Feast of Mother Teresa

Feastday of Mother Teresa today. Celebrated Mass at the convent of the Missionaries of Charity. It's feels so at home to be with these sisters. They work so hard and sacrifice so much - it's awesome.

Today is also the first Friday of Ramadan. Last night the firing of the sunset canon gave me a fright - forgot about it and the boom rattled all the windows of our house (as usual). Then as the night wore on by 8pm, fireworks everywhere were fired. Knowing how jumpy I am, I had a terrible time surviving the blasts that went on the whole night. They sound like gunshots. I'll have to be psyched for Ramadan especially with these fireworks - last time when there was fireworks, someone took the opportunity to shoot and kill 2 police near my place. It sounds the same. And that was less than 2 months ago.

Youths are whistling throughout the streets and houses are lighted up for the feast of the night. Kids play outdoors and womenfolk are busy with the cooking. This is the time of year when they make maashi warra-a`innab ( rice and lamb wrapped in grape leaves - also called dolmades in greek) which I happen to like very very much! After dinner they sit in their courtyards or streets to enjoy the 18 degree breeze, dancing singing with the ubiquituous arab drum - which can be terrible with its booming sound especially at midnight when you're trying to sleep!!!!

Anyway it's our normal "Ramadan" mode - meaning we try not to go out on Fridays to avoid the crowd and unnecessary / unpredictable trouble. Also the Way of the Cross is cancelled during Ramadan so as not to provoke hostilities.

My ankle still hurts so I stayed in bed the whole afternoon to rest it. In fact i slept throughout the afternoon - which is awefully rare (4 hours in all). Missed breakfast and dinner but I don't feel hungry at all. Ulisse said I look much better having lost weight - less bloated was the way he put it. He still remembers me as the skinny guy back in 1992 - "like a matchstick" he says. Strangely my asthma came back for the last 2 days - something that hasn't happen for some time. I might be allergic to the bed linen, I think.

Ana Paula (Brasilian friend/colleague) sent me a beautiful photo she took of a Bible and a candle beside it. She's a very good photographer and a web genius. I have to contact her to followup on some projects we're doing together.

But back to the Feast of Mother Teresa: in a private revelation, Jesus said to Mother "My little one, come, come, carry me into the bodies of the poor. Come be my light, I cannot go alone. They don't know me so they don't want me. You come, go among them. Carry me with you into them. How I long to enter their bodies; their dark, unhappy homes."