Desert Flower meets in Haifa

We began our meeting on Friday at around 17.00 in the house of the kehilla in Haifa. Father Roman, responsible for the Hiafa community, received us warmly. After we had allarrived, our brothers Benny and Alberto, prepared for us a Taize prayer, the type of prayer we really prefer and which we first experienced when we visited the Taize monastery in France. After one hour of prayer and personal soul searching, we had dinner and then Benny and Alberto left us to return to Jerusalem. We continued with Father Roman who told us about his visit to Brazil. We saw a slide show of photos from the islands and villages in Brazil where he celebrated mass (people there sometimes wait an entire year for a priest to come and say mass for them). After the magnificent story of Father Roman, we prayed night prayer and went to sleep, anticipating a new day.

In the morning on Saturday, we prayed morning prayer and had breakfast. We organized our belongings and prepared for a lesson with Father Piotr who spoke about the celebration of mass and some important “pointers” for our life. Then we went to the monastery of Stella Maris and there a Carmelite monk, 82 years old, told us about the foundation of the Carmel (and of course without the translation of Father Apolinary, we would have understood nothing). We visited the church on location and then returned to the kehilla house for lunch.

After lunch we had time for farewells as each one went on his or her way. Thank you to Father Apolinary, Father Piotr, to brothers Benny and Alberto and to Father Roman. Until next time…