Cluny News: Season of Creation Sunday 4

Earth is crying out! The poor are crying out!

The existence and wellbeing

of future generations is threatened.

This all constitutes a strong and urgent call

To conversion in all dimensions of life.

The Fourth Sunday of the Season of Creation, puts the focus squarely on personal responsibility for embracing the integral ecological conversion essential to healing Earth, caring for the Web of Life.

Penitential Rite

Conscious of God’s mercy, patience, compassion, and call, let us enter into the quiet of our spirits… asking for forgiveness, protection from the crises of this time, the grace to see and understand God’s ways for us in these times …

Creator God, our ways of living on Earth as a human family woven into the vast, complex web of life have not been Your ways and now are threatening all life as we know it with suffering and destruction.
Creator Spirit of God, have mercy.

Christ Jesus, Your teaching warns us that words are not enough. Our actions must reveal our inner conversion and commitment to live with the same attitude that guided You, to live the Way that You revealed and lived out among us as one of us in humility and obedience.
Word of God, have mercy

Holy Spirit of God, You are at work in us, among us, and through us, teaching us Your ways and preparing a time of sacred Jubilee in response to the cry of the Earth and the cry of the poor.
Wisdom of God, have mercy.

May God, the Creator of time, space and the
vast Web of Life in which we live, have mercy on us, free us from our sins, and guide us into the fullness of divine Life. Amen

The Prophet Ezekiel reminds us that conversion is the personal responsibility of each of us. God will judge us in the end upon the choices we each make of how we will live with each other in the community of creation. It is never too late to choose God’s ways. God is always compassionate and forgiving, ready to teach us the way.

Psalm 25 recalls God’s compassion and mercy, asking God to forget the sins and frailties of our past and show us the way we are to live. Conversion requires growing in knowledge of our sinfulness and failings, prayer for forgiveness, and willing trust in God’s compassion and forgiveness.

Remember Your Mercies

Psalm 25

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKI9uCZZqUw

The Parable of the Two Sons Jesus calls attention to the all too familiar reality that we may learn the right things to say, but that what matters is what we actually do, our actions. Jesus challenges the chief priests and the elders to change and act in the way of righteousness and justice that John preached.

Gospel of Matthew 21:28-32

“But what do you think? A man had two sons, and he came to the first and said, ‘Son, go work today in the vineyard.’ And he answered, ‘I will not’; but afterward he regretted it and went. The man came to the second and said the same thing; and he answered, ‘I will, sir’; but he did not go.

Which of the two did the will of his father?”

They said, “The first.” Jesus said to them, “Truly I say to you that the tax collectors and prostitutes will get into the kingdom of God before you. For John came to you in the way of righteousness and you did not believe him; but the tax collectors and prostitutes did believe him; and you, seeing this, did not even feel remorse afterward so as to believe him.

Prayer Our Loving God, You alone judge rightly and search the depths of the human heart. You alone offer the grace and courage to transform our lives and renew the Earth. Make us quick to do Your will, slow to judge our neighbor, and eager to care for Your creation with wisdom, compassion, and love.

Grant that we may walk with those who follow the way of repentance and ecological faithfulness in caring for the family of creation and Earth, our common home. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son, who lives and reigns with You in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God for ever and ever. Amen.