Days of prayer for kehillot priests on Mount Tabor


As is habitual every year, the priests of the Hebrew speaking and Russian speaking communities set off together for a few days of prayer from September 28 until October 1 on Mount Tabor. This year, the theme for the days they spent together was: “Building up the community of Christ”.

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This year, ten priests participated in the prayer days, including the priests for all the Hebrew speaking and Russian speaking Catholic communities in Israel. Father Giuseppe from Koinonia John the Baptist community was unable to come because of his move from Jerusalem to Tiberias during these same days. Once again this year, the priests were hosted by the Franciscan Fathers in the monastery atop Mount Tabor, a wonderful place for days of retreat, where Jesus was transfigured before his disciples.

These days are an occasion for the priests to spend time together, to pray together, to renew communication among themselves, to share about work in the kehillot and to formulate joint projects. Twice a day they met to pray: morning prayer and in the evening, mass with evening prayer. There was also time for confession.

This year, the subject for discussion and study was: “Building up the community of Christ”. Father Rafik presented a series of texts and animated the rich and fruitful discussion that followed a time for meditating the texts. The first session was dedicated to the call of God and the texts were: Amos 7:10-17, Jeremiah 1, Luke 6:12-16, Acts 1:1-2:4. The second session was dedicated to the Eucharist as building the community and the texts were: Exodus 19:1-8 and 24:1-11, John 6:32-66, Acts 2:37-47, 1Corinthians 11:17-34. The third session was devoted to mutual reconciliation in community life and the texts were: Genesis 42:1-45:15, Matthew 18, John 21. And the fourth session was devoted to the pastor in search of the lost sheep and the texts were: Ezekiel 34, Luke 15 and Hebrews 2.

On the last day, a number of subjects were discussed: the preparations for the upcoming Synod for the Catholic Church in the Middle East, the community that will live in the new house of the Vicariate in Jerusalem and an update on the translation of liturgical texts that is in process.

The time of these days of prayer is important to renew strength, to broaden vision and to strengthen relations of friendship and collaboration among the priests of the Vicariate. We thank God for this possibility!

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