Haifa community on a Yom Kippur retreat

Early morning view from Kiryat Yearim

Our Lady Ark of the Covenant

Before the retreat began, a visit was paid to the Benedictine monastery in Abu Ghosh. There Brother Olivier spent some time explaining about the church and the community that lives there. This also offered a moment to prayer at the tomb of Father Jean-Baptiste Gourion, the late head of the Hebrew-speaking Catholic communities in Israel, appointed bishop shortly before his death.

Brother Olivier guiding in the church

Explaining the icon of Our Lady Ark of the Covenant

The retreat was organized around the day of Yom Kippur, a time for prayer and fasting and took place from Wednesday to Saturday, 8-11.10.2008. Each day was punctuated by communal prayer: morning prayer, mass, adoration and evening prayer. These moments were enhanced by the musical talents of two members of the group, Miriam’s singing and guitar and Sharon performing works he himself wrote for the organ.

Planning the music for the liturgies

Daily mass

In the times consecrated to study, the focus was on the Book of Jonah, a book connected to the Jewish liturgy of Yom Kippur and to the Christian fast time of Lent. Each study session was devoted to one of the four chapters of the book.

Studying the Book of Jonah

The atmosphere of quiet and the natural beauty of the place made this a very special time of prayer and meditation.

There was also time for friendship and sharing. Two of the evenings were even spent watching two films together, one, “Karol” on the early life of the man who became Pope John PaulII, and the other, “Va, Vie et Deviens”, the story of an Ethiopian Christian boy who finds himself in Israel among the thousands of new emigrants.

A moment of friendship

A final mass was celebrated to honor Blessed Pope John XXIII, whose feast day it was. The retreatants gathered together with the community of Sisters, the Filipina volunteers, the hermits (3 women who live in Kiryat Yearim) and gave thanks together. The hospitality of the Sisters and the volunteers as well as the excellent meals and magnificent accommodation gave a sense of visiting Paradise.

Before returning to Haifa, a visit was paid to the Messianic moshav of Yad HaShemona where Gershon Nerel, of the moshav, hosted the group and led them on a visit of the Biblical village.

The group returned to Haifa with a profound sense of thanksgiving in time to celebrate the Saturday evening liturgy together with those who were not so fortunate to attend the retreat.