ASSISI (PG), Oct. 5 – Season of Creation concluded yesterday with the feast of St. Francis. As it does every year, and as per its vocation, the city of the Poverello, Terra Laudato Si’, lived this entire period with a great variety of initiatives, planning and living all the events with each of the Partners of the project, involving local realities and a large number – always growing – of citizens and pilgrims.
“Peace with creation,” said Antonio Caschetto, manager of the Laudato Si’ Center, “is born first of all in the heart of each of us. It is here that, if we leave space for silence and dialogue, we can listen to God speaking to us through the beauty of his creation. This is the first seed of peace among us, for which we feel a great thirst today more than ever. In Assisi, in this Time of Creation, we are witnesses to so many seeds of hope, planted together with our fellow travelers, never alone”.
The rich program held throughout the month saw great involvement, using different languages. The first event took place on August 31, almost as a “preview” of Season of Creation, with the interdiocesan Ecumenical Prayer, organized by the three dioceses of Assisi, Foligno and Perugia, together with several “sister” churches in the area and many religious orders and associations, in the beautiful setting of the FAI’s Bosco di San Francesco. The prayer was led by the Via Creationis composed of the various churches (link).
Sept. 1, the Feast of Creation, was experienced as has been the tradition for many years with the Sentiero di Francesco opening at the Shrine of Renunciation. The path had a stop in the meadow of St. Francis, where the “Garden of Peace”, a sign chosen this year by the International Ecumenical Committee, was blessed.
On this day, the basilicas of St. Francis and St. Mary of the Angels chose to celebrate all the day’s Masses using the new Mass formulary “pro custodia creationis” promoted this year by the Vatican, as the first fruit of the various international conferences organized in Assisi by the Laudato Si’ Center and various academic and ecumenical realities, on the theme of the “Feast of Creation in Christ”.
An InfoPoint has been active in the “Garden of Peace” throughout the month of September, thanks to the work of Volunteers of the Laudato Si’ Center who come from various parts of Italy and the world. The extraordinary opening of the St. Francis Meadow is always an opportunity to rediscover prayer in creation, and to experience opportunities to meet and dialogue with realities from the most diverse places.
A special moment was experienced on Sept. 4, at the Parco Vittime delle Foibe in Perugia, as part of the “Leggere nella natura” event, with the reading of the book “Vivi Laudato Si'” by Edizioni Francescane Italiane. The event, organized together with the Laudato Si’ Circles of Perugia, Foligno and Assisi, allowed for outdoor reading of excerpts from the book, and sharing on the journey made in recent years.
Also on Sept. 4, in Ancona at Cardeto Park, as part of the musical event “Fratello canto Sorella musica” the album 8CENTO produced by Centro Laudato Si’ and distributed by Jumpy Records was presented. Marco Mammoli and OobyMajor also performed on stage, along with other artists, presenting tracks from the album, in the presence of the Archbishop of Ancona Osimo Msgr. Angelo Spina.
On September 6, at the amphitheater of the Cittadella Laudato si’, a Mass was celebrated with the formulary “pro custodia creationis“. Particularly symbolic was the celebration, in the context of Season of Creation, because the Cittadella itself has hosted the conferences on the “Feast of Creation in Christ”, organized over the past two years together with the Laudato Si’ Research Institute of Oxford and numerous Ecumenical Partners, and whose first fruit was precisely this formulary released by the Vatican in recent months.
On September 7 we experienced a very nice astronomical and community event, “The Night of the Red Moon”, with the total eclipse of the moon. The event, organized together with the Monte Subasio Astrophilic Group, was well attended and had a very friendly atmosphere, although in the end, due to the cloudy sky, the moon show could be enjoyed only in part. It remains that the moon allowed us all to experience a beautiful evening in company, contemplating the stars.
In the central part of Season of Creation, the Laudato Si’ Center was involved in the two major events in Assisi: the Feast of the Canticle, at San Damiano, for the 800th anniversary of the composition, and the Cortile di Francesco, entitled “CreAzione” precisely in reference to the Canticle and creativity in a broader sense. Volunteers provided service both at San Damiano, in support of the program proposed by the OFM friars, and on the lawn of St. Francis with the InfoPoint on sustainability and in promoting the packed program of events at the Sacro Convento.
The week then culminated, on September 20, with the National Meeting of the Laudato Si’ Movement, experienced in both places: at San Damiano, with an intense moment of prayer at the Garden of the Canticle, animated together with frei Carlos Acácio Gonçalves Ferreira, and in the afternoon at the Cimabue Hall of the Sacro Convento with the signing of the “Call to Responsibility for Ecological Transition”.
On September 21, Feast of the Canticle, we experienced together the Eucharistic celebration at San Damiano, presided over by the Minister General of the Friars Minor, Friar Massimo Fusarelli, in the presence of the Minister Provincial, Friar Francesco Piloni. This Mass was also celebrated with the formulary “pro custodia creationis.”
On this festive day we also experienced a very nice meeting in Piandarca with members of Economy of Francis in the initiative “Bikes, Dreams, Community”, and concluded the day with Vespers at the community of St. Masseo on the occasion of the Fall Ember.
Throughout the month, groups from various backgrounds were welcomed for Laudato Si’ Pilgrimages to the places of Francis and Clare. These are always very powerful occasions for prayer and sharing.
The closing event of Season of Creation was experienced on the night of Oct. 3, in the heart of the solemn celebrations of St. Francis. The “Torchlight Procession Laudato si’ mi Signore”, organized with the Youth Pastoral Ministry of the Abruzzo and Molise Bishops’ Conference, and the Franciscan Family, saw the participation of many young people, and an atmosphere of prayer and contemplation of silence, oriented to action, on the notes of the Canticle of the Creatures, read in various languages along the route. The itinerary led by Msgr. Michele Fusco, CEAM delegate of Youth Ministry, was marked by torches, thanks to the collaboration with the City of Assisi and the Calendimaggio entity.
Assisi is the Land of Laudato Si’ par excellence, and it has the duty to announce to the world, especially during Creation Time, the values of integral ecology. It has the duty to unite and motivate those who, throughout the month, commit themselves locally by involving their own realities in prayer and action.
For many of those who passed through the city of Francis and Clare during this time of prayer, it was a joy and an honor to offer together with the Project Partners an opportunity to reflect on “Peace for Creation”.
With the hope that, what has been sown during this time will bear fruits of peace in the heart.
The details of the program of all events at this link