Retreat day during Advent in Jerusalem


Father Rafic reports on the retreat day that took place on December 3, 2016, in Saint Rachel Center.

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Last Saturday, December 3, a few members of the Jerusalem kehilla set off for a retreat day in the Saint Rachel Center in order to prepare for Christmas that is approaching. We were relatively few people, just twelve, but we enjoyed the time of prayer and the being together. In the morning, Claudia Graziano spoke on the portion of the Gospel that was read on Sunday – John the Baptist inviting the people to repent and to prepare for the coming of the Messiah. She raised a number of questions: how can we understand the expression “the kingdom of heaven is close at hand”? John comes as “a voice in the wilderness”, what are the voices that we listen to in our lives? What does it mean “to produce fruit worthy of repentance”? We had an hour of quiet time and then gathered together to share among us.

After lunch, Benedetto, seminarian in the Vicariate, taught us about the prayers in the mass and their meaning. As an example he took a few of the prayers from the Advent season. Again there was a time of quiet and prayer. We then celebrated mass in the chapel of the Capuchin monks. We set off from there happy and with our energies renewed. At the end of the day, two of us went to participate in the ceremony of the closing of the doors of mercy of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem.

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