Meeting of Desert Flower in Jaffa


Salma from Beer Sheva reports on the meeting of Desert Flower that took place on Friday and Saturday, November 21 and 22, 2014 in Jaffa.

desert_flower11.2014

We gathered on Friday, the members of the youth group of the Saint James Vicariate for Hebrew Speaking Catholics in Israel, in the monastery of Saint Peter in Jaffa in the early hours of the evening. We got organized and prepared for dinner and then we ate together. After dinner, we did a round of introductions and played a little game to help in the formation of the group – a survival game. For the game we divided into two groups. Each group had to think what would be the five articles that they would take with them if they were abandoned on a deserted island. The members of the group had to agree unanimously on the choice. It sounds easy enough but it really is not. The difficulty is the unanimous choice of the five articles… Needless to say, in the game there were many arguments and disagreements but it was really challenging (I strongly recommend that you try it). After agreement had been reached, the two groups came together to share. Guess what the result was: the two groups would take exactly the same things. It was amazing to see that we had formed the same idea. After the game, we organized places to sleep and we then watched a comedy together.

After the movie, Father Piotr arrived from Beer Sheva and we participated together in night prayer in Saint Peter’s Church. We sang songs from Taize. I would like to point out that we, the members of Desert Flower, really love the Taize prayer. Despite the fact that Benny and Alberto were not with us (Benny played the guitar and Alberto led the singing), we found a tape and used it to sing together. After night prayer we went to sleep. It certainly seems like we had done lot in the half day we had already spent together.

On Saturday, after we awoke, we prayed in the monastery chapel – we read the Gospel of the day, the Feast of Saint Cecilia and prayed that we might receive the strength to do good deeds’ to consider the other and not only ourselves and thereby to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. We passed among us a picture of the infant Jesus in the arms of his mother and Saint Joseph. After morning prayer, we ate breakfast and there was a short pause before the lesson with Father Piotr.

In the lesson with Father Piotr, we spoke about Jesus King of the Universe. Father Piotr handed out a sheet of paper and on it we wrote the most important things in our lives: food, water, health, nature, home, work, sea, love, music, money, dancing, art, etc. The center was empty. The question that Father Piotr asked us was am I in the center and everything revolves around me or is Jesus in the center and all revolves around him? Father Piotr taught us how to understand the concept of king in the 21st century – how do we behave when the world seems to revolve around us and how Jesus is in fact the center and he is the king. How the love of Jesus can be expressed in all those things that are important to us in life, even music and films. Father Piotr taught us about the great love of Jesus and about the two gift Jesus brings: the Body of Christ and the Word of God. The Body of Christ is the holy bread of life we receive in church and the Word of God are the daily readings from the Scriptures (the Old and New Testaments). Father Piotr distributed sheets with the readings for the month of November and gave us a task to do: to read each week the daily readings. Not an easy task… Father Piotr warned us that the Devil would try to stop us, preventing us from reading by convincing us that we have no time or we have other things to do or that we have no energy. But he told us not to give up! That we should wrestle with the Devil and continue reading, We must not give in to these thoughts!

In addition, Father Piotr asked us to share how we feel the love of God and how we spread this love in the world. For this task we divided up into two groups: those under 16 and those over 16. Obviously, each one had their unique way of sensing God’s love and spreading it in the world. It was magnificent to see the diversity. There were no two alike in feeling God’s love in the same way. Simply amazing!

After the lesson, we ate lunch and then there was time for rest. Of course, no one except Father Piotr rested. During this time we danced free dance, sang songs we like, some played the piano, others the guitar and others simply spoke with one another. After the time for rest, we went out for a walk with Father Piotr on the sea shore. It was cold and the sea was stormy – a scene we all loved.

After the walk, we returned to prepare the chapel for mass and we studied with Father Piotr about the readings. The lesson brought together the young and the old and there was the occasion for discussion. After wards, we participated in the mass and in the reception afterwards and then it was time to bid each other farewell until next time.

Support Us Contact Us Vatican News in Hebrew Mass in Hebrew Child Safeguarding Policy


© 2020 Saint James Vicariate for Hebrew Speaking Catholics in Israel