First Interfaith Walk for Creation in Philippines to Highlight ‘Living Waters’

Laudato Si’ Movement (LSM) Pilipinas will be organizing an Interfaith Walk for Creation on September 5, the first of its kind in the country.

After three consecutive years of holding an Ecumenical Walk for Creation since 2023, the organization has decided to “level up” the event into an interfaith gathering.

This will be the key event of LSM Pilipinas for the Season of Creation, which runs from September 1 to October 4.

The interfaith walk will focus on this year’s theme of “Living Waters,” inspired by Ezekiel 47: 9 and 12, which was chosen by the international steering committee for the Season of Creation.

Sr. Elizabeth Carranza, LSM Pilipinas Coordinator, told Radio Veritas Asia that about a hundred people have already registered online who belong to the Roman Catholic Church, Islam, Buddhism, and Hinduism, and member churches of the National Council of Churches of the Philippines.

Participants will gather in Pasig City, named after the river that bisects the City of Manila.

Moreover, every participant is encouraged to bring a small glass bottle filled with water from their home or from a body of water within their area. Faith leaders are also expected to share the significance of water in their own religious traditions, cultures, and art.

The event will close with a Symbolic Act of Commitment to Care for the Living Waters of all participants.

Sr. Carranza expressed her hope that this interfaith gathering will help emphasize how every drop of water on earth is “living and comes from the Divine.”

“May this consciousness awaken in each one of us a reverence for every drop of water that comes from our tap and from that reverence see how precious every drop of water is,” she said. “May our celebration of this Season of Creation deepen our consciousness that water is not just a physical resource to be used by us as we see fit and worse to be indiscriminately wasted.”

Moreover, she pointed out that the human body should be considered “living water” and must also be respected, since it is composed of around 75% water.

“May the living water that we are overflow with grace for the wellbeing and life of Earth and the entire Earth-Community,” she said.

Laudato Si’ Movement Pilipinas, formerly Global Catholic Climate Movement Pilipinas, has been spearheading an Annual Walk of Creation since 2015. This has been a solely Catholic event until it was transformed into an ecumenical gathering in 2022.