O Emmanuel

The temperature has dropped dramatically. There is a very cold dry wind that cuts to the bone - pretty strong too. And the sky is overcast. But it hasn't rained though. The forecast is rain for Midnight Mass and throughout Christmas till the weekend.... like every other year. We need the rain, so no complaints.

I've covered the bird cage with plastic on both sides so the canaries will not be the recipients of the cold wind. And the cat in the small garden was very hungry as well - I gave her the food reserved for her from her very own fridge (how about that!). The big tortoises are all dug deep into soil and hibernating. The baby tourtoises are enjoying the warmth in my room - though today only 2 woke up to eat.

Yesterday we feted Bro Rosario on his 50th birthday. He was my classmate 15 years back but now he's the secretary of the school and vice-superior of the monastery and professor of Greek. He's a great guy.

And the past few days we've been having fantastic food - not exotic expensive stuff but simple things that were superbly done by our cook Khalil. Yesterday for Rosario's birthday we had artichoke - huge heads with their hearts dug out and spices stuffed inside. You eat the starchy bottom part of each petal until you reach near the heart where it's alot softer and digestible. great stuff! Everyone enjoyed it. And we also had knaffe for dessert - white cheese baked in honey - fantastic! I had an extra helping .... which is a no-no since my suger level is high. But it's Rosario's birthday, and Christmas and I didn't have knaffe for a long time, so ..... excuses, excuses, excuses. And the day before we had baked fresh fish (we usually get frozen fillet) which was sumptious - they were stuffed with pesto. We're very lucky here to have great cooks who can turn simple food into a delightful gastronomic experience!

Hanukkah is into its 2nd day and the military presence is not letting up. Pretty tense even here in the Old City. And the rhetoric on war is being flung back and forth - Israeli cities near Gaza are undergoing emergency drills. http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1229868820800&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull and http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1229868822058&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

Meanwhile our intrepid trekker Aleem Maqbool blogs his journey through the Occupied West bank cities of El Bireh (ancient Christian site), Ramalla and Bir Zeit where he stays with the Kassis family - they're relations of our own janitor Mr Kassis whom many of you helped financially. Thanks again to you all.

Tonight our final "O" antiphon is "O Emmanuel":
O Emmanuel, our king and our lawgiver,
the hope of the nations and their Saviour:
Come to save us, O Lord our God.

It is based on the Emmanuel prophecy of Isaiah in 7:14 and reminds us God is always with us ("Emmanuel") day after day - He never leaves us. If you go through the first alphabet of all the "O" antiphons that we have sung this week, they spell "sarcore"; reverse the order to "erocras" and put a space in between them - "ero cras" they mean in latin "Tomorrow I will come!"