Pastor’s Corner for the First Sunday of Advent, Year C, by Fr. Russell Pollitt SJ

Prayer for Advent

 

Dear God, our Creator,

You revealed your love to us and creation once and for all through the coming of our Savior, Jesus Christ. By the grace of Your Creator Spirit, teach us to celebrate our faith in the Incarnation that took place in creation.

Dear Jesus, Savior of creation, we ask that You may be born in us once again as we seek to cultivate hope for our common home. As Your followers, teach us to care for the dignity of all human beings and all creation, now and in the future.

In a season too often marked by overconsumption and excess, let us give thanks and honour the goodness of all your gifts in the natural world. Help us to contemplate the mystery of creation as we celebrate the mystery of incarnation.

We pray for today’s victims of global warming, both human and nonhuman. We pray for more ambition in the energy transition, in this country and globally. We pray for our governments to negotiate a global and fair phase-out of fossil fuels.

And, finally, we pray for the courage to be prophets of our time, calling upon our leaders to bear fruits of ecological justice.

Come Emmanuel! Make us ever more hopeful people for a hopeful planet. Let us be part of Your light of hope to the world.

Amen.