Creator of Life,
At Your word, the Earth brought forth plants yielding seed and trees of every kind bearing fruit. The rivers, mountains, minerals, seas and forests sustained life. The eyes of all looked to You to satisfy the needs of every living thing. And throughout time the Earth has sustained life. Through the planetary cycles of days and seasons, renewal and growth, you open your hand to give creatures our food in the proper time.
In your Wisdom, you granted a Sabbath; a blessed time to rest in gratitude for all that you have given; a time to liberate ourselves from vicious consumption; a time to allow the land and all creatures to rest from the burden of production. But these days our living pushes the planet beyond its limits. Our demands for growth, and our never-ending cycle of production and consumption are exhausting our world. The forests are leached, the topsoil erodes, the fields fail, the deserts advance, the seas acidify, the storms intensify. We have not allowed the land to observe her Sabbath, and the Earth is struggling to be renewed.
During this Season of Creation, we ask you to grant us courage to observe a Sabbath for our planet. Strengthen us with the faith to trust in your providence. Inspire us with the creativity to share what we have been given. Teach us to be satisfied with enough. And as we proclaim a Jubilee for the Earth, send Your Holy Spirit to renew the face of creation.
In the name of the One who came to proclaim good news to all creation,
Jesus Christ.
Amen.
“Creation at the Crossroads”)
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Pope Francis writes, “Some studies warn that an acute water shortage may occur within a few decades unless urgent action is taken. The environmental repercussions could affect billions of people; it is also conceivable that the control of water by large multinational businesses may become a major source of conflict in this century” (Laudato Si’, 31). The United Nations states, “By 2025, 1.8 billion people will be living in countries or regions with absolute water scarcity, and two thirds of the world population could be under stress conditions” (U.N. Food and Agricultural Organization).
Pope Francis is especially concerned about the movement toward privatizing water. “Even as the quality of available water is constantly diminishing, in some places there is a growing tendency, despite its scarcity, to privatize this resource, turning it into a commodity, subject to laws of the market” (Laudato Si’, 30). On July 28, 2010, The United Nations passed a resolution recognizing the human right to water and sanitation and acknowledging that clean drinking water and sanitation are essential to the realization of all human rights. Pope Francis affirms this position, writing that “access to safe drinking water is a basic and universal human right, since it is essential to human survival and, as such, is a condition for the exercise of other human rights” (Laudato Si’, 30). Access to water is a “right-to-life” issue.
How do you understand the opinion that “access to clean water is a right-to-life issue”?
Make concrete and decisive action to conserve water at home and at work.
