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Every year, from 1 September to 4 October, Christians from all over the world celebrate the “Season of Creation.” This initiative began in 1989 and is recognized by the ecumenical family in general. The “Season of Creation” wants to represent a call to people to understand more deeply the teachings of Jesus on the gift of creation and to reflect on the care we reserve for it. In this way, we are offered a precious opportunity to stop for a moment in our daily lives to contemplate the wonders of creation in which we live. In the encyclical Laudato si’, Pope Francis urges us to take care of our ‘common home,’ underlining that the ‘ecological conversion’ is a conversion that involves gratitude and sensitivity, growing in awareness of our universal communion and realizing that every creature carries in itself a reflection of God.

Not only have we caused the pain of many brothers and sisters and even the destruction of our mother earth, but we have also neglected them. With a conscious and committed participation in the daily events of our reality, in a meeting respectful of diversity, we could find ourselves in this vast and wonderful world in which it is necessary for us to recover a simple and coherent lifestyle.

The Secular Franciscan Order (OFS) of Paraguay becomes part of this initiative by adhering to and continuing the “Franciscan Pilgrimage of the Americas” (undertaken in 2017 throughout America to promote the encyclical Laudato si’), on the occasion of the which the icons of St. Francis and St. Clare make stops in the communities of the national territory to sensitize and spread the teachings of the Holy Father. Dear brothers, let us take advantage of this “Season of Creation” to be able to admire again the wonders of the Earth, our common home, and protect it.

 

Roque Amarilla, OFS
JPIC – Paraguay