Galahs flew in to perch on surrounding Kamarooka Mallee, and wildflowers rustled with the breeze – as if they knew the Gospel Reading was about them – at Sandhurst’s launch of the Season of Creation in the Greater Bendigo National Park on 1 September.

Clergy, parishioners, and teachers and students from nine Sandhurst schools gathered as a Diocese committed to the Laudato Si’ Action Platform and to encouraging all our parishes and schools to take up the Catholic Earthcare journey towards Pope Francis’ seven Laudato Si’ goals.

The congregation was embraced by a big blue sky; a forest of Mallee, Box-Ironbark and flowering wattle; and the warmth of each other’s goodwill. Music was led by Paul Taylor and Maria Forde, featuring Deborah Ross and the Catherine McAuley College Choir; The Mass was celebrated by Bishop Shane Mackinlay and concelebrated by Monsignor Peter Jeffrey, Fr Rom Hayes and Fr Des Welladsen. Newly appointed Pastoral Associate and Cathedral Sacristan, Andrew Howe and Mason Crosier assisted at the Mass.

In his Welcome to Country Djaara man, Troy Firebrace, spoke of the knowledge of Country which Aboriginal people carry in their heart. “We carry in our heart what our elders have passed on to us,” he said. “Knowledge to care for Country has been passed down from generation to generation to ensure generational wealth and longevity for all creation … We stand here today, with Djaara, we stand here today with Country, and we move towards a brighter future to ensure that our younger generations have a prosperous future, a future that is bright, humble, and importantly connected with Country and creation.”

Kerry Stone from the Sandhurst Care for Creation Team, welcomed people to the Mass and proclaimed the theme for the Season of Creation this year:

“Let Justice and Peace Flow. The prophet Amos cries out, ‘but let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream!’ We are called to join the river of justice and peace to take up climate and ecological justice and to speak out for communities most impacted by climate injustice.”

In his pdf Homily (139 KB) , Bishop Shane reflected on the Gospel more closely, “Our report card on most of Jesus’ commands, would probably read, ‘Tries hard, could do better’ “, he said. “However, there is one of Jesus’ commands that we do exceptionally well on. Jesus says, at the end of today’s Gospel – ‘Don’t worry about tomorrow, tomorrow will take care of itself …’ – We are over performers in not worrying about tomorrow, in kicking the can down the road.”

The relatable scene painted by Bishop Shane inspired a quick burst of laughter from the congregation, short comic relief from the deeply serious issue of environmental sustainability, which all who were present knew would be the topic, not only of the day, but the key theme in the rest of our lives. Bishop Shane went on to explain the Gospel reading further:

“So what Jesus is saying in that text – where he is responding to people about the times when we are so concerned about our own needs, that we forget about everything around us. He says, “Remember, the world is bigger than just you, look at the birds in the sky, look at the flowers in the fields. God cares for all of these things. All of these things are part of God’s good creation and cared for as part of God’s good creation. Don’t centre your concerns just on yourself, or your immediate needs. Don’t get so obsessed with your own needs for tomorrow. Think more broadly about the way that God cares for each of us, but also for the whole of creation. Our needs, our cares, fit in that much bigger picture.”

Referencing Pope Francis’ 2015 encyclical Laudato Si’ Bishop Shane related the Gospel reading to integral ecology, “As we’re increasingly aware, if we don’t care for the needs of all the life of God’s creation, we won’t be able to meet the individual needs that we have, or the needs that our community has, or that any of those have.”

Bishop Shane recommended that people read Pope Francis’ Message for the 2023 World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation. “Pope Francis invites us to join that river of justice and peace which is needed in our world, by transforming our hearts, transforming our lifestyles, and transforming our public policies … We need to think about the whole of creation as God’s precious and sacred gift to us, entrusted to us by God to care for and to cherish. Not as an object to be exploited.”  The galahs above squawked as if to say “Hear, hear!”

Bishop Shane elaborated on the three ways we need to transform, recognising that the challenges ahead can feel overwhelming.
“While we can be tempted to say, all this is too much, this is too hard, he (Pope Francis) reminds us that the mightiest of rivers, starts up in the high country with tiny trickles of water that couldn’t wash away any obstacles. They couldn’t create any new river beds, but eventually those trickles come together in creeks, streams, tributaries and, eventually, into the rivers that are so overwhelming for us in the power that they bring.

It’s the same with the river of justice and peace that we speak of in the theme for this year’s Season of Creation. That river of justice and peace, that we need to be so powerful, will flow powerfully only if each of us is committed to an action that produces our own trickles, that feed into that bigger river. And if we encourage others around us to do the same.”

Ahead of the Procession of Gifts, children from St Therese’s Primary School, Kennington and St Mary’s Primary School, Inglewood brought forward ‘the river’. Ahead of the gifts of bread and wine, with children from St Monica’s Primary School, Kangaroo Flat joined the Catherine McAuley College Choir to lead the singing of Andrew Chinn’s ‘I Am The River’.

Mass concluded with a lively rendition of ‘Laudato Si’ – The Song’ (from the Archdiocese of Mumbai) led by the Catherine McAuley College Choir.

After the Mass, all of the students present received a memento of the day, a beeswax lunch-wrap. Adults received Catholic Earthcare’s 34 Actions for the 34 Days of the Season of Creation.
Socialising in the sunshine with a sausage in hand was a fitting end to a truly beautiful celebration.

Matthew 6:25-34
'That is why I am telling you not to worry about your life and what you are to eat, nor about your body and what you are to wear. Surely life is more than food, and the body more than clothing!
Look at the birds in the sky. They do not sow or reap or gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they are?
Can any of you, however much you worry, add one single cubit to your span of life?
And why worry about clothing? Think of the flowers growing in the fields; they never have to work or spin; yet I assure you that not even Solomon in all his royal robes was clothed like one of these.
Now if that is how God clothes the wildflowers growing in the field which are there today and thrown into the furnace tomorrow, will he not much more look after you, you who have so little faith?
So, do not worry; do not say, "What are we to eat? What are we to drink? What are we to wear?"
It is the gentiles who set their hearts on all these things. Your heavenly Father knows you need them all. Set your hearts on his kingdom first, and on God's saving justice, and all these other things will be given you as well. So do not worry about tomorrow: tomorrow will take care of itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.'
Think more broadly about the way that God cares for each of us, but also for the whole of creation. Our needs, our cares fit in that much bigger picture.

Kerry Stone, is Sandhurst’s Caritas Australia & Social Justice Coordinator and also Caritas Earthcare Parish/Organisation National Coordinator.

Read pdf Bishop Shane's Homily (139 KB) .