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September 22.  CO- CREATORS WITH GOD.  (From Becoming Eco-Friendly Families).  This statement highlights how important we are, particularly as human beings, in God’s plan of creation.  Although Genesis may tell us that God created busily for 6 days and then rested, this creation myth only tells part of the story.  Creation was and still is an ongoing process. Every living thing has the potential to reproduce, alongside God, who still holds the key to life.  Sexual reproduction is the key to almost every species where male and female parts combine and their reproductive acts produce one or more new creatures that continue the ecosystem. Is co-creation with God not our task too, and is the wonder of this ability, witnessed in a special way in conception and child-birth, not in the realm of the sacred and one of the greatest joys of family life?

Yet, there is another side to co-creation, at times a negative side. Understood and studied widely, science today is continuing to manipulate the elements of life.  This has happened for many centuries in agriculture, but present-day genetic modifications in all areas of creation places a great responsibility on us as humankind. Do we fully recognize this responsibility and can we predict the ultimate consequences whether they are positive or negative?   

Reflect, share, act. Scripture: Jesus was told, your mother and your brethren are standing outside, desiring to see you. But he said to them, my mother and my brethren are those who hear the word of God and do it.  Luke 8:19-21.   Pope Francis:  Everything is interconnected. Just as the different aspects of the planet -physical, chemical and biological are interrelated so too living species are part of a network which we will never fully explore and understand.   LS 138. God himself created sexuality which is a marvellous gift to his creatures. If this gift needs to be cultivated and directed it is to prevent the impoverishment of an authentic value. AL 150. The couple that loves and begets life is a true, living icon capable of revealing God the Creator and Saviour. 

Eco-tip:  Dicern and discuss integral ecology and the family and how to become more and more an eco-friendly and family-friendly society conscious of the responsibility of co-creators. . 

DAILY FAMILY PRAYER from Season of Creation 2026.  May God our Father, who brought water from a rock, sustain us in the desert. May Christ our Lord, who is Living Water, refresh us for the work of restoration.  May the Holy Spirit carry us on currents of grace until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream. Amen. St Francis guide and inspire us on our way.