The following are excerpts from Pope Francis’s message for the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation – September 1, 2024 – on the theme “Hope and Act with Creation”.
Dreaming with eyes wide open
“Faith is a gift, the fruit of the Spirit’s presence in us, but it is also a task to be undertaken freely, in obedience to Jesus’s commandment of love. Such is the blessed hope to which we must bear witness. Yet where, when, and how are we to bear that witness? Surely by caring for the flesh of suffering humanity. As people who dare to dream, we must dream with our eyes wide open, impelled by a desire for love, fraternity, friendship and justice for all. Christian salvation enters into the depths of the world’s suffering, which embraces not only humanity but also the entire universe, nature itself, and the oikos, the home and living environment of humanity.”
On Christian hope
“Hope can be seen as the possibility of remaining steadfast amid adversity, of not losing heart in times of tribulation or in the face of human evil. Christian hope does not disappoint, nor does it deceive. The groaning of creation, of Christians and of the Spirit is the anticipation and expectation of a salvation already at work; all the same, we continue to find ourselves enduring what St Paul describes as ‘tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, peril, sword’ (Rom 8:35). Hope... is an alternative reading of history and human affairs. It is not illusory, but realistic, with the realism of a faith that sees what is unseen. This hope is patient expectation, like that of Abraham.”
Unchecked power creates monsters
“Our power has frenetically increased in a few decades. We have made impressive and awesome technological advances, yet we have not realised that we have turned into highly dangerous beings, capable of threatening the lives of many beings and our own survival’ (Laudate Deum, 28). Unchecked power creates monsters and then turns against us.”
(Compiled by Fr Joe Borg)