Saturday With Young Adults Group

The Desert Flower youth group is a general name for a wide range of groups in a different and diverse age of the participants. One of these groups is called Young Adults. The members are 25-35 years old. The weekends of the group of Young Adults are different from those of the younger youth - they are held several times a year and the contents of the meeting is based on different topics.

Until the current meeting, the one who led the group was Fr. David and after he moved to South Africa, the one who replaced him is Fr. Piotr.

The meeting took place on Saturday (March 11th) at the Convent of St. Clair Sisters in Jerusalem. The topic of the meeting was the Beauty of the Woman in the Book of Esther. The topic was connected both to Women's Day which was celebrated that week and to the composition of the group which included only women! (and fr. Piotr, of course, and no...it was not planned in advance...)

We opened the meeting with a welcome that was accompanied by coffee and cookies, we got to know the new members of the group who joined for the first time, and we updated each one of them with the news from the last month.

Afterwards Fr. Piotr gave us a lecture on the beauty of the woman in the book of Esther. On the relationship between Queen Vashti and Queen Esther. Fr. Piotr said that both symbolize actually one woman who contains both sides of a woman - one who says "no" to the world of men, who wants to put her on display and highlight her external beauty only and she refuses men's domination and the other who is ready to be a part of this world and uses her strength and beauty in order to save her people and is ready to sacrifice herself for people she doesn't even know.

We continued after the lecture for a time of quiet thinking and then a discussion and we talked about the power that women have and that every woman is a mother even when she doesn't have children - she has the maternal quality. We continued the discussion and also brought up the issue of beauty in society today, who dictates the model of beauty? What is it actually to be beautiful? Who defines the criteria of beauty? In my life journey as a woman do I feel God's presence, and does he see me as a beautiful woman? We talked a lot about the feelings and there were also personal shares.

Afterwards, we went to lunch at the AZZAHRA restaurant - it was very tasty!

We returned to the monastery for a short break and after the break we had an activity with Fr. Piotr - in this activity we had cards on the table called POINT OF YOU, with various pictures on them and we were asked us two questions - 1. At my current point in life, how do I feel or see myself as a woman? 2. How do I see or feel my relationship with God?

We had to choose a card with a picture that answers the question and explain the reasons. It was a fascinating round full of personal sharing.

Later we started preparing for the Mass in the community - we read together the Gospel of that day (parable of the prodigal son) we talked about it and studied together.

We ended the meeting with a prayer in the community conducted by Fr. Benny.

It was a very empowering and educational meeting! It was fun and we were happy to share feelings, events and thoughts together!

Thanks to Fr. Piotr, St. Clair Sisters and everyone who attended the meeting!