Nagpur: For Pushpa Singh, visiting the homeless children on the road on the feast of Epiphany on January 3 was an experience of meeting Christ.
“Epiphany is the feast of the three Wise Men visiting Baby Jesus in the manger. Today I too visited Baby Jesus in the poor children with the message of Christmas,” the 24-year-old woman told Matters India as she returned home.
She said she felt the Christmas spirit once again seeing God’s presence in the children. “They were very much interested to listen to the story of Jesus we narrated to them,” she added.
She was among a group of Catholic young people who organized Christmas programs for street children of Nagpur, a central Indian city.
Pushpa said they have been visiting people of “our status and level” during the Christmas week. “But today we stooped down to meet our less fortunate brethren which really touched me. In them I visualized Jesus in Bethlehem,” she added.
What impressed 17-year-old Anusiya Pani was the “grasping power” of the children who live begging on the road. “When we asked them questions about the story we had narrated they responded quickly and accurately. They were hearing first time about Jesus, but they were sharp to learn the story and sing the songs with us. I was sad that they did not have the opportunity to go to school.”
Sr Suman Tigga, a member of the Daughters of St Paul congregation and organizer of the program, said it was her first experience of being with the poor on the street to celebrate Christmas. “I felt one with them while we danced and sang the Biblical folk songs. I received more joy than what I could give them,” said the nun, who is the director of the Catholic information Centre in Nagpur.
She said she noted joy in the eyes of those children, who stood around watching them enjoy. “I feel satisfied that we have reached out to a group whom no one cares about. It was a daring step, of course.”
Sr Ashrita, who directs young women aspiring to join the Daughters of St Paul congregation, too joined the group. “To dance with these little kids covered with dirt all over was an uneasy thing in the beginning. But their lovely smile, and their interest in everything we did for them made me hold them and dance along,” she told Matters India.
Agnes Anthony, who anchored the program narrating the Story of Christmas, said she was going back home thinking about various ways to reach out to those people. “Some of them did not have anything to eat today. Some had only rice and lentils. I felt very bad,” the young woman added.
Sr Stella Pereira, the animator of the Daughters of St Paul, said the street children although the Catholic group was meeting the children first time, “they were very much at home with us and welcomed happily what we gave them “
“They will not take food from any passersby easily. They trusted us,” she explained/ “The joy they felt is also reflected on our faces and hearts. In them we visited Baby Jesus on this Epiphany.”
The senior nun said her encounter with the street children made her think “how much I need to be grateful to God for all the things He has blessed me.”