A Prayer For Our Earth

Justice & Peace Scotland in conjunction with the Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate Conception, Canon Peter McBride of St Peter's, Partick, Glasgow Catholic Worker and the Scottish Catholic International Aid Fund (SCIAF) have produced a prayer service booklet entitled A Prayer for our Earth as a resource to encourage us all to pray for the success of COP26.

If we needed any further reminder of just how important it is that COP26 is successful, we certainly got it with the publication of the IPCC's Sixth Assessment Report on Monday 9th August 2021. The language was clear and unequivocal. The climate crisis is caused by human activity and the window of opportunity we have to respond means we must act now.

It is therefore crucial that we each play our part as individuals in our own ecological conversion, as well as praying that that same spirit of conversion will move among the world leaders gathered in Glasgow in November.

Glasgow Catholic Worker, one of the contributors to this prayer resource said: "We at the Catholic Worker talked over the forthcoming COP26 in Glasgow and wondered what we hoped for in this worldwide collective effort? We talked about the encyclical Laudato SI of Pope Francis which looks deep into the spiritual quest to understand our predicament, we need to speak 'of the figure of a Father who creates and who alone owns the world' and to put an end to our 'claim to absolute dominion over the earth'. We talked about nuclear weapons and their ability to create a nuclear winter. We talked about the whole military complex and the pollution it creates and resources it uses. Will the depth of understanding Pope Francis brings to the issue be reflected at the conference? Will nuclear weapons and the military complex be taken into account? We need to pray. With A Prayer For Our Earth we will pray that God will move woman and men to great and noble actions to protect Mother Earth."

A Prayer For Our Earth is based on Laudato Si, and central to the service are four short extracts from the encyclical, followed by a lived example relating to a particular topic. The prayer service leads us to:

- A call for change
- A call for commitment
- A penitential rite
- An act of commitment by all

Sister Josephine Smith of the Franciscan sisters of the Immaculate Conception, another of the contributors to the prayer service said: "For many months now "the stewards" have served our parish communities in managing the COVID 19 safety protocols necessary to protect everyone using our churches. They have worked in the interests of the common good. Stewardship has in fact been ever present and is rooted in the Christian calling to manage the earth's resources to advance the cause of the weak and exploited and to hear and respond in justice to the cry of the poor. I would appeal to all worshipping communities to use this prayer service not as an isolated event but as a call to a renewed commitment to being wise, loving and just stewards by making consistent and ethical lifestyle choices. Let all of us live simply, so that others may simply live".

It is the hope of everyone involved in producing this prayer service booklet that wherever you are in the UK or worldwide, schools, parishes and groups will hold a service to pray for the success of COP26, perhaps during the Season of Creation from 1st Sept - 4th October.

You can download a copy of 'A Prayer For Our Earth' at this link: A Prayer For Our Earth Service Booklet.pdf

on the homepage of the Justice & Peace Scotland website here Justice & Peace Scotland: www.justiceandpeacescotland.org.uk