Season of Creation (Oct 2)
October 02, 2026
Oct 2
Scripture: Titus 3: 4-7
But when the goodness and loving kindness
of God our Savior appeared,
5 not because of any righteous deeds on our part
but because of his mercy,
he saved us through the bath of rebirth
and renewal by the Holy Spirit,
6 whom he lavished on us abundantly
through Jesus Christ our Savior,
7 so that we might be justified by his grace
and become heirs in hope of eternal life.
Meditation
From the encyclical letter Laudato si' by Pope Francis
In calling to mind the figure of Saint Francis of Assisi, we come to realize that a healthy relationship with creation is one dimension of overall personal conversion, which entails the recognition of our errors, sins, faults and failures, and leads to heartfelt repentance and desire to change. The Australian bishops spoke of the importance of such conversion for achieving reconciliation with creation: “To achieve such reconciliation, we must examine our lives and acknowledge the ways in which we have harmed God’s creation through our actions and our failure to act. We need to experience a conversion, or change of heart”.
Various convictions of our faith, developed at the beginning of this Encyclical can help us to enrich the meaning of this conversion. These include the awareness that each creature reflects something of God and has a message to convey to us, and the security that Christ has taken unto himself this material world and now, risen, is intimately present to each being, surrounding it with his affection and penetrating it with his light. Then too, there is the recognition that God created the world, writing into it an order and a dynamism that human beings have no right to ignore. We read in the Gospel that Jesus says of the birds of the air that “not one of them is forgotten before God” (Lk 12:6). How then can we possibly mistreat them or cause them harm? I ask all Christians to recognize and to live fully this dimension of their conversion. May the power and the light of the grace we have received also be evident in our relationship to other creatures and to the world around us. In this way, we will help nurture that sublime fraternity with all creation which Saint Francis of Assisi so radiantly embodied.
Musical Selection (lyrics in video)
Prayer
Gracious God, you reveal your goodness
in the beauty and diversity of creation;
in the circle dance of earth and air and water;
in a universe rich in processes
that support growth and coherence,
distinctiveness and community;
and above all in the gift of Jesus Christ,
who emptied himself to serve your world.
And so we offer thanks and praise to you,
one God in three persons:
the Author and Source of all,
Christ the Incarnate Word, and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever. Amen. (ECUSA; Occasional Services)