St John's Feastday

Feast of St John the Evangelist - the one who wrote the Gospel. To celebrate this feast, why not read the entire Gospel of John today in one sitting? It'll take you an hour - no more - to read the entire Gospel. try it!

If you want more news about Christmas celebrations in Bethlehem, see the following:
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1230111693575&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
http://www.custodia.org/spip.php?article4604&lang=en
http://www.custodia.org/spip.php?article4609&lang=en
http://www.custodia.org/spip.php?article4615&lang=en
Fantastic photos and videos.

Aleem Maqbool has arrived in Bethlehem on foot from Nazareth and a donkey (actually 5 as he had to change them at each security check point that won't allow him to bring a donkey across). http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7795809.stm

Sadly as 2008 ends, we lost Harold Pinter the writer and Eartha Kitt the actress/singer. And oh, Thiago came back yesterday from Brasil. I was sleeping yesterday afternoon (pretty rare - had to rest because of midnight Mass and then the 6.30am Mass following it ... too tired) when my phone woke me up. Thiago called to say Merry Christmas and he's back and hopes to meet up with me soon. And yesterday my superior and I tried to call William in Rome but we couldn't get through with the call. Anyway I'm adding a photo of William as he served his first Papal Mass at St Peter's Basilica. He was very excited and called me to tell me about it.... washing the hands of the Pope etc...

The weather continues to be very cold and overcast but the rain has stopped. I've started cleaning up the "Sisters'" garden which is behind their dining room. It's a terrible mess and I don't know where to start. Our tabby cat and 8 large tortoises live there as well. In a corner is the compost heap but people just throw things for the compost everywhere in the garden. Let's see if I can work a miracle in digging and clearer it out.

War in Gaza is looming even closer - like anyday now. Egypt is closing its borders for fear of a refugee influx. Gaza continues to fire 25 missiles into Israel. http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1230111710874&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull Israel meanwhile has opened the border crossing to Gaza today for medicine, food, oil and heating material. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7799915.stm