Friday 19th

February 2016, Buckfast Abbey, 30 June 2017: Cathedral of St John the Baptist, Norwich

RENEWING THE FACE OF THE EARTH

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, self-discipline 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

ExerciseReconnecting 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: 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.

All. Praise be to you

Reader: Holy Spirit, by your lightyou guide this world towards the Father’s loveand accompany creation as it groans in travail.You also dwell in our hearts and you inspire us to do what is good.

All. Praise be to you

Closing Prayer – in union with creation

Reader: Triune Lord, wondrous community of infinite love,teach us to contemplate youin the beauty of the universe,for all things speak of you.

Awaken our praise and thankfulnessfor every being that you have made.

Give us the grace to feel profoundly joinedto everything that is.

All. Praise be to you

Closing Prayer – in union with creation

Reader: God of love, show us our place in this worldas channels of your lovefor all the creatures of this earth,for not one of them is forgotten in your sight.

Enlighten those who possess power and moneythat 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’