Retreat days for the priests of the Vicariate

From Tuesday, October 9 until Friday, October 12, 2012, 11 of the priests from the Saint James Vicariate for Hebrew speaking Catholics in Israel went off together for retreat days in the house of the Franciscan Sisters, “Living Water” on the shores of the Sea of Galilee. Sister Luisa, director of the house, received the group with great joy and warmly welcomed them back to the place where they had also spent their retreat last year.

The theme of the retreat was: “God our Father”. The lecturers for the retreat were Father Roman, responsible for the Haifa kehilla, and Father Gioele, responsible for the Beer Sheva kehilla.

Each morning, Father Roman spoke about the figure of God the Father in the Bible in general terms. In the first lecture, he categorized the verses that speak of God as Father in five groups:

- the verses that describe God as Father (eg. Psalm 103:13, Proverbs 3:12, Malachi 3:17, Hosea:11:1.3-4, etc).

- the verses that express God’s desire to be Father (eg. Psalm 2:7, 2Samuel 7:14, Jeremiah 3:3, Malachi 1:6, etc).

- the verses in which the human person speaks of God as Father (eg. Deuteronomy 32:6, Tobit 13:4, Malachi 2:10, Psalm 68:5, etc).

- the verses in which the human person speaks to God as Father (eg. Isaiah 63:16, Wisdom 14:3, Sirach 23:1.4, etc).

- the verses that express the hope that God will be a Father for the human person (Isaiah 9:5).

In his second lecture, Father Roman discussed the verses in the New Testament, first drawing a distinction between how Jesus speaks of the Father, in all simplicity, based upon an intimate relationship, and how Paul and the other writers speak of the Father, as God the Father in tones that are more reverential and perhaps even distant. He then went on to analyze the union of Jesus with the Father, especially as described in the Gospel of Saint John.

In his third lecture, Father Roman showed through a selection of verses from the Epistles and from the Gospel according to Saint John, how all has its origin in the Father and how all returns to Him through Jesus Christ.

Each afternoon, Father Gioele presented verses from the Old and New Testaments that speak about God as Father. The first two lectures focused on verses from the Old Testament, which Father Gioele interpreted with help from the rabbinic commentaries. The verses he analyzed were the following:

Deuteronomy 32:3-6, Isaiah 63:15-17, Psalm 2:5-7, Hosea 11:1-4, Numbers 11:11-13, Isaiah 49:14-16.

Thereafter, he moved to verses from the New Testament, choosing texts in which the text uses the Aramaic word “Abba” for Father. This use not only indicates a profound intimacy but also a time of passion. The texts chosen were: Mark 14:32-36, Romans 8:12-17 and Galatians 4:1-7.

Each day, the priests prayed together: morning prayer, mass and evening prayer. Each day, they also consecrated time to sharing together the fruits of their listening to the lectures, their prayer and silent times. At mass on October 11, the priests marked the beginning of the Year of Faith, the 50th anniversary of the convening of the Second Vatican Council and the Feast of Blessed Pope John XXIII. On the last day, in his homily during mass, Father David emphasized the importance of making place at the center of our communities for Christ and enabling an encounter for each one in the community with him, the Risen One. This work, of making place and creating the conditions for an encounter with him, will be even more successful if the priests work as one body and exert every effort to strengthen even more the links among them.

The retreat days constitute an important time to renew energy and to strengthen the links among the priests. We can thank God that we have priests who seek to deepen their faith and work in the vineyard of the Lord.