Former Columban Lay Missionary with his wife, a Subanen woman, at Lake Duminagat. Photo: Amy Echeverria
Laudato Si’ Week invites us to hold onto the truth that creation is not disposable scenery for our spiritual lives. Pope Francis calls us to an “integral ecology,” where care for the Earth and care for people cannot be separated. For many Indigenous Peoples around the world, access to sacred waters is being cut off - by pollution, privatisation, climate change, and “development” that treats living ecosystems as commodities. If a well, a river, or a lake becomes inaccessible, then a whole web of life -physical, cultural, and spiritual - begins to unravel.
The Subanen people in Mindanao, Philippines, hold great reverence for their sacred lake, Duminagat, located in the protected Mt. Malindang park. However, the push for eco-tourism is threatening this pristine environment. Roads are being built to facilitate tourist access, leading to deforestation and ecosystem disruption. This contradiction highlights how the gentle language of "eco" can mask the real harm being done to a place once treated with patience and respect.
When I met with Subanen women, they expressed deep grief over the potential loss of access to their sacred waters at Duminagat. Their identity is closely linked to this place, and their prayers are rooted in its significance.
This is where the theme of Laudato Si’ Week - From Hope to Action - becomes more than a slogan. Christian hope is not denial. It does not pretend that harm is small or temporary. Hope tells the truth about what is being lost and then refuses to believe that loss is inevitable. At the well, in the story of the Woman at the Well in the gospels, Jesus does not offer escapism; he offers communion. He begins with a simple request - “Give me a drink” - and in doing so, he makes the relationship the doorway to transformation. In the same way, my hope must begin with relationship: learning the names of places and peoples, listening before speaking, and letting the suffering of creation and of communities reach my conscience.
Amy looking at the destruction of the mountain to facilitate tourism access. Photo: Amy Echeverria
So during this Laudato Si’ Week, I want to take concrete steps—small enough to begin now, but real enough to matter. First, I will examine my own patterns of consumption, especially as they relate to water and land: reducing waste, choosing lower-impact options when I can, and resisting the mindset that convenience is an unquestioned good. Second, I will practice the kind of attention that builds solidarity: reading and sharing Indigenous-led reporting, supporting organisations that defend land and water rights, and seeking out local efforts to protect waterways in my own community. Third, I will treat advocacy as part of discipleship. Protecting creation is not separate from loving my neighbour; it is one expression of it. That means speaking up - writing, calling, voting, and showing up - when policies or projects threaten ecosystems and the communities that are most connected to them.
In the Gospel, the Samaritan woman leaves her jar behind and runs to tell others what she has encountered. I used to read that detail only as excitement or surprise. Now I also hear a challenge: when we meet Christ at the “well” of creation, we cannot cling to business as usual. We are sent into our households, parishes, schools, workplaces, and public life - to protect the places where life is drawn up and shared. This Laudato Si’ Week and beyond, may my prayer not end at the edge of a beautiful story. May it move my hands and my choices. And may God teach us to defend sacred waters everywhere, so that all peoples - and the Earth itself - can drink and live.
Amy Echeverria is the Columban International Coordinator for Justice, Peace and Ecology.
Related links
- Read more from the current Columban JPIC eBulletin
