Christina Leaño

Often it can be difficult to visibly see or feel hope in our midst. That is where this year's season theme — "to hope and act with creation" — might be instructive. 

While knowing how to act with creation can be clear for some, for others knowing the right thing to do can be fuzzy. Our invitation this week: listening in the silence of creation. What unexpected message will we hear?

This week, our prayer invitation will shift: to attune to the sorrow of the Earth. We are invited to listen to the cry of creation and connect to our own sorrow for our role in the environmental crisis.

"Let's be open to surprises together," writes Christina Leaño, "to see how noticing what is in motion allows us to see God's motion taking place and invites us deeper into our ecological conversion." 

As the annual Season of Creation begins, Christina Leaño invites you to go on a spiritually guided nature therapy walk with her, whether in the woods or from your phone.

The pine cone I prayed with now sits on my dresser. It is a reminder of the message in creation and the need to continue "to dare to turn what is happening to the world into [my] own personal suffering." 

As many in our church gather this week as part of the National Eucharistic Revival, explore how your senses allow you to "taste and see that the Lord is good.'' 

"To pray with creation also means to pray with our bodies — temples of the Holy Spirit, created in the image of God as both corporeal and spiritual," writes Christina Leaño. 

The first step in contemplation is to pause. By pausing, we make space to connect with God in the moment. 

How can contemplation help us cultivate that interior peace that can be the foundation for right-relationship with ourselves, our God and each other, including creation?