India – Solidarity and prayer to face the pandemic

03 May 2021

(ANS - Mumbai) - The situation of Covid-19 infections in India remains critical and worrying. The number of new cases has risen to over 400,000 per day; in a district of the state of Madhya Pradesh, 99% of pilgrims swabbed after their return from a major Hindu religious festival, attended by over 9 million people, tested positive; and even in those states that have held elections in recent weeks there is a clear growth in infections. The fear, therefore, is that the peak has not yet been reached.

In this scenario of vast suffering and where human resources appear insufficient, the Salesians remain faithful to the motto indicated by the Rector Major for this pandemic, and "Moved by hope" in Christ, they do everything they can to benefit their neighbor and implore from God the end of the pandemic.

For example, the Salesian community in Nerul, near Navi Mumbai, Mumbai Province (INB), has started various measures to reach and help, in complete safety, people in need. A roadside refrigerator has been set up where anyone can put food and anyone who needs it can pick it up. In this way, while benefiting those who have lost jobs and livelihoods, contacts are limited to a minimum.

And always with the utmost care, food is also delivered to those who are subjected to quarantine and who have no one else, apart from the Salesians and their collaborators, to help them.

Great efforts are still being made in the information campaigns, especially at this stage to disseminate verified notices on the facilities and the free treatment options for Covid patients available in the city.

On another front, in order to act as a "generator of spiritual energy", the "Don Bosco Nerul" center also involved over 70 people in a dedicated prayer initiative: for one hour a day, between 9.00 and 22.00, each of them, in the silence of their homes, offers an hour of prayer or spiritual meditation for Covid-19 patients and for the large number of people involved in the rescue, why they also had materials distributed for reflection of various kinds of adoration.

“There are people who are bending over backwards to buy an oxygen tank, find a hospital bed, medicine, food or even a place for cremation or burial ... There are so many needs that when we seem not to to be able to do nothing, we can only entrust ourselves to the Lord,” explain the Salesians of the Nerul work.

Lastly, there is also a nice gesture of inter-provincial Salesian solidarity: even the Vice Province of Madagascar, with various missionary works to think about, has decided to donate 15,000 euros to the Salesians of India to help them in the emergency from Covid- 19.

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