Palm Sunday

I didn't go the Vigil last night. I felt too sick. But I went to the Holy Sepulchre for Mass at 4am. Prayed for you all at Mass. Later at 7am the bishop came to bless palms and celebrated the Mass of the Entry to Jerusalem. It was a pretty small crowd. Not like previous years. I managed to get some olives branches blessed by the bishop.

I decided not to go the procession of the palms as well because its well over a 2km walk down ... but to get there you have walk the 2km up first! The dean suggested I meet the procession halfway through when the Patriarch reaches Gethsemani. From our terrace I could see the procession snaking slowing down the Mt. of Olives, so before the bells of Gethsemani were rung to announce the Patriarch passing by, I went out to St Stephan's Gate to wait. The crowd wasn't as big as previous years. But it was sizeable. When it ended at St Anne's Church (Pool of Bethesda), the Patriarch gave a sermon and blessed everyone with a relic of the Cross.

http://www.jpost.com/MiddleEast/Article.aspx?id=171985
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1159713.html 

Most people who met me at the end of the procession insisted that I shouldn't have come out. Anyway the Missionaries of Charity told me to stop by and they'll cook some white rice and stuff to relieve my cough and fever. They take good care of me. Anyway I'm helping them create their earthquake survival pack. Did I say last week we had a minor earthquake? 3.6 on the Richter. The big one is going to land soon.