To celebrate Franciscan month we were delighted to visit with the students and faculty at St. Francis College in New York. Brother Gregory Cellini, OSF, Franciscan Brother of Brooklyn, and Director of the Office of Mission, Ministry and Interfaith Dialogue, recites Canticle of the Creatures.
Most High, all-powerful, good Lord, yours is the praise, the glory and the honor and every blessing.
To you alone, Most High, do they belong, and no one is worthy to speak your name.
Praised be you, my Lord with all your creatures, especially Sir Brother Sun, who is the day through whom you bring us light.
And he is lovely, shining with great splendor, for he heralds you, Most High.
Praised be you, my Lord, through Sister Moon and Stars. In heaven you have formed them, lightsome and precious and fair.
And praised be you, my Lord, through Brother Wind, through air and cloud, through calm and every weather by which you sustain your creatures.
Praised be you, my Lord, through Sister Water, so very useful and humble, precious and chaste.
Praised be you, my Lord through Brother Fire, by whom you light up the night, and he is handsome and merry, robust and strong.
Praised be you, my Lord, through our Sister, Mother Earth, who sustains us and directs us bringing forth all kinds of fruits and colored flowers and herbs.
Praised be you, my Lord through those who forgive for your love and who bear sickness and trial.
Blessed are those who endure in peace, for by you, Most High, they will be crowned.
Praised be you, my Lord, through our Sister Bodily Death from whom no living being can escape.
How dreadful for those who die in mortal sin! How blessed are those she finds in your most holy will for the second death can do them no harm.
O praise and bless my Lord, thank him and serve him humbly but grandly!
Tim Cecere, President of St. Francis College, warmly welcomed us and noted that this year we are celebrating the 800th anniversary of St. Francis' Canticle of the Creatures.
Solo singing of All Creatures of our God and King by student Vanessa Katkin.
Quotes/poems on Nature read by students of SFC.
When my mind needs power, I invoke the sun. When my heart needs peace, I invoke the moon. When my life needs illumination, I invoke the stars. - Sri Chinmoy
Like the moon, come out from behind the clouds! Shine. - Gautama Buddha
It is so often in the darkest skies that we see the brightest stars. – Richard Paul Evans The sun is God's candle. - Matshona Dhliwayo
You don't need to send an invitation to the sun; open the window and it will come in; you don't need to send an invitation to wisdom either, just open the curtains in your mind! - Mehmet Murat ildan
Professor Vyavasayaha Anne Bright PhD very kindly put the program together and served as emcee.
Our Peace Run Choir performed songs composed by Sri Chinmoy at different intervals throughout the program.
Former staff of UN and UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Adhiratha Keefe spoke on the significance of the United Nations providing an insightful explanation of the UN Secretariat and its relationship to the member states.
Next we invited the students and Peace Run team to come on stage and share their countries of origin.
Over 40 countries were in the room!
Quotes/poems on United Nations read by students.
The United Nations was born out of a great hope and was inspired by expectations of a bright future. The United Nations stands today strengthened by the dramatic approach to universality.
Dag Hammarskjöld, United Nations Day, 1960 There is so much good in men and in nations. The interests that unite us are far more significant than those that divide us.
U Thant, United Nations Day, 1970
As we mark the 80th anniversary of the United Nations, I invite you to return for a moment to our earliest days. When the Organization first opened its doors, many of its staff bore visible wounds from war — a limp, a scar, a burn. … They had seen the worst of humanity — the horrors of the death camps, the cruelty of combat, cities entirely wiped out. And it was precisely because of what they had witnessed that they chose to serve peace. There is a persistent myth that peace is naïve. That justice is sentimental. That the only “real” politics is the politics of power and self-interest. But those early staff were not idealists untouched by reality. They had seen war. And they knew: Peace is the most courageous, the most practical, the most necessary pursuit of all.
In building the United Nations, they created something extraordinary. A place where all nations — large and small — could come together to solve problems that no country can solve alone.
António Guterres, the 9th Secretary-General of the United Nations, from his Remarks to the General Assembly marking the 80th Anniversary of the United Nations, in New York on September 22nd, 2025
General Secretary of Sri Chinmoy: The Peace Meditation at the United Nations, Nilima Silver shared what she found significant in her role with this NGO.
Director, Jharna-Kala Art Foundation, and Curator of Sri Chinmoy’s Art, Ranjana Ghose, spoke about Sri Chinmoy's art and the spirit of peace which permeates all of his creative outpourings.
Quotes/poems on Peace read by students of SFC.
What do you want? I want peace. Meditate on the setting sun.
What do you want? I want peace. Meditate on the top of a mountain.
What do you want? I want peace. Meditate on self-giving.
What do you want? I want peace. Meditate on the non-existence of expectation. - Sri Chinmoy
Ganapati J. Coleman, PhD, Author of Re-Envisioning America. share some fascinating insights into the Non-Violence of Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. Of particular note was the influence of Indian philosophy on the civil rights movement and the fact Martin Luther King Jr. and others had travelled to India for learning and inspiration.
Quotes by Mahatma Gandhi Non-violence is not a garment to be put on and off at will. Its seat is in the heart and it must be inseparable part of our very being.
There is no way to peace, peace is the way.
Non-violence is a weapon of the strong.
Quotes/poems on Non-Violence read by students of SFC.
Quotes by Martin Luther King, Jr. Nonviolence is a powerful and just weapon, which cuts without wounding and ennobles the man who wields it. It is a sword that heals.
Nonviolence is absolute commitment to the way of love. Love is not emotional bash; it is not empty sentimentalism. It is the active outpouring of one’s whole being into the being of another.
World peace through nonviolent means is neither absurd nor unattainable. All other methods have failed. Thus, we must begin anew. Nonviolence is a good starting point.
PhD Undergraduate Dean, Dr. John Edwards, recited the Peace Prayer by St. Francis, which is on the wall of SFC, and is the guiding light for the students, staff, and faculty.
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace:
where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; where there is sadness, joy. O divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console, to be understood as to understand, to be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive, it is in pardoning that we are pardoned, and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
Dr. John Edwards and Brother Gregory Cellini presented Professor Bright with a beautiful copy of Canticle of Brother Sun in gratitude for her organizing this uplifting and inspiring program.
Salil Wilson, Executive Director of the Sri Chinmoy Oneness-Home Peace Run, introduced the torch and highlighted how each one of us has an important role to bring about world peace.
We also unveiled our US route for 2026 which will visit all 50 states to commemorate the 250th anniversary since this nations founding.
We headed outside for a lap around the block of St. Francis College.
A final group photo with new found friends.
