Over the last few weeks, I have been preparing resources for Season of Creation 2025. This year, the theme is Peace with Creation and it is based upon Isaiah 32:14-18. I have reflected on the scripture passage often as I have worked and I feel a sense of sadness, a sense of fun and a sense of hope as I read the passage.

Why do we still live in a world where there is war, where children are starving because aid cannot get to them, where fields that were once fruitful are now soaked in blood and riddled with bullets, mines and shrapnel? These thoughts make me incredibly sad and daily I, like so many others in the world, pray for peace. Pray that those in positions of power have their eyes and hearts opened to the wrong they are doing and that they may change and work for peace in our beautiful, but fragile world.

I also feel the sense of fun that is transmitted in the line “A joy of wild donkeys”, (Is. 32:14) the image of donkeys throwing their heads back, ears up and twitching, legs kicking and prancing and teeth fully exposed as they bray with joy makes me smile every time it pops into my head. This ridiculous image of joy reminds me that the world can be a joyful place, there is a time to be able to smile and laugh so much that your teeth are showing and your head is thrown back with the sheer exuberance. I am reminded that when we laugh and share joy together, in community, we can spread that joy out into the world and make the others feel lighter and happier.

My sense of hope comes from the words;

17  The work of righteousness will be peace,
And the effect of righteousness,
quietness and assurance forever.

18  My people will dwell in a peaceful habitation,
In secure dwellings, and in quiet resting places.

These words provide us with an end goal, a future vision and encourage us to find ways to ensure that peace is in creation and that we are honouring the wonder of creation.

As we embrace the many opportunities presented by the Catholic Diocese of Maitland-Newcastle to engage with Season of Creation 2025 events, we are called to be agents of change, by praying, doing, learning and transforming the way we live so that all peoples can dwell in peaceful habitation, in secure dwellings, and in quiet resting places.

You are invited to join us for the following events celebrating Season of Creation:

• 5 September 2025 – Formation Friday – Reflecting on Season of Creation at the Diocesan Resource Centre or online – 1pm. Register here.
• 6 September 2025 – Formation Films – Blueback – Diocesan Resource Centre – 11am. Morning Tea & Lunch provided. Register here.
• 10 September 2025 – Graced Encounters in the Community of Creation : Cultivating Hope in Action. Register here.