Expeditions to the desert with the kehilla

It has become a tradition: after the mass on Saturday evening, the tents and sleeping bags wait at the entry of the Jerusalem kehilla. Some members of the Vicariate community and their friends sent off to refuel themselves in the desert before the Sunday mass. The camp is at Ein Gedi, on the shores of the Dead Sea. In the midst of a strange and barren landscape, the participants gather for a picnic around the camp fire and they sing in all the languages they know, Polish, French, German and of course in Hebrew too. After morning prayer on the Dead Sea shore, the hikers set off to march in the desert.

This Sunday, the group hiked in the area of Mount Sodom, where the Lord rained down sulfur and fire on the sinful city (Genesis 19:24). A rock, resembling an upright silhouette is identified by tradition as Lot's wife, who was transformed into a pillar of salt because she looked back (Genesis 19:26). The courageous hikers, however, did not resemble her as they ascened the mountain but could say rather, like Saint Paul the Apostle: "one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead" (Philippians 3:13).

The landscape, an unimaginable desolation, lends itself to a Biblical meditation: blinding whiteness, arid saltiness, strange rock formation, total nakedness without plant or the sign of grass. This austere and terrifying beauty exposes the souls to the look of the Creator and to His light in which there is no shadow.

The hikers then descended the mountain towards the Dead Sea. There they bathed and regained their energy. They danced a final dance before setting off to go back for Sunday mass. There is no doubt that the physical effort, the break with familiar comfort, contemplation in the vast desert expanse, all constitute a precious resource for the body, for spiritual life and to reinforce the bonds of friendship.