Dear Friends of Magnificat,

The other day I asked my daughter why she always exclaims “My present! My present!” as she chases a butterfly. “Because it is always a surprise,” she replied, matter-of-factly. G.K. Chesterton made the same link: he frequently insisted that joyful surprise is the only appropriate response to the gift of creation, daily unfolding before us.

The theme for this year’s Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation on 1st September was selected by our late Pope Francis: “Seeds of Peace and Hope”. Peace and Hope have certainly been the emphasis of Pope Leo XIV’s new pontificate in the early days, repeatedly reiterated ever since those first words with which he greeted the world: “Peace be with you all!… the peace of the risen Christ. A peace that is unarmed and disarming, humble and persevering.…”

Pope Leo’s birthday falls on the “triumph” or Exaltation of the Cross, a feast of Hope if ever there was one. Let us pray that we and the Holy Father are able to sow these seeds of Peace and Hope in the coming months, as we round off this eventful year of Jubilee.