God of all Creation,
This week marks the start of the twelve day United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties or COP29 (29th year).
Baku, Azerbaijan is the host country for the 2024 talks. It is a fossil fuel producing country on the Caspian Sea, the largest inland sea in the world. It sits between Iran and Russia. It is also a place where reports of violations of prisoners’ human rights, including detention in inhumane conditions and torture take place. The refusal to provide adequate medical care to prisoners is occurring as reported by Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch. A place where a life-size replica of a beached sperm whale, an art installation, was permitted to be placed on the waterfront promenade of Baku – a metaphor for climate injustice.
Help us to be in communion with all peoples. We ask that decisions from the COP29 benefit all species you created over corporate profit. Bring awareness of the suffering of poor communities. Keep at the forefront the short and long-term impacts that devastation of entire ecosystems bring. Teach us to be merciful, to turn away from a legacy of catastrophe. We are grateful for the daily education and reflection tool: Jesuits for Climate Justice for COP29 Prayer Guide.*
We call for the protection of civil rights of all the citizens. Gather the peacemakers and advocates in this time.
Bring wisdom to those newly elected political leaders. May they legislate, execute, and judge according to the protection of the common good and our common home.
The citizens of the United States of America elected a president who has threatened to withdraw from the Paris Climate Accord, again. Lord have mercy.
The safety and livelihood of ten million people in Cuba were laid waste by the forceful Hurricane Rafael. We pray for victims. We pray for the rescue workers and all providers who have risen to serve. May our hearts, minds, and wallets be opened to address this great hour of need and speed their recovery.
The communities of Valencia, Castile La Mancha and Andalusia, Spain, lost at least 217 loved ones as a result of floods exacerbated by global climate change. The floods were the deadliest in modern Spanish history. They were the most catastrophic flood-related event in Europe since 1967. We mourn the loss of loved ones as a result of these recent environmental disasters across the continents. Lord hear our prayers for relief.
Authorities reported that 420,000 children in the Amazon Basin countries of Columbia, Peru, and Brazil are affected by water scarcity and drought made worse by global climate change. Lord have mercy. For our world’s children, our future, may their health be protected, we pray to the Lord.
In the Encyclical Letter Laudato Si’ of the Holy Father Francis “On the Care For Our Common Home” is collected all the events, needs and manifestations of our current world. Let the words in this 186 page letter filter into the minds and hearts of these representatives. May they thirst, may they be hungry to address the necessity of redressing global climate change. Touch the hearts of those who look only for gain at the expense of the poor and the earth itself.
All powerful God, in the whole of the universe, in the smallest of your creatures you embrace and touch with tenderness. Teach us to contemplate the worth of each thing, to be filled with awe, to recognize our profound connection with every creature as we journey in your infinite light. The power of your love is poured out upon us. May we in like manner protect life and this beauty.
God of the poor, help us to rescue the abandoned and forgotten of this earth, so precious in your eyes. Fill us with peace, that we may live as brothers and sisters, harming none.
Bring healing to our lives, that we may protect the world and not prey on it, that we may sow beauty, not pollution and destruction.
We thank you for being with us each day.
Encourage us, we pray, in our struggle for justice, love and peace.
Amen.
* https://jesc.eu/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/COP29-prayer-guide.pdf