Season of Creation Activities at Sacred Heart – Oakland will Conclude this Week

By Fr. Jack Lau, OMI

The Season of Creation is from September 1^st to October 4^th the Feast of St. Francis. Throughout this season Sacred Heart and the Greenteam@Sacred Heart have been celebrating this season. We have had a GreenTeam@SacredHeart for the last five years and have been meeting monthly. At our meetings we reflect upon Laudato Si and the writing of our Superior General Chicho, OMI, and then we ask the question: “How can we as individuals and as church make a difference in our community?” Much has happened over those years and we have been instrumental in getting Bike Racks, Solar Panels, appropriate coloured waste bins for trash/recycling and compost, etc.

Part of the season is participating in the City-Wide Neighborhood Clean-up. There are 3 city wide clean ups a year and we participate in all three of them. (MLK Day, Earth Day, From Creek to Bay). This year the clean-up fell on International World Day of Peace. So, at 12 noon we gathered at the Peace Garden on the MLK Jr. Way to pray for peace using the prayer from Pope Francis.

Our Season of Creation included “Stations of Creation”/the cosmic story starting at 13.8 billion years, weekly articles in the bulletin, a special environment with Kente Cloth, banner, in addition to the city wide clean up (our clean up team calls ourselves “Gomi Hiroi Samurai/Litter Picker Samarai”). We will end with the Blessing of Animals after the 10am mass and that will conclude the “Season of Creation”.