Saturday

1

World Wetlands Day (2 February)

2025 Theme:  “Protecting wetlands for our common future”

The theme highlights the need for collaboration to ensure that everyone can continue to benefit from wetlands.

Wetlands may be seen as sinister places of evil and danger or places of unparalleled natural beauty: both visions have inspired artists, writers, poets and musicians. aquatic flowers of every hue and variety are to be seen on every side of this place of profound and wild solitude

A wetland is a place in which the land is covered by water—salt, fresh, or somewhere in between—either seasonally or permanently. It functions as its own distinct ecosystem. You can recognize wetlands from other types of land or bodies of water primarily by the vegetation that has adapted to wet soil.

Protecting wetlands is important for the future of the planet because wetlands provide many benefits to the environment and people: 

• Biodiversity: Wetlands are home to many animals and plants, including herons, spoonbills, flamingos, and frogs. 
• Climate regulation: Wetlands help regulate the climate. 
• Water purification: Wetlands filter harmful substances from water, such as fertilizers, pesticides, heavy metals, and toxins. 
• Flood protection: Wetlands help reduce the destructive power of floods and storms. 
• Sustainable livelihoods: Wetlands provide food, fibre, and other products that support people’s livelihoods. 
• Ecological balance: Wetlands are essential for maintaining ecological balance and supporting biodiversity. 
• Climate change resilience: Protecting wetlands helps ensure the environment’s resilience against climate change. 

People can have direct impacts on wetlands by filling, grading, removal of vegetation, building construction and changes in water levels and drainage patterns and introduction of alien vegetation.

Pray for awareness, that people will visiting a wetland would recognise this special space and promote peace and protection for all who live there and all who depend on it.

Sunday

2

Help us to respond with wisdom and foresight to the threat of climate change. We pray for those affected by rising sea levels and extreme weather conditions. Help us, in reducing our own carbon footprint, to play our part in reducing this country’s carbon emission. Grant us the personal and political will to make a difference

Monday

3

Read Matthew 13: 24-43

“I will utter things hidden since the creation of the world.”

In all the noise around us, especially the judgements of social media, it can get alarmingly difficult to discern the good from the bad, the real from the fake.

In his parable of the weeds, Jesus explains that the weeds and the wheat cannot be untangled by any human hand without the risk of uprooting what is good. We endure a world where both good and evil must grow together, where the poor suffer injustice while the indifferent prosper.

In the Bible, humans often live in a murky predicament, unable to see and choose wisely. In Genesis, there are two trees growing in the same garden – the forbidden tree of knowledge and the tree of life. And there are two brothers, Cain and Abel, one who finds favour and one who, overcome with envy, kills the other. Yet, he is not ‘weeded-out’ of the world but allowed to wander as a wayfarer and mourn his crime.

When we confront the changing world, the unforeseeable future, there is a crisis of clarity. We stumble in the dark. This reading refuses us the luxury of surety. It confronts us with the shadow within ourselves and implore trust in the Spirit who “intercedes for us in unutterable sighs” (Romans 8:27). We can still act on principle and in faith, putting hope, love and justice at the centre of our lives.

Prayer:

Loving God,
In the immeasurable brilliance of your Spirit, show us how to choose the path of light. May we glimpse things hidden since the creation of the world that you revealed to us through your Son. Amen.

This reflection and prayer were written by Francis Stewart of CAFOD’s Theology Team
The Catholic Agency for Overseas Development (CAFOD)

Tuesday

4

Night Prayer

 God, whose love reaches to the highest heavens,
     how can we keep silent?
God whose righteousness stands like the tallest mountain
     how can we keep silent?
God whose justice is deeper than any ocean
     how can we keep silent?
God whose grace flows like a never ending river
     how can we keep silent?
How can we not proclaim your majesty
     from generation to generation?
How can we not raise the lamp of salvation,
     for all the world to see?
God whose love reaches to the highest heavens.
We praise your mighty name.

John Birch

Wednesday

5

Thursday\

6

I awake this morning in the presence of the holy angels of God.
May heaven open wide before me
above me and around me
that I may see the Christ of my love
and his sunlit company
in all things of earth this day.

J. Philip Newell
Celtic prayer from Iona

Friday

7

If I take the wings of the morning and settle at the furthest limits of the sea,
even there your hand shall lead me
and your right hand shall hold me fast.

Psalm 139:9

Saturday

8

Never be in a hurry;
do everything quietly and in a calm spirit.
Do not lose your inner peace for anything whatsoever,
even if your whole world seems upset.
What is anything in life compared to peace of soul?

For many people time for self is a luxury. 
Take at least one minute to simply breathe – deeply.

St Francis de Sales

Sunday

9

God of heaven and earth, you are calling us to play our part in the care of your creation and to manage carefully the land you have given us to tend. We pray for wisdom as we seek an agriculture designed, not for money-making, but for feeding the world. Guide our policymakers, planners and farmers, and help us all to understand that we hold land, not in perpetuity, but in trust for generations to come.

Monday

10

Today, pray for those marginalized by environmental degradation in your Community

Tuesday

11

Encyclical Letter Fratelli Tutti of Pope Francis
on the Fraternity and Social Friendship

Chapter Three – Envisaging and engendering an open world

Rights without borders

126.      We are really speaking about a new network of international relations, since there is no way to resolve the serious problems of our world if we continue to think only in terms of mutual assistance between individuals or small groups. Nor should we forget that “inequity affects not only individuals but entire countries; it compels us to consider an ethics of international relations”.[105] Indeed, justice requires recognizing and respecting not only the rights of individuals, but also social rights and the rights of peoples.[106] This means finding a way to ensure “the fundamental right of peoples to subsistence and progress”,[107] a right which is at times severely restricted by the pressure created by foreign debt. In many instances, debt repayment not only fails to promote development but gravely limits and conditions it. While respecting the principle that all legitimately acquired debt must be repaid, the way in which many poor countries fulfil this obligation should not end up compromising their very existence and growth.

127. Certainly, all this calls for an alternative way of thinking. Without an attempt to enter into that way of thinking, what I am saying here will sound wildly unrealistic. On the other hand, if we accept the great principle that there are rights born of our inalienable human dignity, we can rise to the challenge of envisaging a new humanity. We can aspire to a world that provides land, housing and work for all. This is the true path of peace, not the senseless and myopic strategy of sowing fear and mistrust in the face of outside threats. For a real and lasting peace will only be possible “on the basis of a global ethic of solidarity and cooperation in the service of a future shaped by interdependence and shared responsibility in the whole human family”.[108]

Wednesday

12

Thursday

13

God of all creation, as we look at the environment, your divine power and immense love are ever present. We thank you for the beautiful creation and abundant resources you have provided your children. We ask for your help in revealing how we can be better stewards of your creation. Help us to use only the resources we need, never being selfish by taking more than necessary. Please give us the opportunity to appropriately share our wealth with those who are less fortunate instead of disposing of our surplus. Help us to remember that the environment is home to all life and that we must take up the responsibility to ensure all life is respected. We thank you for this day and ask for your blessing on this journey.  Amen

Friday

14

Falling in love with Nature

If you do not experience nature – you will not love it.  And if you do not love it – you will not protect it.  Reflect on the gifts that God has given us and the importance of God, nature people and creatures.

God created Mountains and Rivers for us to explore and these places are there for us to admire and take down our burdens and be one with the world/nature even if it’s for an hour or one day for one to forget about problems at home and clear their minds and make nature a place to relax and release stress and other things on your mind.

Consider going for a walk in nature – it’s good for your health and it’s an opportunity for you learn new things that you never knew about God’s Creation

Saturday

15

World Hippo Day

World Hippo Day reminds us to celebrate and value these mud-loving mammals, in the hope that they’ll be around for many more years to come, so let’s take the time to acknowledge and admire one of four, mega-herbivores, the Hippo (Hippopotamus amphibious).

Hippo song for kids

In the beginning God made the seas and the forest filled with trees.
He made the mountains up so high and at the top He placed the skies.
His fingerprints are everywhere just to show how much He cares.
And in the middle He had lots of fun!  He made a hippo that weighs a ton.

Hip, hip, hip, hippopotamus.  Hip, hip hooray God made all of us.
Hip, hip, hip, hippopotamus.  Hip, hip hooray God made all of us.

Listen

Give thanks for these mud-loving mega-herbivores!

Sunday

16

God of surprising light, we expect the sun to rise and to set by appointment, the planet to turn in lawful order, and our days to proceed as we intend. Keep us alive to the miracles of your creative love among us and ignite in us the fire of that love for your entire world.

Monday

17

World Pangolin Day

Pangolins are among the gentlest mammals in the animal kingdom, about as threatening to humans as a pinecone. But millions of pangolins have been taken from the wild.

African pangolin numbers are falling drastically and if too many of them are lost, entire populations will be unable to sustain themselves.

Toby Jermyn, founder of Pangolin.Africa dedicated to protecting African Pangolins, invites you to become a Pangolin Guardian.

Learn and discover fascinating facts about these unique creatures through a free course and become a Pangolin Guardian.  You will learn what to do if you are ever lucky enough to encounter one in the wild.  The course should take no more than 15 minutes to complete and is suitable for passionate conservationists of all ages.

After you complete the course, you will be awarded a Certificate confirming your new status as informed Pangolin Guardian.

Help save Africa’s pangolins!  They need all the help they can get!

Tuesday

18

World Whale Day

2025 Theme: Celebrating the Giants of the Ocean

Whales first appeared on Earth around 52 million years ago, during the Eocene epoch. This was after the extinction of the dinosaurs, but before humans appeared. 

The ancestors of whales were four-limbed creatures that first walked on land around 400 million years ago. One of these descendants returned to the water about 52.5 million years ago.  Whales evolved from land-dwelling ancestors to fully aquatic mammals in a relatively short amount of time, about 10 million years:  They were able to do that because the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs also devastated the marine environment, wiping out many large marine reptiles, leaving a vacuum in the oceans that mammals were able to fill.

Marine sediments from South Africa’s western coast have revealed fossils of whales, dolphins, and seals such as the extinct Diunatans and Fragilicetus, and even a blue whale .  Fossils of very early Right Whale fossils have been discovered in South Africa. 

Today, at least 37 species of whales and dolphins can be found in the waters of South Africa, and whale watching, traditionally focusing on the migratory routes of spectacular species such as humpback and southern right whales, is a very popular activity. The government began regulating and managing the whale and dolphin watching industry in 1999.

After being hunted to near extinction, whale populations in South Africa have started to recover. For example, the humpback whale population in the area was estimated to be fewer than 600 in the late 1970s, but a recent studies estimate the population to be between 30,000 and 60,000.  South Africa comprehensively banned whaling in 1979.

Sadly, Whales in South Africa face many threats, including:

• Collisions with ships – Whales often log, or lay on the ocean’s surface, which increases the chance of being hit by a ship. 
• Entanglement in fishing gear – Whales can become trapped in fishing gear like gillnets, pots, and trap lines. They are also affected by plastics, chemicals, and industrial wastes that threaten their habitat.
• Pollution – Whales are threatened by marine debris and toxins created by humans. 
• Climate change and global warming affect their source of food and duration of migration.
• Ocean noise – Noise from human activities can damage whales’ hearing and disrupt communication.  Noise emanates from shipping and seismic surveys.
• Toxic contamination, oil and gas development, habitat degradation, and ozone depletion. 
• Historical Hunting continues in many areas of the international waters and many species have been over hunted despite regulation, and recovery time can be long when it comes to commercial whaling.

How You Can Celebrate World Whale Day

There are many ways to join the celebration and support whale conservation:

• Raise Awareness: Share facts about whales and their role in marine ecosystems on social media using #WorldWhaleDay.
• Reduce Plastic Waste: Help protect the oceans by minimizing single-use plastics in your daily life.
• Learn and Teach: Educate yourself and others about the importance of protecting marine life and the challenges they face.
• Pray: for all who are involved in these incredible creatures’ protection and conservation.

Wednesday

19

Thursday

20

”What you take from the earth, you must give back. That’s nature’s way.”

Chris d’Lacey

Friday

21

A prayer based on the Great Commandment  (from Christian Aid )

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength…and you shall love your neighbour as yourself.” (Mark 12, 29-30)

God who loves us so much, we know that we need each other. Let us find you in each other, let us find each other in you.

God, present in every movement of creation, let us be responsible sharers of your garden of life. And as the sky in all its mystery and glory points out into the cosmos, so may our lives display the mystery and glory of love, your will for life on earth.

Open our hearts to those who need our solidarity. We pray for people facing failed harvests and dry riverbeds, for people facing unpredictable and extreme weather, for people throughout the world who struggle to make a living in difficult circumstances. Let your will for justice and equity be done,

That our love for our neighbour, Even those far from us, may make known our love for you.

In the name of Christ.
Amen

Saturday

22

Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds! And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? If then you are not able to do as small a thing as that, why are you anxious about the rest? Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass, which is alive in the field today, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you, O you of little faith!

Luke 12:24-28

Sunday

23

God of life, of love and unity: You created human beings in your image and likeness, but due to our own interests we have turned away from you.

However, you are always loving us. Help us enjoy your love for us, to be more sensitive and discover your Holy presence in our neighbour, so that everything you give unto us by your grace can be shared with your creation and eternal creation; and so, with the power of your Holy Spirit, let us be a people who collaborate in the construction of your Kingdom.

In the name of your son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen

Bishop Enrique Treviño Cruz.
Cuernavaca, Mexico

Monday

24

Let All Things Now Living

Let all things now living a song of thanksgiving
To God the creator triumphantly raise.
Who fashioned and made us, protected and stayed us,
Who still guides us on to the end of our days.
His banners are o’er us, His light goes before us,
A pillar of fire shining forth in the night.
Till shadows have vanished and darkness is banished
As forward we travel from light into light.

His law he enforces, the stars in their courses
And sun in its orbit obediently shine;
The hills and the mountains, the rivers and fountains,
The deeps of the ocean proclaim him divine.
We too should be voicing our love and rejoicing;
With glad adoration a song let us raise
Till all things now living unite in thanksgiving:
“To God in the highest, Hosanna and praise!”

Katherine K. Davis penned this beautiful hymn in the 1920s and published it under the name John Cowley, one of her pseudonyms, in 1939. The hymn draws upon Genesis 1, Job 26:7-14 and Job 38 to echo the praise from all creatures to our God the Creator, joining our praise with the entire universe.
Tune:  Ash Grove
Listen

Tuesday

25

I arise today
Through the strength of heaven;
Light of the sun,
Splendour of fire,
Speed of lightning,
Swiftness of wind,
Depth of sea,
Stability of the earth,
Firmness of the rock.
I arise today.

The Lorica

Wednesday

26

”Let every breath, every word and every step make the mother earth proud of us.”

Amit Ray

Thursday

27

Wild Geese

You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
for a hundred miles through the desert repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.
Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain
are moving across the landscapes,
over the prairies and the deep trees,
the mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile the wild geese, high in clean blue air,
are heading home again.
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting—
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things.

Mary Oliver, the Pulitzer Prize-winning poet, writes of the unity among all living things. The despair she talks about in her poem “Wild Geese” is how we can feel when climate disaster hits, and when the future looks bleak and desperate. But then, the world “calls you like wild geese,” reminding us of our oneness and of a ‘good life connected to each other and the earth.’

Friday

28