Month: October 2014

Community gathering

Saturday morning, novices, sisters and brothers of Sion joined the Yom HaKehilah, a meeting arranged by the Kehilot (Hebrew-speaking Catholic communities). The event took place in Kiryat Ye’arim, near Abu Ghosh (Israel). (written by frinds of sion)  

Sharing the gift of life

I do not want your hearts to be less all-embracing than the sea which surrounds you. It is charity which expands them to infinity. Fr. Theodore Letter to the sisters at Chalcedon, September 3, 1866 We have had such a wonderful week. To star our week with Rozeni’s birthday, it was so nice sharing the gift of life. God has created us with our own values and personalities. Each one represents a kind of flower so living together we are able to make a beautiful bouquet. Last week we went to Ecce Homo to have the opportunity to celebrate Yum Kippur with the Jewish people at the Western Wall. We were walking in Mea Shearim’s streets going to the Synagogue and then we celebrated Sunday mass in the Patriarch Greek-Catholique church. And this week we are having the opportunity to experience Sukkot. Sr. Anne, sister of Our Lady of Sion, gave us a little input about Sukkot. Sukkot is derived from the root meaning “shelter, booth or tent” and signifies a temporary dwelling in order …

Yom Kippur

Yom Kippur Necklace: The Day of Awe and Atonement Understanding Yom Kippur using the method of “necklace”. The necklace is one of the methodology in studying Jewish Text. According to the Jewish Sages, using the necklace in Torah study shows the unity of the text from Torah, Neveim and Ketuvim. Torah/The Five Books of Moses “This shall be an everlasting ordinance for you: on the tenth day of the seventh month every one of you, whether a native or a resident alien, shall mortify himself and shall do no work. Since on this day atonement is made for you to make you clean, so that you may be cleansed of all your sins before the Lord, by everlasting ordinance it shall be a most solemn sabbath for you on which you mortify yourselves.” (Leviticus 16:29-31) Leviticus 23: 27-32 : “The tenth of this seventh month is the Day of Atonement, when you shall hold a sacred assembly and mortify yourselves and offer an oblation to the Lord.” Neveim/Prophets Isaiah 57: 14 & 58:14 “Build up, …

Jesus the Healer

Retreat with Fr. Putmann September 29-30, 2014 The theme for our retreat this month was “Jesus the Healer”. The stories in the gospel such us , the man possessed by the devil (Mark 5:1-20), the blind man (John 9: 1-41), Jesus’ healing the lepers (Matthew 8:1-4) and the Samaritan woman (John 4:3-30) shows how Jesus healed them and brought them back to life. We had reflected through these passages that healing happens when we allow Jesus to touch us (“Lord if you choose, you can make me clean.” –Mt 8:2) and when we allow our hands to stretch out to those people we avoided to touch and heal (“Jesus stretched out his hand, touched him and saying, ‘I do choose. Be made clean!”–Mt 8:3). written by Arlyne