- September 12, 2023
Weekly Reflections
- Week 1 Reflection
- Week 2 Reflection
- Week 3 Reflection
- Week 4 Reflection
- Week 5 Reflection
- Week 6 Reflection
From the Liturgy Office Team:
The Season of Creation began Sept. 1, the Day of Prayer for Creation, and ends Oct. 4, the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi. The season is an ecumenical effort that Roman Catholics joined in 2015 with the promulgation of Laudato Si. This year's theme is “Let Justice and Peace Flow.”
The provincial Liturgy Office invites you to join in this celebration. The federation and the congregation focus on the reduction of plastics, a heavy pollutant in our waterways. In this preparation period, we will look at our individual practices. During the season, we will examine our corporate actions that undergird an oppressive system. Finally, we want to commit to actions of justice for our sisters and brothers who lack water and health.
“How often do we get a glass of water without thinking?" asks Sister JoAnn Geary.
This is not the case in developing countries, such as Gulu, Uganda.
"Unclean water is the greatest threat to life, health, education, and economic wellbeing among our people in Gulu district," says S. JoAnn. "Because I've seen first-hand these consequences, we were able to start a water filter program."
S. JoAnn served in Gulu for 10 years (2008-2018) as a nurse practitioner. During her time there, she helped work on a water filter project to provide safe water for the people of Gulu and the surrounding area. Since leaving Gulu in the summer of 2018, the water project is still in full swing thanks to the generosity of many and the hard work of "our wonderful folks on the ground."
"Mary Patricia and Agnes are the water women [in Gulu] without whose help this project could not be going strong," S. JoAnn says. "Mary Patricia has been with the project since it started and Agnes came on soon after. I have worked with both of these amazing women."
Let us celebrate the gift of water. Water is the source of all life as we know it. Water ties together our natural and spiritual births.
Listen to water flowing as you bathe or wash your dishes or in nature.
Give thanks for the river in whom each life-form flows who nourished us in the amniotic fluids of our mother’s womb and continues to nourish us today with life-giving water.
Ask for the grace to view the interconnectedness of water from its source to its renewal, touching every aspect of life. A river of delight and mercy, an endless stream flowing, rushing, laughing to bring us nourishment and delight.
Ask for the grace to see how my use of water affects the world of the poor who have little access to clean water for growing their crops, washing, bathing, drinking.
Ask for the grace of conversion to see how I might conserve water, not only as water but as a means used to produce other goods necessary to life.
Ask for the grace of reconciliation to change my water habits to make me more aware of the needs of my dear neighbor who lives without the bounty of water we experience.
Pray for a continued gratitude for water in all its forms that we might conserve and commit to transformation.
Let us know what actions you take to cherish the gift of water. Send your responses to [email protected].