Fourteenth Family Encounter in Tiberias
On Friday, December 8 and Saturday, December 9, 2017, families from the Hebrew speaking Catholic communities in Israel participated in a meeting in Tiberias in order to continue the joint discussions and study. Mariana and Marian from the Beer Sheba kehilla report:
The focus of the discussions this time was on the relationship of the couple in light of the words of Pope Francis in the document "The Joy of Love". In the first session, Father Rafic spoke about the significance of the relationship between a man and his wife in the light of the verses in Genesis 1:27 ("And God created man in His image, in the image of God created him, male and female He created them" ); The group discussion addressed two questions: what are the things that unite the couple, and how can they build their unity? In the second session, Dr. Rivka Karplus, a member of the Jerusalem kehilla, referred to the expression "helpmeet" (Genesis 2:18) and pointed out how each spouse encourages the other and helps him or her maintain his or her uniqueness.
On Saturday afternoon, Father Yosef from the Koinonia community, priest in charge of the Tiberias kehilla, spoke about the importance of family prayer before meals: why is it important for us to bless and thank God for food and remember that everything belongs to Him? He mentioned that we had a few versions of the prayer before meals in the brown "Prayer Book" for the whole family.
We closed the meeting with ideas about games that could be played in a family or in groups, and then we thanked God at Sunday Mass. It a weekend of fun.
