RENEWING THE FACE OF THE EARTH Friday 3019June th February 2017: 2016, Cathedral Buckfast of Abbey, St John the Baptist, Norwich
Laudato si just a beginning of the conversation
Laudato si : litany of the journey If you are asking questions such as: What is the purpose of my life in this world? Why am I here? What is the goal of my work and all my efforts, then journey with us. If you want to slow down and look at reality in a different way, promote best practice, stimulate creative solutions and encourage group and individual initiatives, then journey with us. If you think you can replace consumption with sacrifice, greed with generosity and wastefulness with sharing and learn to give, not just to give up, then journey with us If you feel that the deepest roots of our present failures are to do with the direction, goals, meaning and social implications of technological and economic growth, then journey with us.
If you believe that everything is interconnected and that our relationship with the environment can never be isolated from our relationship with others and with God, then journey with us. If you long to be liberated from fear, greed and compulsion, to be open to awe and wonder, and to join in building a common home, then journey with us. If you can allow yourself to hear both the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor so that the suffering of the world becomes your own, then journey with us. If you think that we were made for love and therefore that gestures of generosity, solidarity and care can well up within us, then journey with us. If you long to be ever open to God s grace, to cultivate a spirit of patience, selfdiscipline and generosity so that you go out from yourself towards the other, then read it and journey with us.
If you are prepared to examine your life-style, to rise above yourself, to choose what is good and to make a new start, then journey with us. If you are willing to be grateful and lovingly aware, and over time can cultivate sound virtues through little daily actions, then journey with us. If you are open to a profound interior conversion, a change of heart, which rejects every form of self-centeredness and self-absorption, then journey with us. If you have the potential to be attentive to the beauty all around you, see nature as a continuing revelation of the divine so that the soil, water, mountains, are like a caress of God, then journey with us.
If you have the capacity to be happy with little, are prepared to be humble and others can see how the effects of your encounter with Jesus Christ is evident in your relationship with the world, then journey with us. Yes, journey with us if you think that all it takes is one good person to restore hope, that we can bring good out of the evil we have done, and that we are all called to live wisely, think deeply, love generously, and sing as we go. God of the journey, who has been with us before we were born, continue to be with us this day as we reflect on what it might mean to journey with you, to be your companion, to work with you for the Kingdom. Amen.
Laudato si
Laudato si - I wish to address every person living on this planet Extend an invitation to open and honest dialogue I urgently appeal then for a new dialogue, a conversation that includes everyone.
Laudato si Progress? Put simply, it is a matter of redefining our notion of progress. A technological and economic development which does not leave in its wake a better world and an integrally higher quality of life cannot be considered progress
Group exercise I believe as Christians we are called to. (relating to our common home)
Lunch!
Laudato si just a beginning of the conversation
Exercise Reconnecting our liturgy with the cry of the poor and the cry of the earth Task Compose your own: - Preface for Mass - Baptismal intercessions or promises - Examination of conscience and/or bidding prayers
Closing Liturgy
Closing Prayer in union with creation Reader: All. Reader: All. Father, we praise you with all your creatures. They came forth from your all-powerful hand; they are yours, filled with your presence and your tender love. Praise be to you Holy Spirit, by your light you guide this world towards the Father s love and accompany creation as it groans in travail. You also dwell in our hearts and you inspire us to do what is good. Praise be to you
Closing Prayer in union with creation Reader: Triune Lord, wondrous community of infinite love, teach us to contemplate you in the beauty of the universe, for all things speak of you. Awaken our praise and thankfulness for every being that you have made. Give us the grace to feel profoundly joined to everything that is. All. Praise be to you
Closing Prayer in union with creation Reader: God of love, show us our place in this world as channels of your love for all the creatures of this earth, for not one of them is forgotten in your sight. Enlighten those who possess power and money that they may avoid the sin of indifference, that they may love the common good, advance the weak, and care for this world in which we live. The poor and the earth are crying out.
Closing Prayer in union with creation Reader: O Lord, seize us with your power and light, help us to protect all life, to prepare for a better future, for the coming of your Kingdom of justice, peace, love and beauty. All. Praise be to you. Amen.
Photos: Chris Bain/CAFOD, Louise Norton/CAFOD, Phil Knox/Purple Flame, Eleanor Church/CAFOD, Laura Donkin/CAFOD, Barbara Davies/CAFOD, Annie Bungeroth/CAFOD, Sarah Smith-Pearse/CAFOD, Esther Gillingham/CAFOD, Nick Harrop/CAFOD, Eleanor Church/CAFOD, Mazur/Catholicnews.org.uk, Tania Dalton/CAFOD, Liam Finn/CAFOD, Nikola Ivanovski/CAFOD Prayer: An extract from A prayer for the earth published in Laudato Si