By Fr. Benedict Mayaki, SJ

From 1 September to 4 October, the Church celebrates the Season of Creation.

Christians around the world are encouraged during this period to renew our relationship with God and creation. This can be done through conversion, commitment and celebration – even as the world struggles with the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.

In a video message recorded before he returned to Manila and tested positive for Covid-19, Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle highlights the importance of this month-long period themed “Jubilee for the Earth”.

The celebration ends on Sunday – the feast day of Saint Francis of Assisi – who is also the patron saint of ecology.

“It is a season which is liturgical”, explains the Cardinal Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, “to celebrate in prayer, and especially in the Eucharist, the goodness of creation, signs of God’s bounty and love.”

A season with an ecological message

The Season of Creation, continues Cardinal Tagle, “is a celebration with a clear social ecological message, for the way we deal with creation is also carried over to our attitude toward life and human beings.”

“It is also a call to rediscover our vocation as stewards of creation.” Very often, he notes, “we behave like owners and forget that we are caretakers.”

The Cardinal also recalles “with joy and gratitude”, the celebration of the Season of Creation in the diocese of Imus and the Archdiocese of Manila – both in the Philippines.

Concluding his message, Cardinal Tagle enjoins everyone to celebrate in the Season of Creation, the interconnectedness in the family of creation and in the human family, especially with the poor.