“Prayer for listening”
Most blessed holy Trinity,
Creator, Savior and Ruah,
Through Your Word of life
All was and is created,
All was redeemed and is called to redemption,
All was united in Your bosom of love and is called to live in communion.
Because of You, dear Trinity,
All of creation is a constant exercise of listening to Your Word
So that we can embody the Word in our own lives.
Teach us, therefore, how to truly listen to Your creating and creative Word.
Remind us that Your Word is present and can be heard in each living being.
May we listen and learn from Your message present throughout nature.
Open our ears and our hearts and teach us strength and courage so that we may hear the pain and suffering of our sister mother earth and of those most affected by the socio-environmental crisis.
Amen.
By Suzana Moreira, Laudato Si’ Animator, Coordinator of Eco-Conversion Programs at LSM. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

How does the process of listening and walking together as a community bring meaning to your Lenten commitment?

“Prayer for Indigenous and Original Peoples”
Great Spirit, the essence of all Nature,
Breath of life that creates and recreates all beings,
Our indigenous and original peoples hear Your voice in the waters, lands, sun, winds, and dewfall that moisten our sister mother earth and the germinated seeds that turn into food.
They see the love of Your beauty in the flora and fauna, in the pollination of birds, butterflies, and bees, the nectar of life everywhere.
Teach us to hear their sacred instruments and flutes that elevate body and spirit to the eternal world.
Give us Your Wisdom to rescue our harmony, interconnecting us in a grand scheme, weaving and threading the web of life.
May Your power be the sunlight that illuminates our joint living for the “good living” or sumak kawsay, buen vivir.
Force of Life, give us Your Strength to keep alive our peoples who most care for our common home.
Sustain our great Hut, which yearns for life and respect.
Make us hear Your life in the moan, cry, and voice of the forests and of the people that grow from the womb of the earth.
Amen.
By Laura Vicuña Pereira Manso, of the Kariri Indigenous People, Franciscan Catechist Sister. Missionary of the Indigenous Missionary Council (CIMI), member of the Executive Committee of the Ecclesial Conference of the Amazon (CEAMA), and member of the Post-Synodal Council of the Amazon Synod.

How does your Lenten commitment call you to pay attention to Indigenous people?

“Prayer for fundamental human rights”
God of Justice, we pray for the courage and determination to defend fundamental human rights. We ask for the courage to actively combat poverty, inequality, lack of work, land and housing, and the denial of social and labor rights.
We pray for equality, that there would not be first, second or third class people; much less the so-called “disposable”.

We also pray for those who defend human rights.
For those who risk their lives while fighting for fundamental rights under dictatorships, authoritarian regimes and even in democracies in crisis,
that they may see their sacrifice and their work bear abundant fruit. Amen.

Prayer based on Pope Francis’ prayer intention for fundamental Human Rights. By Ana Carolina Gutierrez, LSM Spiritual consultant. Italy.

How does your Lenten commitment impact the life of the poor directly or indirectly?

“Prayer for the Laudato Si’ Generation”
Holy Father, Creator of all things,
in You alone “we have life, movement and being” (Acts 17:28).
In Your infinite love You created humanity in Your own image and likeness,
and placed humans at the heart of creation.
You gave us the holy responsibility to guard creation in respect and harmony.
We beg You to look at this world which has lost its original beauty and which You redeemed through Your Son who died and rose again.
Have mercy on this world which is more and more prey to natural cataclysms, caused by the violent and subtle outbursts of humanity.
Teach us the young generations to recreate a true civilization of love,
and advocate for true harmony born of a pure heart and not of the blind and selfish quest for profit,
so that the fragrance of the new creation that Your Son came to earth to install may be felt.
May we, the young generation united in the spirit of the Laudato Si’ Movement
learn to praise You eternally by caring for the earth that You have given us,
You who reign for ever and ever.
Amen.
By Innocent Odongo, Member of Laudato Si’ Generation Steering Group representing the International Young Catholic Students (IYCS). Minakulu, Uganda.

How can your Lenten commitment be inspired by youth action?

“Prayer for extinct and endangered species”
Lord God, our Creator
all life forms that exist on our sister mother earth
come from Your hands.
You created us in the diversity of genera and species,
giving each of Your creatures a unique and singular mark.
We praise You, O Father, with all Your creatures!
We praise You, our Lord, for biodiversity!
We contemplate Your action that transforms and recreates everything,
in the diversity of species that throughout natural history
have been appearing or being naturally extinct,
as a natural result of evolution.

Each species contributes, in its own way
to offer humanity, free of charge, the ecosystemic services
that beautify, dignify and fill human life with colors and meaning.

However, today we see the threat to the diversity of life in our common home,
and that human action throughout history has drastically accelerated
the rate of extinction of species, increasing up to 1,000 times the natural rates.
Inspired by Pope Francis, we want to reaffirm:
“We have no right to do so” (LS 33).

We want to turn the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor into our cry.
Teach us, Lord, to care for creation!
Inspire us to commit ourselves and engage in concrete actions
to protect and conserve every species on our planet.
Through Christ, Your Son and our brother. Amen.

By Frair Wellington Buarque, OFM, Laudato Si’ Animator. Pernambuco, Brazil.

How does your Lenten commitment help avoid species extinction and endangerment?

“We cry out to You”
Caring God, the earth and we cry out to You
Along with the earth, we ask You to free us from greed, selfishness and indifference
Along with the air, the water, the land and the wind, we ask You to help us get rid of all the pollution
Along with the forest, birds and animals, give us the strength not to destroy ourselves and the delicate webs that connect our ecosystems and all life together
Along with those on the edges of society, the unheard, the powerless, the struggling and the suffering, we ask You the strength to be just, merciful and compassionate
Along with those in power and positions of authority, we ask for wisdom to be good stewards of our common home
And finally, along with the whole of creation and peoples, we give You thanks for all the efforts to restore our sister mother earth.
Amen.
By Bishop Allwyn D’Silva, Auxiliary Bishop of Bombay. Mumbai, India

In what ways your Lenten commitment helps you become aware of your ecological responsibilities and gives you hope to build a more just and sustainable future with others?