Season of Creation
Each year, the Church celebrates the Season of Creation which starts on September 1 and ends with the feast of St. Francis of Assisi October 4. The Season of Creation is the annual Christian celebration that calls us together to pray and respond jointly to the cry of Creation: the ecumenical family from around the world comes together to listen to and care for our common home. Pope Leo has said “Environmental justice implicitly proclaimed by the prophets — can no longer be regarded as an abstract concept or a distant goal. It is an urgent need that involves much more than simply protecting the environment. For it is a matter of justice.” The theme for this year’s Season of Creation is Living Water.
Each week, during the Season of Creation, one Saint with a deep reverence and love for Creation will be highlighted in our weekend bulletin. You can also find a display of these Saints on a bulletin board in the main hallway.
St. Phoebe and the Gifts of Women in the Church
On September 3, many Christian churches celebrate St. Phoebe, a faithful disciple praised by St. Paul in his Letter to the Romans. Paul introduces her as a diakonos of the church at Cenchreae and asks the Christian community in Rome to “receive her in the Lord” and assist her in whatever she may need. In just a few verses, we glimpse a woman trusted with responsibility, recognized for her service and remembered as a benefactor of many.
St. Phoebe reminds us that women have been essential to the life and mission of the Church from the very beginning. Women were among Jesus’ disciples, witnesses to the Resurrection, leaders of prayer, teachers of the faith, ministers of mercy and builders of Christian community. Across the centuries, women have founded schools and hospitals, served the poor, formed generations in faith, led movements for justice, sustained families and parishes, and offered courageous examples of holiness.
Today, our own parish and wider Church continue to be blessed by the wisdom, leadership, compassion and perseverance of women. Their gifts are seen in catechesis, outreach, liturgy, pastoral care, administration, advocacy, hospitality and countless quiet acts of service. To honor St. Phoebe is to give thanks for these gifts and to ask how we can more fully recognize and support the baptismal call of every person in the Body of Christ.
May St. Phoebe intercede for us, that we may be a Church where every gift is welcomed, every voice is heard with respect and every disciple is encouraged to serve boldly in the name of Christ.
