Last meeting before the trip to Madrid

On Saturday, July 9, we held the final meeting before our trip to Spain that will take place in exactly one month's time.

We began the meeting by singing our anthem for the trip: "By the power of faith".

The theme of the meeting this time was our unity as a group and as a community. In the first part of the meeting, we played a game in which each person received a piece of paper and each one wrote a word that Benny had chosen and explains why the word is connected to the theme. Then the paper is folded and passed on… Finally, the person who is left with the paper, unfolds it and the result is an amusing song.

Afterwards, we divided up into three groups – we received a list of words (each group receiving the same list) and we had to compose a poem together.

The aim of the two games was to see how much we are united as a group and to what extent we can create together something beautiful like a poem.

We then broke for lunch.

In the afternoon we went for a walk along the beachfront and had an ice cream on the way back.

When we reached the church again, Benny taught us some folk dances.

We then passed onto the more serious part of the meeting and we went to the small chapel – there we read a text from the Acts of the Apostles, which describes the first community as exemplary:

"So those who welcomed his message were baptized… They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers… All who believed were together and had all things in common".

This text from the Bible teaches us that in order to be an exemplary community we must be one!

When we come to church, we receive strength to continue our lives, we receive tranquility and calm but we must also give! Each one of us has something to give, each one of us has a talent (even if we think that it is something minor) that can contribute and be something major for someone else.

A good community progresses according to the stages laid out in the Bible: the apostles' teaching, fellowship, breaking bread and prayer. At the same time we must take into account the others, contribute and help, not only receive but also give!

"They broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts" – this verse tells us that the first community ate its food in joy and happiness! Can we say the same thing about ourselves today? The first community of believers, despite the fact that they had very little and their food was scarce, were joyful and ate in happiness! Today, we have a wealth of food, we have an abundance of everything, however we cannot say that we eat in joy! This teaches us that we must learn to make do with little, we should take joy in all there is in life, thus, even if we have little it would seem much! We do have indeed much but the most important thing we have is faith – that is what should give us the greatest joy.

We then sang the psalm "How good it is for brothers to sit together".

Thereafter, Apolinary read from the Gospel of Saint John, a text in which Jesus prays to the Father for us:

"I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one, as we are one" – this verse tells us that Jesus wants us as a community to be one just as he and the Father are one.

This means that despite the differences among us, despite the fact that each one comes from a different place, from a different community, we have a common faith! The fact that we are all Christians who believe wholeheartedly in God and in Jesus and desire to walk in his way.

The best example is our group that is going to Madrid – each one comes from a different town, a different kehilla. Some of us were born here and some not… there are many differences among us! However, we have found a common faith, a common goal, seeking to represent the Hebrew speaking Catholic kehilla in Madrid in order to show that in Israel there are also good things and not just war! This unites us as a group and makes us just one!

At the end, we prayed a prayer and then sang:

" Let the heavens rejoice and the earth sing out, the sea and all that is in it thunder…"

We must not forget that we are a united community which is one! Each one should know that he or she is called not just to receive but also to give and thus we will attain much together.

In just one month's time we will make the big trip to Spain and we are all eagerly awaiting it. There we will show this great unity as an international community, one united group of youth!