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Published by Juliana

“How very good and pleasant it is when kindred live together in unity.” Psalm:133: 1

There are several important things to consider in living together. To begin with, the biggest consideration is: First, we have the opportunity to learn and grow from our different culture, background and personalities and these differences lead us to live life to the fullest. Second, from our imperfection we are trying to live out the Scripture daily as much as possible. Finally, we are now complete in the novitiate house and we all have our room.

This week we began to work on our booklet for our Galilee Pilgrimage this coming October. It is a wonderful experience in sharing our ideas and talents working together.

We had such a nice afternoon with Sr. Aparecida Aquino for sharing her vocation story with us. She was born in Aracaju, Santo Amaro, Brazil. She knew Sion since when she was a child. The Sion’s house and school were close to her familie house.

She did her formation with the sisters for her first communion and confirmation and after that she was involved within a young group that belongs to the parish. She became very close to the sisters. She thought to become a nun when she was 7 years old and then when she was 21 years old; Sister Ivone asked her if she was thinking to become a nun and a year later she started her come and see in Santo Amaro. She did her novitiate in San Paulo and after that she had an experienced for one year in the region on Central America.
Now she is living in Ecco Homo and sometimes she is having some experiences in Ein Karem where we all can meet her.

written by Novice Clara

The power of Prayer

Published by Juliana

Interreligious Seminar on Prayer

The Seminar that we attended talked about the meaning and importance of prayer for the three Abrahamic religions namely: Judaism, Christianity and Islam. During the five consecutive days we tried to understand and reflect together what is prayer, why we pray, how do we pray and the significant of Jerusalem in our prayer life.

written by Novice Arlyne.

  The Power of Prayer (2.8 MiB, 715 hits)

Sh’ma Israel

Published by Juliana

Sh’ma= Obey

We novices had an opportunity to deepen our understanding of the Sh’ma with Sr. Anne Catherine. She showed us the importance of the Sh’ma in religious life. She led us in a reflection on both the call of God in the “Sh’ma, Israel …” and the invitation to live God’s call to listen, in our own lives.

Sh’ma invites us into the experience of listening deeply to the voice of God that reveals what we can do to build peace in the world. The commitment to live the Sh’ma enables us to affirm that God exists and to obey God’s call to live in charity/love like brothers and sisters. In the spirit of Sh’ma, we hear more with the heart than with the ear. Sh’ma enables us “to hear the word of God and keep it” in our hearts.

The verb, “Sh’ma,” is often used in the Scriptures with the meaning of “obey.” In fact it means much more than just listening with the ear. The combination, “hear and do,” is well known; we find it, for example, in Ex: 24: 7, “we well do and we will hear the word.” “Shema” often appears with other verbs like “study/learn,” as in Dt. 5:1.

In religious life, it is essential to live the Sh’ma, because this enables us to listen to the voice of God that speaks to us also through our superiors, or sisters in leadership in the community.

In fact, “to keep” the word consists in allowing it to penetrate to the very heart of my life, and to take time to let it mature, like a living seed preparing tender little shoots and will emerge from the earth and finally bear fruit. How many biblical persons provide examples of hearing the Word of God and expressing it in their lives in doing good.

written by Rozeni

Teaching on Judaism

Published by Juliana

Monday, the 4th, and Tuesday, the 5th of August 2014, we had input with Sr. Anne Catherine. We studied a little more about Judaism. We were very interested in the destruction of the Temple, and were aware that on 5 of August (Tishah B’Av on the Jewish calendar), the Jewish people had their annual solemn memorial of that event. As we know, for them it is not only a memory but also a daily reflection that brings them back to awareness of the presence of God. After the destruction of the Temple they remembered their earlier experience of the presence of God at the Tent of Meeting and how they gathered there in open desert, to pray. Forgetting that moment led them into exile, remembering it is a secret of their survival as a people.

For the Jewish World, three things remain central: Torah – The Word of God, Avoda – worship or the service of prayer, and Gemicur Hanadin – deeds of love toward one’s neighbours. These three are related to each other and, among them, the Word of God is the most important. Therefore in Judaism everything begins with that or is developed from it.

We learned more about the difference between Written Torah and Oral Torah. Torah comes from the root “YIARA,” that is, pointing the way to go, to live, the way of truth. For the Jewish people, both Oral and Written Torah are important. Oral Torah is the tradition, the transmission, and the Written Torah must follow the Oral Torah, for without it, it would be dead.

written by Alejandra

The fruit pickers and cleaners

Published by Juliana

We are grateful that we were finally able to clean our garden. We worked for three afternoons and, of course, we enjoyed it, running, jumping and climbing the apple trees like children. Now we have some different kinds of jam, for example, apple, pear, and fig. For some of us, this was the first experience of having so many kinds of fruit at the same time. It is all the more exciting because they come from our own garden, and for us this is a blessing. It is nice to pick so many kinds of fruit and not have to pay for them! Of course, it involves work, and we have been a little tired but very happy! Come and see the photos!…

written by Alejandra

 

Tisch Ha bAv

Published by Juliana

On Tish ha bAv the whole Jewish community is in mourning, the first Temple was destroyed because of evil behaviour, as sin was lived, immorality, bloodshed and idolatry. The second Temple was destroyed because of hate and the evil tongue (gossiping). On Tish ha bAv the invitation goes out to all humanity to mend this broken world (Tiqum Olam). The book of Lamentation is read during this Memorial Day, so to remember the destruction of the Temples, and to listen to the call to mend the world.

Encounter with the reality of life

Published by Juliana

Sr_ann_kathrin_01We had an introduction to Judaism with Sr. Anne. She said that Jews respect the “Torah” and that they believe that God is everywhere, and so, they can pray anywhere. We also learned that Judaism is not only the religion of the Jewish people; it is also their culture and tradition. In addition, we understand better how that Christianity came from Judaism, since Jesus as well as his disciples were Jews.
We had input from Sr. Juliana about prayer, using our Constitution and Scripture. We shared two by two on these questions: Why do we pray? What is prayer? We said that prayer is an important part of our relationship with God; we need prayer. We can pray in different ways and for different people, such as prayer for people who are sick or in need, the poor, etc.
We said also that prayer is not just words, but an experience which involves our feelings. We need to be silent in order to listen to the word of God. Prayer can renew our energy every day; it is nourishment for us personally, and in our relations with others. Prayer is dialogue with God that allows God to work in our lives. Jesus always found time to pray, whether he was alone on a mountain or among the people. He taught us how to pray and the importance of prayer for each one of us.
08_2014_sr._margSr. Marge reflected with us on community life. She asked each one of us to share the experiences we have had with different communities. We talked about some of the challenges of living in a multi-cultural community, with age differences, and different languages. We also talked about our experiences of the openness and hospitality of different communities in Sion. We realized that, even though the Congregation is now small in numbers, we have great hope that new life will come. One sign of that hope is this International Novitiate here at Ein Karem, Jerusalem.
Today we had a visit from two Comboni Sisters, Sr. Alicia and Sr. Azezet, who shared with us their experiences with the “Bedoin” people and the Sudanese refugees. They have had many experiences of working for peace and human rights in ways that help people, who have been marginalized, to lead a dignified life.
filipino_01We have begun a series of “encounters with different cultures.” Our community decided that once a month each one of us will share something about our countries. We began with a great exposure to the culture of the Philippines led by our Filipino Novices (Arlyne and Joey); it included enjoying ancit canton, an Asian food, and maja blanca, with fruit salad, which is a popular Filipino desert.

written by Victoria Nabil