Great Cathedral of Creation

Pictured: Redwood grove in Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park

That’s what Pope Francis called it in his message asking us to observe the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation on September 1st. It is the beginning of a Season of Creation that concludes with the Feast of Francis of Assisi on October 4th. “In this Season of Creation, we pray once more in the great cathedral of creation, and revel in the ‘grandiose cosmic choir’ made up of countless creatures, all singing the praises of God.” But as we pray he asks us to listen to the dissonance of the song, saying that the song of praise is mingled with creation’s cries of anguish.

I can think of few places that feel more like a great cathedral than the groves of giant redwoods on the West Coast. And yet I found out recently that as much as 19% of these massive, ancient trees were lost in two fires in a little over a year. This is a tree adapted to survive fire, yet the fires were so intense that they were destroyed. Creation is indeed in anguish.

In particular Francis asks us to pray for the success of the next United Nations conference on climate change in November in Egypt (COP27) and the (COP15) summit on biodiversity in Canada in December (which is “a significant opportunity to adopt a new multilateral agreement to halt the destruction of ecosystems and the extinction of species.”)

So find time to visit a part of that creation cathedral on September 1st. Join your prayer to its song of praise and to its cries of anguish. Pray for the actions of humans to change until creation’s song is entirely a song of praise and thanksgiving.

-Fr Lou