CPAM Advent recollection 2016

The day began at the Capuchin monastery in Jerusalem with input from Father Matthew Coutinho SDB. His talk focused on the discernment between fruitfulness and achievement, the first focused on the building up the Kingdom of Heaven, the second obsessed with success. The talk was followed by a time of personal reflection and then discussion in three groups. The groups discussed ways in which the achievement syndrome penetrates our lives and ways in which the fruitfulness paradigm can be strengthened in our individual lives and in our communities.

Lunch was shared by all in the refectory of the monastery. Thanks to the generosity and culinary skills of those present, it was a delicious meal, enlivened by friendly conversation.

After a short time for rest, the participants gathered in the chapel to celebrate mass. At this point, they welcomed into their midst Mgr. John Kozar, international director of CNEWA (Catholic Near East Welfare Association), visiting from the USA, together with Mr. Sami El-Yusef, director of Pontifical Mission in Jerusalem and Mr. Rodolf Saadeh from the Jerusalem office. Father Kevin Gonsalvez, the superior of the Capuchin monastery, celebrated the mass.

After mass, there was a time of exchange with Mgr. Kozar, a strong supporter of the work of the CPAM and then all went on a brief visit to the Saint Rachel Center, a facility for migrant infants, toddlers, children and youth.

A time of prayer was indeed welcome just before Christmas and the chaplains returned to their various ministries: among the Filipinos, Indians, Sri Lankans, Eritreans and Ethiopians, Lebanese, Rumanians, prisoners, the migrant sick, torture victims and Bedouin, strengthened and ready to welcome Him who is to come.