In keeping with the spirit of Pope Francis’ 2015 declaration of Sept. 1 as the annual World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation, St. George Parish, Titusville, will host a special observance to which all are welcome.

Msgr. Vincent Gartland, a retired priest of the Diocese, will be the main celebrant of a Sept. 1 Mass at 7:30 a.m. in the church, beginning the special activities that will stretch throughout the day. Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament will take place following Mass and continue until noon.

At 7 p.m. there will be prayers for creation, the recitation of the Canticle of the Sun, a song composed by St. Francis of Assisi; a brief reflection of Pope Francis encyclical letter Laudato Sí: On the Care for Our Common Home, and Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament, followed by an outdoor procession around the parish grounds. St. George Church is located in Washington Crossing State Park along the Delaware River, lending itself to the celebration in a beautiful natural setting.

“My hope is that [this] will increase awareness of the importance of environmental conversion for all,” said Msgr. Gartland, who helped organize the event. “Anything we can do to heighten awareness of the environmental challenge we face, our responsibility to care for all creation and our place within creation is important to do.”

There will be time before and after the service to view “Images of Creation,” an exhibit of parishioners’ paintings, photos, drawings and art work of creation. Parishioners and their friends have been invited to paint, photograph, draw or collect images of creation during these remaining days of summer to display in this exhibit. The project is an attempt to heighten awareness of the gifts of creation that are around us. All are invited to participate in the prayers of the day and to enjoy the exhibit, which will remain in the church throughout September.

Bishop David M. O’Connell, C.M., celebrated the inaugural World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation on Sept. 1 last year after its establishment by Pope Francis, with faithful from around the Diocese gathered in Our Lady Star of the Sea Chapel, which is part of St. Denis Parish, Manasquan.

“Today is a day for us to examine our consciences, to decide what action we must take here and now, not when it’s too late,” the Bishop said during his homily. He asked the members of the shore community, hard hit by Hurricane Sandy, who among them had been affected by the surprising forces of nature. He related the storm to what Pope Francis wrote, about the Earth crying out “because of the harm we have inflicted on her by our irresponsible use and abuse of the goods with which God has endowed her.”

Bishop O’Connell continued, “Pope Francis is sounding the alarm, the warning. We cannot, we must not remain unprepared for this storm of our own making.”

In August of last year, while announcing the new day of prayer, Pope Francis said, “The Annual World Day of Prayer for Creation offers to individual believers and to the community a precious opportunity to renew our personal participation in this vocation as custodians of creation, raising to God our thanks for the marvelous works that he has entrusted to our care, invoking his help for the protection of creation and his mercy for the sins committed against the world in which we live.” (August 6, 2015)

Pope Francis said he was instituting the prayer day for Catholics because of a shared concern among all Christians about taking care of what God has created.

“The Orthodox church had already established this date, and we are joining with them and with all people of good will,” Msgr. Gartland noted. “It is not just for Catholics, but for all.”

In Laudato Sí, Pope Francis wrote, “God has written a precious book, whose letters are the multitude of created things present in the universe…From panoramic vistas to the tiniest living form, nature is a constant source of wonder and awe. It is a continuous revelation of the divine. To sense each creature singing the hymn of its existence is to live joyfully in God’s love and hope. This contemplation of creation allows us to discover in each thing a teaching which God wishes to hand on to us…”(Laudato Sí #85)

All are welcome to participate in any part of this observance.  St. George Church is located at 1370 River Road (Route 29 N), Titusville. For more information, call the parish office at 609-737-2015.