The feast of St Francis of Assisi falling on the October 4th meant it coincided with the final day of the ecumenical Season of Creation 2024. On that evening, at the Roman Catholic Church of St Francis of Assisi, Mannofield, Aberdeen, Catholics from Scotland’s most northerly diocese gathered to pray for the earth, our common home, hear the word of God, the Lord of Creation, and recommit to working for the good of Mother Earth in a spirit of Christian joy and hope.

The theme of this year’s Season of Creation was ‘To Hope and Act with Creation’, and this intention was reflected in the service, which was led by Bishop Hugh Gilbert OSB and brought my own contribution as Diocese of Aberdeen representative on the National Commission of Justice and Peace Scotland and coordinator of the St Mary’s Cathedral Justice and Peace group.

In welcoming all, I could only but acknowledge that it was a special grace to hold the service on the feast of St Francis of Assisi. One of the most universally loved of saints, he was a man with a great concern for God’s creation as well as for the poor and for the outcast. Indeed, a year previously, on the feast of St Francis in 2023, the Holy Father, Pope Francis, felt compelled to issue his apostolic exhortation Laudate Deum, in which he shared his deep concern about the lack of progress in addressing the climate crisis. Yet this sober realism from the Pope was not to generate feelings of futility or despair, but to function as a spur for further action.
The Prayer for Creation service was a powerful and moving liturgy of the word which included hymns, prayers, a penitential rite, intercessions, as well as scripture readings and a responsorial psalm. The Prayer for Creation was also blessed with the presence of choral director John Horton and members of the diocesan choir who ably led the singing.

The first reading was the well-known passage from St Paul’s letter to the Romans on creation waiting with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. The subsequent responsorial psalm had the whole earth singing to God with joy. The Gospel from Matthew described the tireless teaching, proclaiming, and healing action of Jesus and his compassion for the people, his flock. The passage ended with the Lord’s famous words contrasting the abundance of the harvest with the paucity of the labourers, exhorting his listeners and us to pray for labourers for the harvest.

Following the Gospel, Bishop Hugh delivered his homily – a striking exegesis of the New Testament first reading from Romans – with his characteristic insight and flashes of wit and humour. He observed that the ‘groaning’ that Paul speaks of can be positive, prayerful, and even a dynamic act expressing a profound hope for better things. If both creation and ‘we ourselves’ participate in this groaning, it shows that we should not dismiss creation as something dead or inert but take seriously our responsibility of loving stewardship. For Bishop Hugh, ‘groaning’ stands opposed to ‘moaning’ as the latter is not prayerful and encourages attitudes of negativity, hopelessness, and self-indulgence – things we must resist in the face of the climate crisis.

A striking feature of the prayer service came when everybody recited as one the Canticle of St Francis of Assisi (‘Praised be you, my Lord, with all your creatures’), making the great saint’s poetic words and deep love of created nature their own. Fittingly, this was followed by the renewal of an act of commitment to respect the earth, one another, and our fellow creatures.

Even though there were fewer attendees at this fourth Diocese of Aberdeen Prayer for Creation than in previous years, there was a tangible sense of unity and purpose at the event. The participants left Father Peter Barry’s hospitable and welcoming Mannofield church smiling and with a new spirit of hope.