The Season of Creation begins on September 1st and concludes on the feast of St. Francis of Assisi, October 4th. During this five-week celebration, the Saint Anne Creation Care Committee invites every parish household to participate through prayer, at-home “sustainable” actions, and at least one act of advocacy in response to the Cry of the Earth and the Cry of the Poor. In accepting this invitation, parishioners take a moment each day—

• to pray with gratitude for the gift of Creation, thanking God for the beauty and wonder of the cosmos;
to engage in simple everyday gestures that show our care for Earth; and
• to raise our voices for climate justice.

Prophet Amos cries out “But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream!” (Amos 5: 24) and so we are called to join the river of justice and peace, • to take up climate and ecological justice, and to speak out with and for communities most impacted by climate injustice and the loss of biodiversity.

Justice, allied with peace, calls us to repent our environmental and social sins and to change our attitudes and actions. Righteousness demands that we live in peace, not conflict with our human neighbors, and build right relationships with all of creation. ‘Peace’ (shalom) involves not only the absence of conflict but positive, live-giving relationships with God, us, our human neighbors, and all creation.

Indigenous Peoples (Chicago is home to some 28,000) recognize the sacredness of natural elements and so live as an embodiment of an interconnected way of life, expressing a partnership between people and the life of the Earth, have much to teach the rest of the world.

We are invited to join the river of justice and peace on behalf of all Creation and to converge our individual identities, of name, family, or faith community, in this greater movement for justice, just like tributaries come together to form a mighty river. As the people of God, we must work together on behalf of all Creation, as part of that mighty river of peace and justice.

The urgency grows and we must make visible peace with Earth and on Earth, at the same time that justice calls us to repentance and a change of attitude and actions. As we join the river of justice and peace with others hope is generated instead of despair. Streams can rise in the desert. An economy of peace can be built instead of an economy based on limitless growth and unending resources.