a personal identity and a special dignity, able to relate to others and to God (LS81). Yet other living beings are not simply mere objects subject to our will; pursuing such an attitude leads to immense inequality, injustice and acts of violence against the majority of humanity, since “resources end up in the hands of the first comer or the most powerful… It shall not be so among you; but whoever would be great among you must be your servant” (Matthew 20:25-26; LS82).

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The Lord, God of hosts, touches the earth and it melts,
and all who live in it mourn.
And all of it rises like the Nile, and sinks again, like the Nile of Egypt;

The Lord builds upper chambers in the heavens,
and founds vaults upon the earth;
And calls for the waters of the sea,
and pours them out upon the surface of the earth.

Amos 9:5f

Music for reflection

Prayer Suggestions

As the Church celebrates Holy Cross Day,
we continue our journey in faith today:

• for the National Health Services and equivalents in our various countries
  providing medical care and relief
• for nurses and ancillary staff
• for all preparing for the COP26 Climate Conference
• for those in most danger from the climate emergency
• for scientists and politicians,
  artists and musicians
• for all who inspire us.

(In Holy Trinity, Stirling, we invite you to pray today
for Revd Alan Miller, the Minister, and all at the Church of the Holy Rude, Stirling.)

For all who have asked for our prayers.

a moment of silence

Pray for us all
Amen.

The Lord’s Prayer

We can say the Lord’s Prayer in any language or version we choose.
Here it is, in English, Latin and French.

The Lord’s Prayer

Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name.
Your Kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our sins,
as we forgive those
who sin against us.
Lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.

For the kingdom,
the power and the glory are yours, 
now and for ever.
Amen.

Pater Noster

Pater noster, qui es in cælis;
sanctificetur nomen tuum:
adveniat regnum tuum;
fiat voluntas tua,
sicut in cælo, et in terra.
Panem nostrum cotidianum da nobis hodie:
et dimitte nobis debita nostra,
sicut et nos dimittimus debitoribus nostris:
et ne nos inducas in tentationem:
sed libera nos a malo.

Quia tuum est regnum,
et potestas, et gloria, in saecula.
Amen.

La Prière du Seigneur (2017)

Notre Père, qui es aux cieux,
que ton nom soit sanctifié,
que ton règne vienne,
que ta volonté soit faite sur la terre comme au ciel.
Donne-nous aujourd’hui notre pain de ce jour.
Pardonne-nous nos offenses,
comme nous pardonnons aussi à ceux qui nous ont offensés.
Et ne nous laisse pas entrer en tentation
mais délivre-nous du Mal.

Car c’est à toi qu’appartiennent le règne,
la puissance et la gloire
pour les siècles des siècles. Amen.

L’Église Catholique de Paris

Concluding prayer

God Most High,
maker of heaven and earth,
you created humankind in your own image
and entrusted the whole world to human care:
give us grace to serve you faithfully,
that we might be trustworthy stewards of your creation,
through Jesus Christ our Lord,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Collect for the Season of Creation

Returning to the world

Let us bless the Lord.
Thanks be to God.

Benedicamus Domino.
Deo gratias.

Thank you for joining us in praying at home.
Oremus pro invicem.

In these strange times, we are called to trust

* You can find more organ music from Holy Trinity Church, Stirling
on Alistair Warwick‘s website and on SoundCloud

There are several books by Brother Roger of the Taizé Community from many booksellers.

You can buy The Complete Chronicles of Narnia at Bookshop.org

Praying at Home Today: Acknowledgements

The lectionary for weekdays is taken from the Vanderbilt Divinity Library.

In that lectionary, the readings are in the following order: Old Testament reading, Psalm, New Testament reading; we have changed the order to the more usual OT, Psalm and NT.

English Bible texts are usually from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Catholic Edition, copyright © 1989, 1993, 1995 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Latin Bible texts are from Biblia Sacra Vulgata, and are in the Public Domain.

French Bible texts are usually from Version Segond 21, copyright © 2007 Société Biblique de Genève by Société Biblique de Genève.

Images, unless otherwise stated, are from lockdown in Scotland, by Alistair Warwick.

Music engraved by The Art of Music.

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