Season of Creation (Sept 12)
September 12, 2026
Sept 12
Scripture: Job 38: 1,8-11, 16, 22, 25-30, 34
38 Then the Lord spoke to Job out of the storm. He said:
“Who shut up the sea behind doors
when it burst forth from the womb,
9 when I made the clouds its garment
and wrapped it in thick darkness,
10 when I fixed limits for it
and set its doors and bars in place,
11 when I said, ‘This far you may come and no farther;
here is where your proud waves halt’?
“Have you journeyed to the springs of the sea
or walked in the recesses of the deep?
22 “Have you entered the storehouses of the snow
or seen the storehouses of the hail.
Who cuts a channel for the torrents of rain,
and a path for the thunderstorm,
26 to water a land where no one lives,
an uninhabited desert,
27 to satisfy a desolate wasteland
and make it sprout with grass?
28 Does the rain have a father?
Who fathers the drops of dew?
29 From whose womb comes the ice?
Who gives birth to the frost from the heavens
30 when the waters become hard as stone,
when the surface of the deep is frozen?
34 “Can you raise your voice to the clouds
and cover yourself with a flood of water?
Meditation
From an article by Rev. Fr. Mark Stephen OFM. Cap.
St. Francis and Cosmic Fraternity
St. Francis of Assisi is respected and revered as ‘ecologically significant person,’ not merely because of his ecologically insightful sayings, not even because of his ecologically sensitive dealings with all the living creatures, but mainly because his ‘heart’ was ‘ecologically’ saturated. Thus ecology is primarily an ‘attitude’ of the ‘heart,’ rather than an activity of the ‘hands’ or an ‘idea’ of the ‘head.’ Ecology that involves the whole person, embracing the dimensions of head, heart and hands, is more genuine and comprehensive; such an ecology can be seen in St. Francis of Assisi.
St. Francis of Assisi keeps ever alive a sense of ‘fraternity’ (the meaning of ‘Fraternity,’ is a group of people associated or formally organized for a common purpose or interest) with everything, which the Almighty God has created. Ecological stance of St. Francis of Assisi is nothing but the ‘Cosmic Fraternity,’ which is best expressed in his ‘Canticle of Brother Sun.’
What is specifically to be noted in this Canticle is that St. Francis of Assisi addressed all creatures, animate and inanimate, as ‘sisters’ and ‘brothers,’ that is, as equals, not as subjects to be dominated. He truly saw himself as a simple servant and caretaker of creation – a little brother not only to the animals, birds and fishes, but even to sun, moon and the earth. For St. Francis, every creature was sacred. The world in which he lived was not something evil to be rejected, but a sacred ladder by which he could ascend to his creator, as his biographer St. Bonaventure noted more than once. For St. Francis, the world of God and the world of nature are one. He did not build an artificial wall between the natural world and the supernatural, the secular and the sacred. He saw God in everything and loved and praised Him in all creation. The realization that everything comes from the same source made him call all created things – no matter how insignificant they are – his brothers and sisters, because they had the same origins as he. For St. Francis, the whole cosmos was his home; the boundary wall of his home embraces everyone and everything. The entry into such a ‘Cosmic Fraternity’ was made possible for St. Francis because of his ‘Zeroing Process’ – the process of becoming a zero and emptiness (sunyata). Lowering oneself to the zero of emptiness is an entry into the cosmos of ‘fullness’ ( purnima). Because of his borderless openness to reality, St. Francis was able to relate himself to everyone and everything. In such an ecological vision of St. Francis there was no distinction between the mild and the wild, the strange and the familiar, the sacred and the profane, the human and the non-human, the natural and the supernatural.
Musical Selection (Joshua Hyslop)
I’ve been waiting for a sign
To come along and shed some light
Tell me which way I should go
’Cause I can’t stay here anymore
I’ve been looking all around
Seen the changing of the clouds
But the skies been growing cold
I can’t wait here anymore
But if it rains, oh let it fall
Let my heart be open wide
Through the storm, through the storm
If it rains, oh let it rain
Let it pour, let it pour
Let my heart be open wide now and evermore
Let my heart be open wide now and evermore
Oh, the silence comes and goes
With the truth that I have known
Not in fullness just in part
These days are getting dark
But I’m not going down
No I‘m not going down
No I’m not going down
Prayer
Almighty God,
in giving us dominion over things on earth,
you made us co-workers in your creation.
Give us wisdom and reverence
to use the resources of nature,
so that no one may suffer from our abuse of them,
and that generations yet to come
may continue to praise you for your bounty;
through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (BCW)