Trip of the Haifa kehilla - 2015

On the morning of Saturday, thirty five of the members of the Haifa kehilla, with Father Roman at their head, met up and set off in the direction of the Sea of Galilee. Our first destination during the trip was the Mount of Beatitudes, the place in which Jesus preached his Sermon on the Mount. We were delighted to meet there the youth group together with Father Apolinary and Father Piotr who were also in the area over the weekend. After words of explanation and free time to wander around the beautiful place, we participated in the celebration of the mass. In his homily, Father Roman spoke about the importance of the Sermon on the Mount, paralleling it to the giving of the Torah. On Mount Sinai, the people of Israel received the Torah and on the Mount of the Beatitudes, Jesus interpreted the Torah and the commandments. At the end, Father Roman gave some food for thought as we read the verses “Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you” (Matthew 5:11-12).

After the mass, we went to Tabgha, to the Church of the Multiplication of the Loaves and the Fish, where the signs of the recent arson attack were still evident. We were delighted to see the ancient beautiful mosaics, which were not damaged, and to pray there.

We travelled on for a visit and lunch at the Church of the Primacy of Peter and there we met up once again with the youth group.

The next stop of our trip were the sites of Capernaum, the Orthodox one that includes a beautiful garden and the Catholic one where there are important archaeological finds from the period of Jesus. We could really imagine Jesus doing miracles here in every corner – from the entrance gate, through the home of Peter’s mother-in-law and of course in the ancient synagogue.

We ended the trip with a boat ride on the Sea of Galilee and there we were like Jesus’s disciples on the waters of the sea. After we had read from the Gospel, we tried to understand how Peter, who went out of the boat and walked on the water towards Jesus, suddenly lost his faith and began to sink. We spoke about the moments in our lives when we feel close to Jesus but then comes some crisis and suddenly we are far away. For the rest of the cruise we sang uplifting songs led by Myriam and Martha.

At the end of the cruise we returned to Haifa, tired but satisfied and anticipating the next trip.