Tuesday

1

We Hold the Earth

We hold brothers and sisters who suffer from storms and droughts intensified by climate change.
We hold all species that suffer.
We hold world leaders delegated to make decisions for life.
We pray that the web of life may be mended through courageous actions to limit carbon emissions.
We pray for right actions for adaptation and mitigation to help our already suffering earth community.
We pray that love and wisdom might inspire my actions and our actions as communities. . .
     so that we may, with integrity, look into the eyes of brothers and sisters and all beings and truthfully
     say, we are doing our part to care for them and the future of the children.
May love transform us and our world with new steps toward life

https://www.faithclimateactionweek.org/prayers-and-climate-blessings/

Wednesday

2

Thursday

3

“In the end, we will conserve only what we love. We will love only what we understand. We will understand only what we are taught”
Baba Dioum

Friday

4

Shantideva’s Prayer

From the Buddhist tradition

May I be a protector to those without protection,
A leader to those who journey,
A boat, a bridge, a passage to those desiring the shore of non-suffering.
May the pain of every living creature be completely cleared away
May I be the doctor, and the medicine, and may I be the nurse for all sick beings until everyone is healed.
Just like space and the great elements such as Earth may I always support the life of all the many creatures.
And until they pass away from pain, may I also be the source of life for all the realms of varied beings
that reach into the ends of space.

As recited by Rev. Patricia Mushim Ikeda, East Bay Meditation Centre
https://www.faithclimateactionweek.org/prayers-and-climate-blessings/

Saturday

5

UN Climate Change Conference (COP27)

06-18 November 2022 – Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt
Presidency Action Agenda

Among key focus areas will be the promise of innovation and clean technologies as well as the centrality of water and agriculture to the climate crisis. The role of science will also be highlighted in addition to biodiversity loss, energy transition, decarbonization efforts and finance.”

Cover every aspect of this Conference in prayer.

Sunday

6

International Day for Preventing the Exploitation of the Environment in Armed Conflict and War

On 5 November 2001, the UN General Assembly declared 6 November of each year as the International Day for Preventing the Exploitation of the Environment in War and Armed Conflict.

Though humanity has always counted its war casualties in terms of dead and wounded soldiers and civilians, destroyed cities and livelihoods, the environment has often remained the unpublicised victim of war.  Water wells have been polluted, crops torched, forests cut down, soils poisoned, and animals killed to gain military advantage.

Not only can war be destructive to the socio-environment, but military activities produce extensive amounts of greenhouse gases contributing to global warming and climate change, pollution, and causes resource depletion, among other environmental impacts.  War co-opts natural resources, destroys societal infrastructure, and interferes with a variety of natural cycles and ecosystem services. War is incompatible with sustainable use of the planet since modern technology, including nuclear capabilities, makes war an unsustainable practice.

In the Ukraine/Russian conflict, forests have been destroyed by fires from shelling and through misuse by the Russian forces and many are being littered with destroyed or abandoned military vehicles. There are serious concerns about the short- and long-term impact on water sources and freshwater ecosystems.  Serious negative impacts are inevitably arising from the use of weaponry as well.  Further chemical leaks have poisoned water supplies affecting the wildlife of the area and warships have killed dolphins and explosions are disrupting bird migrations.  The hazardous ecological impact of this war will directly affect Russia and the rest of Europe for many years.

The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has found that over the last 60 years, at least 40 percent of all internal conflicts have been linked to the exploitation of natural resources, whether high-value resources such as timber, diamonds, gold and oil, or scarce resources such as fertile land and water. Conflicts involving natural resources have also been found to be twice as likely to relapse.

The United Nations attaches great importance to ensuring that action on th environment is part of conflict prevention, peacekeeping and peacebuilding strategies because there can be no durable peace if the natural resources that sustain livelihoods and ecosystems are destroyed.

Let us pray for peace!

Monday

7

Tuesday

8

UN Climate Change Conference (COP27)

Thematic Days

09 November – Finance Day

10 November – Science Day

10 November – Youth & Future Generations Day

11 November – Decarbonization Day

12 November – Adaptation & Agriculture Day

14 November – Gender Day

14 November – Water Day

15 November – Civil Society Day

15 November – Energy Day

16 November – Biodiversity Day

17 November – Solutions Day

Download PDF

Pray that discussions in these Sessions will genuinely seek the good of the Planet and its people, and not the enrichment of the already wealthy and that God’s Spirit will guide all deliberations.

Wednesday

9

“For climate change is a threat to us all. And when the entire planet is threatened, the entire planet must respond. But global solutions are impossible if half of humanity lacks access to the knowledge it needs. Today, on World Science Day for Peace and Development, let’s harness the potential of open science – not only to limit the impact of climate change, but also to shape a fairer and more peaceful world. Because we succeed or fail together, and we cannot afford to fail.”

Audrey Azoulay
UNESCO Director-General

Thursday

10

World Science Day for Peace and Development

Theme 2022: “Integrated Approach in science and technology for Sustainable Future”

Celebrated annually, World Science Day for Peace and Development highlights the important role of science in society and the need to engage the wider public in debates on emerging scientific issues. It also underlines the importance and relevance of science in our daily lives.

By linking science more closely with society, World Science Day for Peace and Development aims to ensure that citizens are kept informed of developments in science. It also underscores the role scientists play in broadening our understanding of the remarkable, fragile planet we call home and in making our societies more sustainable.

Creating knowledge and understanding through science equips us to find solutions to today’s acute economic, social and environmental challenges and to achieving sustainable development and greener societies. As no one country can achieve sustainable development alone, international scientific cooperation contributes, not only to scientific knowledge but also to building peace.

Pray for peaceful international cooperation in all aspects of scientific research.

Friday

11

Hear our humble prayer, O God,
for our friends the animals, your creatures.
We pray especially for all that are suffering in any way:
for the overworked and underfed,
the hunted, lost, or hungry;
for all in captivity or ill-treated,
and for those that must be put to death.
For those who deal with them,
we ask a gentle heart of compassion,
gentle hands, and kindly words.
Make us all true friends to animals
and worthy followers of our merciful Saviour, Jesus Christ.
Amen.

Saturday

12

The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it,
    the world, and all who live in it;
² for he founded it on the seas
    and established it on the waters.

Psalm 24:1-2

Sunday

13

Father, we thank you for your great gifts of wisdom and scientific expertise. Help us to place them wholly at your service in the quest for technologies to protect this world that you have created, with all the creatures that live in it. Amen.

Monday

14

Tuesday

15

We Are Already One

There was no place in the universe that was separate from the originating power of the universe. Each thing of the universe had its very roots in this realm. —Brian Swimme and Thomas Berry

There is only Christ.  He is everything and he is in everything. —Colossians 3:11

Believe it or not, it was actually a Roman Catholic priest who first proposed the Big Bang theory of the origin of the universe. Georges Lemaître, a Belgian priest, astronomer, and physics professor, not only proposed the theory of the expansion of the universe, he was the first to note in 1927 that the expanding universe might be traced back to a single point of origin called a singularity. As Ilia Delio describes, “Science would say it appeared like a little quantum size blip on the screen [Creatio ex nihilo] and inflated rapidly like a balloon and since that time, it has been expanding.”

Delio explains the implications for this cosmology—our story of the universe:

Every human person desires to love and to be loved, to belong to another, because we come from another. We are born social and relational. We yearn to belong, to be part of a larger whole that includes not only friends and family but neighbours, community, trees, flowers, sun, earth, stars. We are born of nature and are part of nature; that is, we are born into a web of life and are part of a web of life. We cannot know what this means, however, without seeing ourselves within the story of the Big Bang universe. Human life must be traced back to the time when life was deeply one, a Singularity, whereby the intensity of mass-energy exploded into consciousness. Deep in our DNA we belong to the stars, the trees, and the galaxies.

Deep within we long for unity because, at the most fundamental level, we are already one. We belong to one another because we have the same source of love; the love that flows through the trees is the same love that flows through my being. . . . We are deeply connected in this flow of love, beginning on the level of nature where we are the closest of kin because the earth is our mother.

We began as one and our goal is oneness. Studying evolution, Teilhard de Chardin found that increased complexity and increased consciousness ironically lead to greater unity at a much higher level—which we would call love. We must always be reminded, it seems, that unity is not the same as uniformity. Not at all! With increased complexity, there is actually greater diversity and a greater enjoyment of that very diversity, which is the fruit of love. As Teilhard says, “Everything that rises must converge.” We are in the midst of that convergence today—and seemingly at an accelerated pace—both in terms of good and resistance to the good.

Gateway to Silence:
Evolving toward love

From Richard Rohr’s Daily Meditations
www.cac.org

Wednesday

16

Colossians 1:15-23

The Supremacy of the Son of God

¹⁵ The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. ¹⁶ For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. ¹⁷ He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. ¹⁸ And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. ¹⁹ For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, ²⁰ and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.

²¹ Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of^[g] your evil behaviour. ²² But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation— ²³ if you continue in your faith, established and firm, and do not move from the hope held out in the gospel. This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant.

Thursday

17

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

Chapter Two
Abandoned on the wayside

65.         Someone is assaulted on our streets, and many hurry off as if they did not notice. People hit someone with their car and then flee the scene. Their only desire is to avoid problems; it does not matter that, through their fault, another person could die. All these are signs of an approach to life that is spreading in various and subtle ways. What is more, caught up as we are with our own needs, the sight of a person who is suffering disturbs us. It makes us uneasy, since we have no time to waste on other people’s problems. These are symptoms of an unhealthy society. A society that seeks prosperity but turns its back on suffering.

66.         May we not sink to such depths! Let us look to the example of the Good Samaritan. Jesus’ parable summons us to rediscover our vocation as citizens of our respective nations and of the entire world, builders of a new social bond. This summons is ever new, yet it is grounded in a fundamental law of our being: we are called to direct society to the pursuit of the common good and, with this purpose in mind, to persevere in consolidating its political and social order, its fabric of relations, its human goals. By his actions, the Good Samaritan showed that “the existence of each and every individual is deeply tied to that of others: life is not simply time that passes; life is a time for interactions”.[57]

Prayerfully consider how this is affecting our own Country

Friday

18

“The most important thing to understand about the Climate Crisis is that it affects everyone: no matter their race, gender, class, ethnicity or nationality. 

However, the poor suffer the most: those who contribute the least in the form of fossil fuels and carbon emission are the ones feeling the consequences. Here in South Africa, it is difficult to comprehend the fact that climate change is more important than anything else right now, but it is. 

There will be nothing left to fight for if we don’t fight for this now – if we don’t demand Climate Action. We the youth understand that our generation is facing extinction, something that scares us to our very core, and unites us above all else.”

Ruby Sampson,
South African Climate Activist

Saturday

19

Sunday

20

Fragile earth

God by whom our fragile earth is blessed,
make us servants of your creation,
respecting and protecting all that you have made.
 
Teach us the joy of field and flower,
the splendour of forest and tree,
the grandeur of ocean and river.
 
Make us yearn for a world where all may flourish.
Show us how to walk gently on the earth and
hold all in trust for future generations.
Amen.
 
Anne Marie Coppock/CAFOD

Monday

21

World Fisheries Day

The annual World Fisheries day is celebrated throughout the world by fishing communities and serves to celebrates a profession and a way of life that supports the livelihoods of 1 out of every 10 people on the planet.

Fisheries and aquaculture provide opportunities for gainful employment. This is especially relevant for developing countries, which now account for 60% of the volume of international fish trade, but there is a need for international collaboration to ensure decent work along the seafood value chain. 

Over the past decades, consumers have become more confident that the fish reaching their plates has been harvested in an environmentally sustainable manner. But now those same consumers are asking for guarantees that their seafood has not been harvested through forced labour or slave labour – an issue that has been receiving increasing media attention in recent years.

Yet, at the same time, fishing is one of the world’s most dangerous professions.  The industry is too often lacking adequate labour regulation, and fishing vessels have been associated with instances of labour abuses, trafficking, forced labour and other abuses of fishermen.  The same industry that offers so many opportunities to coastal communities in developing countries too often leads to victimisation of the most vulnerable.

Pray

• for those whose livelihoods depend on the Fishing Industry
• for those whose responsibility is to regulate the industry that they may be considerate and compassionate in their deliberations.

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Tuesday

22

A Fishing Prayer

For all the fishermen on earth
I say this prayer today
Be generous to them, O Lord
And help them on their way
As once you talked to Peter and
He cast his humble net
So may their daily catch become
As great as it can get
But also in my prayer I ask
This miracle again
That they not only search the sea
But try to fish for men
To fish for souls to do Your will
And spread Your gospel true
As Your disciples on this earth
To praise and honour You
I pray that every fisherman wherever he may be
Will turn his thoughts to You and to
The Sea of Galilee

James J. Metcalfe

Wednesday

23

While by my sheep, I watched at night

While by my sheep, I watched at night
Glad tidings brought, an angel bright
How great our joy

Joy, joy, joy
Praise ye the Lord in Heaven on high

They shall be going, so he did say
In Bethlehem, a child today
How great our joy

Joy, joy, joy
Praise ye the Lord in Heaven on high

How great our joy

Joy, joy, joy
Praise ye the Lord in Heaven on high
Praise ye the Lord in Heaven on high

Songwriter: G. Pitcher
Listen

Thursday

24

Buy Nothing Day

Buy Nothing Day is a day of protest in which participants pledge to buy nothing for 24 hours in order to raise awareness of the negative environmental, social, and political consequences of overconsumption, to say nothing of your budget!

So, be kind to your wallet and don’t fall for elaborate and extensive promos this year!

Friday

25

Saturday

26

Wilderness

O vast and untamed wilderness
Where wind and river speak
Against the untainted electra sky
Live the hunter and the meek

Where no foulness of society
Has corrupted what God has wrought
Unconscious memories of visions past
No possession to be kept or bought

For within the soul of each city street
Beneath the oppressive mass
Lives the spirit of the unbridled frontier
To some a time that’s past

But in the stories born in our hearts
Conceived before our births
The wilderness will always be
The calling of the Earth

https://www.faithclimateactionweek.org/prayers-and-climate-blessings/

Sunday

27

First Sunday in Advent

Lord God,
only you can see into my heart and know
that under all the busy-ness of my life,
there is a deep longing
to make this Advent one that welcomes you
more deeply into my own life.

My heart desires the warmth of your love
and my mind searches for your Light
in the midst of the darkness.

Help me to be a peacemaker this Advent
and to give special love to those
who disagree with me.
Give me the strength and courage
to forgive those who have hurt me.
Help me to free my heart
from the prison of my anger and hurt.

Monday

28

“We cannot recover the natural  resources we have lost through greed, nor undo the pollution  accumulated over the years. However we can stop irresponsible behaviours that contribute to further damage to our environment and the planet. I know being the change I want to see starts with me.”

Nonhlanhla Joye
Social Entrepreneur and Founder of Umgibe Farming Organics

Tuesday

29

Wednesday

30

Universal Children’s Day

2022 Theme: “A Better Future for Every Child”

The COVID-19 pandemic has showed how inequality affects the rights of every child. From climate change, education and mental health, to ending racism and discrimination, children and young people call  adults to create a better future for them.

This Universal Children’s Day, it’s more crucial than ever that the leaders listen to their ideas and demands.

Children are re-imagining a better world. What part will YOU play in the children’s call to be heard?