Fourth youth preparation meeting towards Madrid

Today, on Saturday, May 21, we met for the fourth time as youth preparing for the trip to Spain.

At the beginning of the meeting, Benny taught us the anthem for the international meeting, and he taught it first in Spanish and then afterwards in the Hebrew translation… (see here).

After we had learnt the anthem, we prepared lunch and ate together as a group.

In the second part of the meeting, we discussed the theme: joy.

We began the second part with group prayer, we sang some songs and then read from the New Testament.

After the readings from the New Testament, we went off for some silent time, alone, for a period of 15 minutes in order to answer three questions. Then we came together again to discuss our responses.

The first reading was from the Epistle to the Philippians (4:4-7). There Paul encourages those who believe in Jesus Christ to be joyful at all times. We were asked why he did that? The answer is in fact right there, in the text: "the Lord is close". This could mean two different things: one is that Jesus is physically close, that he is with us at all times and the second is that he must come and his coming is soon.

If that is indeed the case, is it possible for someone to be joyful always? Even when he or she is suffering? Paul does not mean this but rather that even when we are suffering we should not forget that Jesus is with us and that we must rejoice in his proximity. Paul does not expect the impossible from us, that we must smile even when we are suffering!

The second reading was from the Gospel of Saint John (15:9 – 12) where Jesus says to his disciples, and in fact to us, that he loves us like the Father loves him. That if we keep his commandments as he kept the commandments of the Father then we will remain in his love. This, so that the joy of Christ will be within us. In addition he commands: "Love one another as I have loved you".

Joy in our lives results from the fact that we make others joyful, especially those we love. Jesus commands us to love one another just as the Father loved the Son, Jesus Christ, and so Jesus was able to transmit his love to us. He loved us so much that he was willing to give up his life for us so that our sins might be forgiven…

There are three foundation stones in life: love, faith and hope. These give us the taste for life and they are interlinked. If we do not believe in Jesus, who loves us, we will not be able to give love to those around us. If we did not believe in Jesus, we would have no hope that there is someone with us, alongside us..

The love of the Father, that he bestows on Jesus, is the love that enables us to love others; through our faith in Jesus, we love. The Father loves us with the same love as he loves Jesus. This love was poured out on the cross and we must give this love to others.

Despite all the wars, disease and injustice, which surround us, we are called to be joyful, to believe and to love. We must never forget that we have family and friends who love us and who are with us at all times and who seek our welfare. And we must never forget that aside from them there is Jesus who shows us his love and his joy and is close to us… he is alongside us.

Most of the young people joined the members of the Jaffa kehilla for mass and then went with them to make a bonfire on the occasion of the Jewish holiday of Lag BaOmer, an occasion to eat, drink and be merry together, thus strengthening existing friendships.