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, …

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

Sr. Ivone and Joey are guiding us in our community dynamic games.

We the novices celebrated Rosh haShana together with the apostolic sisters, brothers and associates of Sion. Sr. Ann Kathrin explained to us all the symbols for the feast of Rosh haShana. Apple and honey on the table remember that life is sweet and free of suffering. On Rosh haShana the Jews celebrate that God is the creator of the universe and their father. Written by Rozeni

This week we were studying and learning how to make a Necklace with Sister Anne Katrine. Making a “necklace” reveal us the divine of the whole Scripture (Torah, Prophets and Holy Writings). We have been studying the Jewish feasts, especially the three feast of pilgrimage. In the beginning this feast was an agricultural and historical celebration, when God took out the people of Israel from Egypt; after 50 days God gave them the Torah. Doing the necklace have helped us to go deeply through the words of the Torah, passing from the Torah to the Prophets and from the prophets to the Writings. For us it was like we were playing with the Bible to be aware how much we know the Old and the New Testament. To know what is the thread of the necklace is to learn how to pierce correctly the pearls (text from the Bible), it is not easy to know to assemble each pearls but we are getting on. When we were making a necklace for Rosha ha Shana, we …

The Power of Prayer in Jerusalem What is Prayer? In Jewish tradition: Prayer is an invitation to God to intervenes in our lives daily in a very personal way (Rabbi Abraham J. Heschel). For Jews prayer is collective and is bound up with praising God, benedictions, petitions or supplications and gratitude to what God has done and will continue to do in history. In Jewish tradition prayer is also form of study, when one study the Torah with a partner then it open up an opportunity to hear and listen to God. Prayer is dialogue, an encounter with Self, with Divine and with Others. In Christian Tradition: Prayer is lifting one’s being towards transcendent being, the mysterious Other (John of Damascus). It is a mutual conversation between God and human being. Prayer is like stripping oneself then plunging to the swimming pool and allowing the ultimate source to carry you from the bottom of the pool to the surface. Prayer is simply floating, loosing oneself and discovering oneself with God. In Islam tradition: For Muslims …

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; …