LETTER FROM KATIE • May 6, 2026

Warren Chang (b. June 9, 1957). The Diggers, oil on canvas, 30 x 40

Dear Holy Comforter,

This Sunday, May 10, is Rogation Sunday—the day when we ask God’s blessing on our common life and our labors. Please bring an item that represents your work for our opening procession and the blessing of our labor. (This short article is a helpful introduction if you’d like to learn more about Rogation Days.)

Each year I’m struck by the wisdom of placing Rogation Sunday in the Easter season. It reminds us that the Resurrection isn’t only good news for us, but for the whole creation. Scripture is clear: the earth was good before we arrived, and it belongs to God, not to us. Psalm 65 pictures God tending the world like a gardener—watering the earth, blessing its growth, crowning the year with bounty—until the valleys themselves “shout and sing for joy.” We were made from dust and placed in the garden not to consume it, but to “till and keep”: to cultivate and protect. But as the prophets remind us, the earth has been harmed by human violence, greed, abuse, and neglect. The Apostle Paul tells us in Romans, chapter 8 that the creation groans, longing to be set free. Still, God’s promise stands: the day is coming when the Lord will say even to the soil, “Do not fear… be glad and rejoice.” (Joel 2:21-23)

That is the Easter hope for creation: God is not abandoning this world—God is redeeming it. The promise of a new heaven and a new earth is not an escape plan; it is God’s renewal project. And Rogation Sunday is our yearly invitation to join God’s project of recreating the earth. We pray for blessing, yes—but we also recommit ourselves to care. As Wendell Berry wrote, “No matter how much one may love the world, one can live fully in it only by living responsibly in some small part of it.” So as we prepare for Rogation Sunday, I invite you to consider the places where you live, work, and rest, and ask: how can I be an instrument of care here? What would faithfulness look like in this small patch of God’s earth entrusted to me?

If you’d like to reflect more on how our faith shapes our care for creation—and our hope for the world made new—I recommend Pope Francis’ Laudato Si’, his letter “On Care for Our Common Home.

Here is the prayer that closes that letter:

All-powerful God, you are present in the whole universe and in the smallest of your creatures.You embrace with your tenderness all that exists.Pour out upon us the power of your love, that we may protect life and beauty. Fill us with peace, that we may live as brothers and sisters, harming no one.O God of the poor, help us to rescue the abandoned and forgotten of this earth, so precious in your eyes. 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. Touch the hearts of those who look only for gain at the expense of the poor and the earth. Teach us to discover the worth of each thing, to be filled with awe and contemplation, to recognize that we are profoundly united with every creature as we journey towards your infinite light. We thank you for being with us each day. Encourage us, we pray, in our struggle for justice, love and peace. Amen.

With hope for the day when everything will be made new again,

Katie