“What kind of world do we want to leave to those who come after us, to children who are now growing up?”
That’s the question Pope Francis is asking us. The Holy Father is challenging us to reflect on the ways we’re treating our common home and consider how what we do today will affect the lives of our sisters and brothers tomorrow.
During Great Big Green Week 2023, a UK-wide the celebration of action to tackle the climate crisis, we invited CAFOD supporters to answer the Pope’s call by writing a Prayer for Tomorrow – asking God to guide us in our efforts to care for our common home and leave a better world for future generations.
Maria lives in Bangladesh. Water levels are rising every year in the Bay of Bengal and the Payra river, just two miles from Maria’s home, causing damage to crops and plants and contaminating water in the nearby well. Maria’s family home has been frequently flooded. Maria says: “From April to September there is a lot of rain. People really suffer at this time.”
Why write a Prayer for Tomorrow?
The climate crisis is a reality today for our sisters and brothers in the most marginalised communities around the world. Millions are facing food and water shortages, and many are being forced from their homes as temperature rises become unbearable.
But many more millions will face this reality in coming generations – unless we act today to change tomorrow.
Pope Francis is clear that “Leaving an inhabitable planet to future generations is, first and foremost, up to us.”
With this in mind, let’s pray to reflect on what role each of us can play to care for our common home.
How to write a Prayer for Tomorrow
What you write in your Prayer for Tomorrow is up to you. This is an opportunity for us all to consider what changes we can make in our lives to stop damaging our common home and stand in solidarity with our global family.
All you need to do is to fill in the form below and then write your prayer on an online board we’ve set up to collect the prayers.
Some tips for writing a Prayer for Tomorrow
It’s important that you choose what to say in your prayer. A prayer is a conversation between you and God. But if you’d like some inspiration, you might want to consider some of these questions:
Each of us is called to give thanks to God for the beautiful common home he gives us to share. Can we commit to thank God for his creation every day when we pray?
Each of us is called to care for our common home – and all of us have fallen short in answering this call. Can we ask God for the humility to reflect on the ways we’ve contributed to harming our common home and ask for his forgiveness?
Each of us is called to stand in solidarity with our sisters and brothers around the world who are being hardest hit by the damage we’ve caused to our common home. Can we ask the Holy Spirit for the wisdom to decide how we can help to tackle the climate crisis in our own lives and in our communities? And can we ask the Holy Spirit to guide our leaders to put the interests of our global family first?
We read out the Prayers for Tomorrow opposite Downing Street before world leaders discussed how to finance the fight against the climate crisis
What happened with our Prayers for Tomorrow?
We displayed our Prayers for Tomorrow on a website, on social media and in CAFOD publications so that others could be inspired to write their own prayer.
And during Great Big Green Week in 2023, we went to Downing Street to read our Prayers for Tomorrow and share them with Number 10 to make sure the UK government hears our call for action. This was ahead of world leaders meeting in Paris to look at how we can ensure countries have the money they need to tackle the climate crisis.