Feast of St. Ignatius of Loyola – 30/7/2022

The feast of St. Ignatius of Loyola was celebrated at St. Xavier’s Boys’ Academy on 30th July, 2022 at 9:00 a.m. with a Eucharistic celebration in the School Hall. This was presided over by Fr. Saby Fernandes s.j. alongwith the concelebrants Fr.Blaise D’Souza s.j. Fr. Myron Pereira s.j., Fr. Prashant s.j., Fr.Lawrie Ferrao s.j., Fr. Magi Murzello, Fr.Francis Carvalho and Fr. Sunil Soreng.

The year 2022 holds a special place in the heart of every Jesuit as they celebrate the completion of the 500^th Ignatian Year of the Cannonball moment in the life of St. Ignatius of Loyola the founder of the Jesuits.

At the introduction the Principal - Ms. Preema Noronha connected the Cannonball moment of Ignatius to the present climatic changes and asked us to recognize our cannonball moments to transform our lives for the greater glory of God and wellbeing of society. The Eucharistic celebration commenced with a video on the life of St. Ignatius and a short clipping of the speech of Greta Thunberg -the child environmental activist of Swedish origin, at the United Nations Climate Summit.

Fr. Prashant in his reflective and thought inspiring homily pointed out the resilience with which St. Ignatius went about leading the Society of Jesus. He also very beautifully connected the school’s theme for the year - 'Education and Ecology’ and stated how we are Earth Citizens and that the Universe is the greatest teacher. Various intentions were made for the Church, our priests, for peace in the world and for giving us the wisdom to preserve nature. A unique video of the Lord’s Prayer was played to pray the ‘Our Father’ and the mass ended with a video on the ‘Ignatian March’.

It was good to see many S.X.B.A and S.X.I.E current and past staff members participate in the Eucharistic celebration. Fr. Blaise thanked everyone for being a part of the Eucharistic celebration. The celebrations carried on after mass with a gathering of the invitees in the Hall namely the priests, all the former and present Principals of St. Xavier’s Boys' Academy and St. Xavier’s Institute of Education, teachers, office and other working staff, students, parents and also the sisters from Nirmala Niketan, Sophia College and the Daughters of the Cross, BAPSA and the PTA. The cutting of the cake by the priests was followed by serving of delicious snacks and refreshments to all who came to celebrate the feast of St. Ignatius.

Mr. Larry Pereira Ms. Adelaide Pereira Ms. Macrina Mascarenhas

Teachers in-charge