A Reflection by Joel Urumpil, SCN

Recently, I went to Nazareth Academy in Gaya for some work. While I was there, someone invited me to see the supplies the children were adding to an already large collection of goods for those affected by flooding in Patna and surrounding areas.

I was inspired to write about what I saw and what I felt.

I recalled the good old days of the Academy. During the famine of 1967, Sisters James Leo, Eugenia and Ann Roberta, along with other Sisters, teachers and students, were busy packing and transporting supplies and feeding close to 5,000 people each day in relief camps.

Nazareth Academy has always been sensitive to the suffering of people around them, especially when calamities occurred. That spirit continued in later years during floods and earthquakes in the 1970s and 1980s and in responding to Bangladeshi refugees during the 1971 crisis.

As a novice, I went with Sister James Leo in a huge old Jeep filled with items to share with people affected by leprosy. This was a weekly affair. And mind you, the Sisters continued holding regular classes for the children of the town.

Now, after many decades, I witnessed that same zeal, spirit and compassion on Sept. 12. The legacy continues.

Nazareth Academy is a premier and popular school known for its high standards of discipline and dynamic spirit. Amid a busy schedule, Principal Sister Anita Tigga and her team of teachers and staff found time to communicate with parents and alumni about the urgent need for supplies for flood victims. They collected and sorted donations, packed them into trucks and dispatched them to communities in need.

Great attention was given to maintaining communication with the central distribution point so supplies could reach affected people and communities, including areas that might otherwise have been overlooked.

The SCN spirit of compassion and daring will live on in all parts of the world where SCNs minister. Even if there is only one SCN present, the whole Congregation is there through its collective strength, vitality and pioneering spirit.

Acts of mercy carried out by a community remind each of us that our works are not compartmentalized or limited to a particular ministry or mission. Wherever we serve, every mission is teamwork. Each of us is called to serve those who are marginalized and to go to the margins.

The Charity of Christ impels us.