A project of the Spirituality Committee of the Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales
We offer the Sunday Responsorial Psalm as a focus for prayer and reflection during the week ahead for yourself or to share with others.
You could note your own thoughts as a possible personal journal.
We continue to celebrate the Year of Jubilee, the Holy Year, as Pilgrims of Hope, and join with all who journey to Rome for the different Jubilee gatherings. This month also begins the Season of Creation which Pope Francis and now Pope Leo commend to us.
“The theme of this World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation, chosen by our beloved Pope Francis, is “Seeds of Peace and Hope”. On the tenth anniversary of the establishment of this Day of Prayer, which coincided with the publication of the Encyclical Laudato Si’, we find ourselves celebrating the present Jubilee as “Pilgrims of Hope.” This year’s theme thus appears most timely.
In proclaiming the Kingdom of God, Jesus often used the image of the seed. As the time of his Passion drew near, he applied that image to himself, comparing himself to the grain of wheat that must die in order to bear fruit (cf. Jn 12:24). Seeds are buried in the earth, and there, to our wonder, life springs up, even in the most unexpected places, pointing to the promise of new beginnings. We can think, for example, of flowers springing up on our roadsides from seeds that landed up there almost by chance. As those flowers grow, they brighten the grey tarmac and even manage to break through its hard surface.
In Christ, we too are seeds, and indeed, “seeds of peace and hope.” The prophet Isaiah tells us that the Spirit of God can make an arid and parched desert into a garden, a place of rest and serenity. In his words, “a spirit from on high will be poured out on us, and the wilderness will become a fruitful field, and the fruitful field a forest. Then justice will dwell in the wilderness, and righteousness abide in the fruitful field. The work of righteousness will be peace, and the work of righteousness, quietness and trust forever. My people will abide in a peaceful habitation, in secure dwellings, and in quiet resting places” (Is 32:15-18).
These words of the prophet will accompany the “Season of Creation,” an ecumenical initiative to be celebrated from 1 September to 4 October 2025. They remind us that, together with prayer, determination and concrete actions are necessary if this “caress of God” is to become visible to our world (cf. Laudato Si’, 84). Leo XIV – Message for the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation
September 2025
Sunday 7 September 2025 23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time– Year C
Sunday 14 September 2025 Exaltation of the Holy Cross
Sunday 21 September 2025 25th Sunday in Ordinary Time – Year C
Sunday 28 September 2025 26th Sunday in Ordinary Time – Year C
