Justice in Action: September 16, 2025

The Season of Creation, Integral Ecology, and Justice

The Season of Creation summons us to prayer and conversion at the intersection of faith, justice, and ecology. For those already committed to justice, this season deepens the challenge: to recognize that justice cannot be confined to human systems alone but must embrace the whole of creation. Pope Francis’ vision of integral ecology reminds us that the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor are one voice, inseparable and urgent.

Through the lens of Catholic Social Teaching, we are invited into a more demanding discipleship:

• The Dignity of the Human Person is compromised whenever ecosystems collapse, because those who are poor suffer first and most. Ecological destruction is a direct assault on human life.

  
  

• The Common Good extends beyond present communities to future generations and the natural systems upon which all life depends. Our choices today either safeguard or steal from tomorrow’s common good.

  
  

• Solidarity must stretch further than national or cultural borders; it must include solidarity with all species, with rivers and forests, and with communities on the frontlines of climate catastrophe.

  
  

• The Preferential Option for the Poor becomes the preferential option for the earth’s most vulnerable peoples and ecosystems—those most exploited by global economies yet least responsible for ecological breakdown.

  
  

• Care for God’s Creation is not an “add-on” to Catholic teaching but its foundation. Creation is not a backdrop to salvation history; it is the very medium of God’s self-revelation and covenant.

  
  

This Season of Creation challenges us to an ecological conversion that reshapes our imaginations, our ministries, and our structures. It calls us to dismantle systems that exploit both people and planet, and to live the Gospel as a planetary vocation—where justice is measured not only by human flourishing but by the flourishing of the whole community of creation.

Reflection Question: How might the Gospel’s call to radical discipleship be re-imagined when we recognize creation itself as neighbor, kin, and fellow participant in God’s covenant?

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PRAYER FOR THE SEASON OF CREATION

Creator God,

You formed the heavens and the earth,

and called them good.

You shaped humanity in your image,

and entrusted us with care for all that lives.

Yet we confess that we have fractured your gift,

exploiting the poor, exhausting the earth,

and silencing the song of creation.

Awaken us, O Spirit,

to hear the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor as one.

Convert our hearts to justice that is planetary,

our lives to solidarity that is boundless,

our hope to resurrection that embraces all creation.

Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

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Be in touch with the Season of Creation by taking a walk, noticing beauty in nature wherever you are, practicing greater awareness and gratitude for our food and drink, the air we breathe, and the water that flows to us so easily.

Watch a YouTube video on nature (click images below).