By EAO Eco Team
EAO Region, 4 September 2023 -- The annual 'SEASON OF CREATION' (Sept 1 - October 4) Laudato Si' event invites each Salesian Family member to offer a small, but meaningful contribution to 'OUR COMMON HOME'. Indeed, this year also our Salesian Family Mission Day is focused on the 'Care of Creation' and some SYMs in the East Asia-Oceania Region provinces are also focusing their annual events on the 'care of creation' (e.g. Australia-Pacific OZ Bosco 2023).
What can we, as individuals, groups or whole provinces do? Awareness about 'Laudato Si' is never enough: even the 2022 movie featuring Pope Francis, 'THE LETTER', about Laudato Si, was watched on YouTube only by 8.6 million viewers. The awareness of basic environmental issues is always possible to share on our own social media or we can organise simple awareness movie sessions with any kind of youth or Salesian Family groups. Our “Don Bosco Green Alliance” already has more than 600 institutional members in 86 countries, but that's not enough either.
Planting trees or caring for some sustainable small agriculture plot behind your house, recycling your plastic waste, making another cleaning operation on the campus of our Salesian TVET, school, oratory, youth center or parish - these are all possible activities.
What does matter is simply acting for the benefit of our common home! Let's take this opportunity of 2023 'Season of Creation' into our hands!
Prayer of 2023 Salesian Mission Day 'Care of Creation - Our Mission'
Father, Creator of all that is,
We thank you for reflecting Your glory in creation
and for entrusting us the responsibility
of being stewards of our created world.
Fill us with the fire of your Holy Spirit,
that we may feel profoundly connected with all creation,
especially the weak and the endangered.
Inspire us, as faithful stewards,
to actively undo the damage we have done,
and to invite all peoples
to collaborate in the great mission
of passionately caring for our common home.
Amen.
'The Letter' - film of Pope Francis (Laudato si Letter)
