Remote north-east Indian village
celebrates St. Francis amidst God’s creation
 |
| Fr.Felix Anthony (extreme left) and his students of Newman school celebrating the feast of St. Francis of Assisi on October 4, 2018. |
Students of Newman School Neotan in Changlang District of
India’s Arunachal Pradesh state brought their animals to be blessed during a
Mass on the feast of St. Francis of Assisi on October 4.
By Robin Gomes
School children of a small village in remote north-east
India, celebrated the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi in a novel way on
Thursday, learning to love the animals and nature’s bounty that surround them.
The students of Newman School Neotan in Changlang
District of Arunachal Pradesh state were taught to treat animals and
birds as brothers and sisters to mark the October 4th feast of
the popular 13th century Italian saint regarded as the patron
of animals and ecology.
Fr. Felix Anthony, the Principal of the school
celebrated an open-air Mass in a fitting praise of God amidst His creation.
Those in-charge of the various livestock in the school campus
brought rabbits, chicken, duck, goats, cat, pig and lovebirds to be blessed.
The students were taught to treat the animals as siblings
and to foster love for the environment like St. Francis.
Known for his love for animals and creation, St. Francis
composed the famous Canticle
of the Creatures that proclaims God’s praise and thanks Him for some
of the wonders of His creation which he believed deserve to be appreciated and
valued. St. Francis thus referred to the sun, wind, air, and fire as his
brothers, and to the moon, stars, earth, water, and death as his sisters.
Natural calamities
Speaking to the children on the occasion, Fr. Anthony
explained that most of the natural calamities we see these days, including the
recent flood in Kerala, is the result of our lack of love for the nature and
all in it.
“Indiscriminate deforestation, selfishness and greed over
the natural resources has caused ecological imbalance, leading to either too
much or too little rain and many other natural calamities”, he said.
Message of St. Francis
The feast of the patron saint of ecology, he said, is a
wake-up call for all us to love, protect and promote the nature,
animals and birds. “What you do with the natural resources today will shape
the fate of your next generation”, he cautioned them.
“It gives me a completely different perspective to call the
rabbit ‘Brother Rabbit’,” remarked David Ngaimong who cares for rabbits.
“As children of the same God who created everything, we are all brothers and
sisters including the animals and birds”, he added.
Pope Francis
Greatly enamoured of St. Francis’ simplicity, poverty and
love for God’s creation, Argentine Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio assumed the name
Francis upon his election as the current Pope.
Pope Francis who has made the environment a major concern of
his pontificate, issued his encyclical, “‘Laudato
Si’: On Care for Our Common Home” in June 2015, drawing inspiration from
St. Francis.
Newman School Neotan is one of the several schools of the
Diocese of Miao in eastern Arunachal Pradesh, bordering Myanmar, China and
Bhutan. The diocese was erected in 2005 and entrusted to the Salesians of Don
Bosco. Its first bishop is George Palliparampil.
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