2. • “Laudato Si’mi’ Signore” – “Praise be to you, my
Lord” is the name of the letter of Pope Francis that
invites us to consider our shared responsibility for
the world in which we live and our connectedness
with all living beings and all the gifts of creation. The
letter begins in this way: ‘In the words of this
beautiful canticle, Saint Francis of Assisi remind us
that our common home is like a sister with whom we
share our life and a beautiful mother who opens her
arms to embrace us. “Praise be to you, my Lord,
through our Sister, Mother Earth, who sustains and
governs us, and who produces various fruit with
colored flowers and herbs”
• Let us stand up for our opening song.
4. Opening Prayer
• Most provident God, You graciously give us
all good gifts. Teach us to care for the earth:
to till the soils responsibly, to keep the air
pure, to free the waters from pollution, to
harvest the warmth of the sun, to protect
the climate and to respect the rights of all
species. May we willingly share the gifts of
your goodness with all. We ask this of you,
God of the universe, through Christ Our
Lord. Amen.
5. • Genesis Chapter 1. The Story of Creation.
• 1 In the beginning, when God created the heavens and
the earth
• 2 and the earth was without form or shape, with
darkness over the abyss and a mighty wind sweeping
over the waters—
• 3 Then God said: Let there be light, and there was light.
6. • 4 God saw that the light was good. God then separated
the light from the darkness.
• 5 God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called
“night.” Evening came, and morning followed—the first
day.
• 6 Then God said: Let there be a dome in the middle of
the waters, to separate one body of water from the
other.
• 7 God made the dome, and it separated the water below
the dome from the water above the dome. And so it
happened.
7. • 8 God called the dome “sky.” Evening came, and
morning followed—the second day.
• 9 Then God said: Let the water under the sky be
gathered into a single basin, so that the dry land may
appear. And so it happened: the water under the sky
was gathered into its basin, and the dry land appeared.e
• 10 God called the dry land “earth,” and the basin of
water he called “sea.” God saw that it was good.
8. • 11Then God said: Let the earth bring forth vegetation:
every kind of plant that bears seed and every kind of
fruit tree on earth that bears fruit with its seed in it. And
so it happened:
• 12 the earth brought forth vegetation: every kind of plant
that bears seed and every kind of fruit tree that bears
fruit with its seed in it. God saw that it was good.
• 13 Evening came, and morning followed—the third day.
9. • 14 Then God said: Let there be lights in the dome of the
sky, to separate day from night. Let them mark the
seasons, the days and the years,g
• 15 and serve as lights in the dome of the sky, to
illuminate the earth. And so it happened:
• 16 God made the two great lights, the greater one to
govern the day, and the lesser one to govern the night,
and the stars.
10. • 17 God set them in the dome of the sky, to illuminate
the earth,
• 18 to govern the day and the night, and to separate the
light from the darkness. God saw that it was good.
• 19 Evening came, and morning followed—the fourth
day.
11. • 20 Then God said: Let the water teem with an
abundance of living creatures, and on the earth let birds
fly beneath the dome of the sky.
• 21 God created the great sea monsters and all kinds of
crawling living creatures with which the water teems,
and all kinds of winged birds. God saw that it was good,
• 22 and God blessed them, saying: Be fertile, multiply,
and fill the water of the seas; and let the birds multiply
on the earth.
12. • 23 Evening came, and morning followed—the fifth day.
• 24 Then God said: Let the earth bring forth every kind
of living creature: tame animals, crawling things, and
every kind of wild animal. And so it happened:
• 25 God made every kind of wild animal, every kind of
tame animal, and every kind of thing that crawls on the
ground. God saw that it was good.
13. • 26 Then God said: Let us make human beings in our
image, after our likeness. Let them have dominion over
the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, the tame animals,
all the wild animals, and all the creatures that crawl on
the earth.
• 27 God created mankind in his image; in the image of
God he created them; male and female he created them.
• 28 God blessed them and God said to them: Be fertile
and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it. Have dominion
over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, and all the
living things that crawl on the earth.
14. • 29 God also said: See, I give you every seed-bearing
plant on all the earth and every tree that has seed-
bearing fruit on it to be your food;
• 30 and to all the wild animals, all the birds of the air, and
all the living creatures that crawl on the earth, I give all
the green plants for food. And so it happened.
• 31 God looked at everything he had made, and found it
very good. Evening came, and morning followed—the
sixth day.
16. Psalm 24 verses 1-2
The earth is the LORD’s and all it holds,
the world and those who dwell in it.
For he founded it on the seas,
established it over the rivers.
17. Gospel Reading. Matthew 13:31-32
• 31 He proposed another parable to them. “The kingdom of heaven is
like a mustard seed that a person took and sowed in a field.
• 32 It is the smallest of all the seeds, yet when full-grown it is the
largest of plants. It becomes a large bush, and the ‘birds of the sky
come and dwell in its branches.’”
18. Reading from Laudato Si (from Chapter 2)
This Sister Mother Earth now cries out to us because of the harm we
have inflicted on her by our irresponsible use of the goods with which
God has endowed her. We have come to see ourselves as her lords and
masters, entitled to plunder her at will. The violence present in our
hearts, wounded by sin, is also reflected in the symptoms of sickness
evident in the soil, in the water, in the air and in all forms of life. This is
why the earth herself, burdened and laid waste, is among the most
abandoned and maltreated of our poor; she “groans in travail” We have
forgotten that we ourselves are dust of the earth. Our very bodies are
made up of her elements, we breathe her air and we receive life and
refreshment from her waters.
19. Prayers of the Faithful
Response: Lord hear us.
• We pray for Pope Francis and all leaders in the Church as they strive to work for
justice, peace and the integrity of creation. Let us pray. Lord hear us.
• Creator God, you showed us how to live on this earth when you were present
among us in the person of Jesus. May we live out the values he embodied,
especially in his appreciation of the ordinary wonders of life: the lilies of the field,
the sparrows that fall, the way the wind blows. Let us pray. Lord hear us.
• Creator God, in Christ you walked among us, attuned to the earth and its
elements, the plants, trees and animals as well as human beings. May we have
the same sense of connection and interdependence with the whole of creation.
Let us pray. Lord hear us.
20. Prayers of the Faithful
• Creator God, the parables Jesus used to teach are full of care for creation: The
shepherd seeking the lost sheep, the farmer allowing the ‘weeds’ and the wheat
to grow together until harvest time or the mustard seed growing into a plant that
will shelter the birds of the air. May we follow him in having that same care for
creation today. Let us pray. Lord hear us.
• Creator God, the sun, the wind and the waves are your gifts for the flourishing of
the whole community of life on earth. Help us to use them creatively to produce
sustainable energy for all. Let us pray. Lord hear us.
• Creator God, as teachers of the Center for Positive Futures discern about your
creation and the one and only home you gifted us with, allow us to evangelize to
our students on taking care of creation and Mother Earth. Let us pray. Lord hear
us.
21. Closing Prayer
• Creator God, we confess that the way we are using fossil fuels and
other destructive forms of energy today is destroying the forests,
changing the climate, the seas, the soils, the biodiversity and the
balance of life on our fragile planet, dispossessing the poor and future
generations. Help us to choose life for all that is at risk – for neighbors
near and far and for those who came after us. Give us the knowledge
to learn what we do not know but long to understand, so that we may
honour and nurture all that makes us one with you. We ask this
through Christ Our Lord. Amen
