September 3. WATER WARRIORS ARE WATER WISE. (From Becoming Eco-Friendly Families)  Cecilia is involved with a water provision project in a poor rural area.  She arranged for tanks for harvesting rain water to be donated.  Georgina laughed when she heard about it, “O mom, it hasn’t rained there in 4 months so how can one harvest rain water.” “Well there are times of the year when this is possible and then you save it. But talking of harvesting water, what about putting a basin in the shower and taking shorter showers.  Use that water in the garden or the toilet – if you have such luxuries, not every family has.  We can use “grey water” from washing dishes for gardens and aim for indigenous drought-resistant plants. We can think twice when we brush our teeth or wash hands not to let the tap run.  Saving water at home is a mindset that we all need to develop. 

Water is an essential element of creation and makes our earth habitable. It is too often contaminated from mining and industrial use and dumping all kinds of stuff, making it unsafe to drink.  70% of earth’s surface is sea water and desalination could be done.   In gardens choose indigenous plants that are drought-resistant and need less water.  Water shortages are felt today, in rural and urban areas due to poor water infrastructure management. Families as water warriors can work at checking on water spills, fighting pollution, doing clean-ups and much else for the common good,

Reflect, share, act. Scripture: Jesus said, “Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.  Henceforth you will be catching men.” Luke 5:1-11. Pope Francis:  Access to safe drinkable water is a basic and universal human right, since it is essential to human survival and as such is a condition for the exercise of other human rights. Water continues to be wasted not only in the developed world, but also in developing countries which possess it in greater abundance. Clearly the problem of water is partly an educational and cultural issue, since there is little awareness of the seriousness of such behaviour within a context of great inequality. LS 30.  Eco-tip. Read the Canticle of Creation of St Francis focusing on “Praise God for Sister Water who is very useful and humble and precious and chaste.” 

DAILY FAMILY PRAYER from Season of Creation 2026.  May God our Father, who brought water from a rock, sustain us in the desert. May Christ our Lord, who is Living Water, refresh us for the work of restoration.  May the Holy Spirit carry us on currents of grace until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream. Amen. St Francis, guide and inspire us on our way.