earthquake

There's alot of prayers here for Haiti. The whole infrastructure is gone, there is no government. Aweful.

And repercussions are being felt here in the Holyland ...  everyone here is thinking if Israel will survive a massive earthquake. The last major quake was in 1927 at 6.2 on the Richter scale killing hundreds of people. And a major quake occurs every 80 years, so Israel is due for a monster one anytime now.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1263147896847&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
And no one is prepared ... not the government, not the hospitals, not the army, not the people nor our churches. I think we should start planning for emergency action at least in our own monasteries.

I was so exhausted this afternoon I fell asleep for 4 hours and got up at 6pm. Everyone was glad I finally managed to sleep. I've been terribly stressed last week, and then there was the slip disc and these few nights I've been working up to 1am. I'm a nervous wreck. So my body switched off today. After dinner Bro Rosario (who helped me when I slipped the disc) ordered me to go see the doctor - he's the Vicar of the monastery and now that our superior has gone to Lebanon, Rosario is effectively in charge. He didn't think I looked well and repeated twice "It's an obedience" - which means I have to go tomorrow even if I don't want to. Aiya .... spiritual earthquake.

Just a thought on today's 1st reading on 1Samuel where the hebrews asked for a king despite God's protests. They wanted to be "like the other nations". The power of peer pressure and "follow the herd" syndrome is pervasive in our lives. There's even the subtle competition of bettering the other person .... but all for nothing. We lose ourselves and let the faceless crowd determine our actions and goals. How pathetic. Nothing like an earthquake to shake us up and see reality as it is.