Prayer 06.10.2025

The Feast of St. Francis of Assisi

THANKSGIVING FOR THE GIFT OF CREATION

Bless the Lord, all you creatures!

And forget not all of God’s benefits.

For all your creatures that breathe and move and have life,

We give you thanks and praise, Creator God.

That we may love and honor the works of your hand,

We give you thanks and praise, Creator God.

That all living things may be treasured with care,

We give you thanks and praise, Creator God.

That all life may flourish,

We give you thanks and praise, Creator God. Amen

PSALM 8

O Lord our Lord, how majestic is

your name in all the earth!

you whose glory is chanted above the heavens out of the mouths

of infants and children; you have set up a fortress against your

enemies, to silence the foe and avenger.

When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers,

the moon and the stars you have set in their courses,

what are mere mortals that you should be mindful of them,

human beings that you should care for them?

Yet you have made them little less than divine;

with glory and honor you crown them.

You have made them rule over the works of your hands;

you have put all things under their feet:

all flocks and cattle, even the wild beasts of the field,

the birds of the air, the fish of the sea,

and whatever passes along the paths of the sea.

O | Lord our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit.

As it was in the beginning, is now and will be forever. Amen.

LITANY FOR THE WILD ANIMALS

We see the vastness of the plants and animals that fill every corner of this earth

with life and vitality even in spaces where it is hard to imagine anything surviving.

We give thanks for the inevitability of life that God sustains among us.

We recognize how fragile life is in a natural world dominated by sickness and death.

We give thanks for the miracle of life that God sustains among us,

the life the wild animals around us exude is an illustration of the presence of God,

the light of life, among us.

We give thanks for the wild animals and the gift they are to us.

We are called to steward and preserve the life around us on God’s earth.