Environment

Overview

Believers pray with respect in a variety of personal and communal prayer experiences, including prayers for the environment. Through the words of Laudato Si', on Care for our Common Home (2015), Pope Francis teaches us that “everything is connected” and it is our responsibility to turn our hearts and minds to Creation. Believers are encouraged to use the teachings from Laudato Si' to guide their prayer experiences.

Laudato Si' Prayer

A prayer for our earth

All-powerful God,

you are present in the whole universe and in the smallest of your creatures.

You embrace with your tenderness all that exists.

Pour out upon us the power of your love, that we may protect life and beauty.

Fill us with peace, that we may live as brothers and sisters, harming no one.

O God of the poor, help us to rescue the abandoned and forgotten of this earth, so precious in your eyes.

Bring healing to our lives,

that we may protect the world and not prey on it, that we may sow beauty, not pollution and destruction.

Touch the hearts of those who look only for gain at the expense of the poor and the earth.

Teach us to discover the worth of each thing, to be filled with awe and contemplation,

to recognise that we are profoundly united with every creature as we journey towards your infinite light.

We thank you for being with us each day.

Encourage us, we pray, in our struggle for justice, love and peace.

Amen.

Understanding Laudato Si'

Follow the 14-part series by Fr Daniel P. Horan, OFM to learn about Pope Francis' Encyclical on Ecology and Poverty, Science and Religion and the Theology of Creation.