Sounds of the Old City

A silent performer
at Jaffa Gate

The country continues to be reeling in a controversial debate ... where everybody is taking sides ... about an israeli soldier who shot dead in the head a palestinian terrorist while he was wounded on the ground. The terrorist was on the ground for about 15 mins when this soldier who was not involved in the attack, came to join in the post-arrest scene and decided to shot the terrorist in the head. Leftists are screaming extra-judicial execution while rightists hold sacred the army which cannot be accused of anything. Politicians flip flop to win political points from both sides. The country is torn between declaring the soldier a hero or charging him with murder.

The tension is palpable when Jerusalem hosts its annual "Sounds of the Old City" music festival. Usually it has 3 routes running through the Armenian, Christian and Jewish Quarters ... with performers at many street corners offering music typical of that quarter/religion/race. But this year there was only one route starting at Jaffa Gate, running through part of the Armenian Quarter into the Jewish Quarter, through the muslim Suq (market) into the Christian Quarter.

Performance at the Cardo

The only places crowded were inside and outside Jaffa Gate. Further within the City in the streets, people felt less secure. In fact the Suq was absolutely empty. No one walked though it. The other performances inside the City had small audiences .... 50 or so people. It was markedly different from the past years when thousands flocked through the City. Miserable.

Indie performers crashed in

Performers were also markedly reduced. In fact there were much more independent performers who crashed the festival by performing along the empty route. Many were ethnic musicians playing Middle Eastern instruments. In fact I think they were a greater success than the official performers because they were closer to the audience. Official performers were well protected with barriers and performed a good 5 - 10 meters from the audience.

You could easily define the audience by the location they frequented. Those who went deep inside the City to hear the performers of ethnic Middle-eastern or Mediterranean music were leftists. They mixed with the arab crowds with ease. Those who remained at Jaffa Gate to hear the Jewish bands were right-wing, carrying Israeli flags and dancing to hasidic pop music.

At Jaffa Gate

In fact the festival practically abandoned the Old City and many more performances were organized in the New City especially at Ben Yehudi Mall. I think next year they'll remove the name "Old City" and simply call it "Sounds of Jerusalem" .... but what a sound ... a sound of sad division, mistrust and hatred.

Emmaus Monday

My Easter egg buns: eggs baked
in buns ... a tradition here in the
Middle Eastern churches

It's Easter Monday ... when everyone here goes to Emmaus to celebrate solemn Mass recalling the Risen Christ's appearance to the 2 disciples on their way to Emmaus. It was a wet and very cold morning and I believe not many people went there. The Custos presided over the Mass as is tradition. He wore the mitre, pectoral cross and ring of a bishop even though he's not an ordained bishop. It's like the Benedictine abbots who also wear bishop's attire though not being bishops. Anyway this is the Custos' last Easter with us. He has served for 15 years and in Pentecost we will elect a new Custos.

It drizzled all night and day. And winds were very strong and bitterly cold. Temperatures dropped to 5 degrees last night ... it looked like winter was back again.

If the weather was miserable, the situation around us was certainly reflecting it. The Chief Rabbi of Israel proclaimed that non-Jews have no right to stay in this land ... unless they are serving the jews. It was practically a call to deport non-jews from Israel. If this were said about jews, it would be branded anti-semitic and a crime. Then later Israel issued a black warning calling all Israelis in Turkey to return immediately ... and almost a travel ban to Turkey was declared. This follows a report from Turkey that ISIS was planning an onslaught on synagogues and churches, jews and christians in the next weeks. Then later we received news that indian Salesian priest Fr. Tom was crucified on Good Friday by ISIS. He was the chaplain to the MC sisters killed in Yemen; he was kidnapped and tortured for the past 2 weeks. Even later news from the bishop of Arabia released a statement to say he had no confirmation of this crucifixion. Conflicting news now float through cyberspace. All these awful news in the light of the 52 christians killed in Pakistan as they celebrated Easter. And what upsets me is that all these killings of christians are hardly highlighted by journalists. More attention was paid to the Paris and Brussels bombing, but the Pakistan bombing was no less violent. Any wonder why Middle and South Eastern christians feel forgotten and abandoned? That their blood is worth less than european blood?

Easter Sunday

An empty tomb with
a rolling stone

The Good Friday service was spent at Notre Dame Center where the Nunzio presided over the liturgy. Holy Saturday's Easter Vigil was spent at the Rosary Sisters' Convent. It was a small group of filipinos, about 80 of them, whom the Salesian Fathers have pastoral care. There were 3 baptisms and 6 confirmations. But the liturgy was long .... 2 and a half hours. By the time it ended, it was already 11.30pm. I was so tired I sat down for most of the liturgy. One of the deacons - my student - accompanied me home as he was afraid I might collapse.

Easter Sunday was a bit of a trial as I was still too tired .... and unaccustomed

Sr. Vincenta and her
mazipan Lamb

with daylight saving time.  The kitchen was bustling with activity. The cook was preparing lamb for lunch ... our traditional Easter meal. The sisters were busy baking cakes. Sr. Vincenta made mazipan Lamb of God from the ancient moulds we have kept in the kitchen for decades. At least 4 are placed on our dining tables and we try not to eat them until the end of the Easter season.

Sr. Aquila and her
Easter Candle

Lunch was a happy community affair ... though most of the guys have gone home for the holidays. There were several guests present today. Sr. Aquila, our new sacristan, had prepared the Easter Candle for the Vigil service. She's very small so the candle was also as tall as her. We had a good laugh. She was trained as a seamstress but now she works as sacristan which is quite a different experience for her.

Tourists groups have dwindled this year probably due to fear of the violence around us. Everyone remarked how few the tourists have become. Shop keepers are suffering from this. And our churches during Holy Week were markedly empty except for the locals who came to join in the liturgy. Thankfully there were no incidents in and around the Old City these 2 weeks. Nobody ... jew or arab ... who lives in our city want trouble. We just want to get on with our own lives. May the Peace of the Risen Christ conquer all.

Happy Easter!

Good Friday

Procession around the Empty Tomb
on Maundy Thursday

Yesterday was Maundy Thursday ... I though it would have been a quiet day but instead I got called up at 8.30am to get to work at lunch time. Bit of a dilemma as I had to go to Jaffa to help with the Konkani Mass at 7pm. So as soon as work started, I kept pushing the workers to finish by 5pm so I could get to Jaffa on time. Lucky for me they did finish on time and I rushed t Jaffa for the Mass. It was a smaller crowd than usual (which could go up to 2000 people) but still quite large. After Mass I rushed home at 10pm and slept right through as I was utterly exhausted from a whole day's work.

Forgot it was the switch to Daylight Saving Time at 1am (which became 2am), When I got up today it was suddenly 7am. Had to manually change some clocks to summer time.

So today is my 25th anniversary of ordination. No Mass to celebrate ... it's Good Friday. In fact no celebration until maybe Easter Sunday. But no one has remembered it here anyway so no big deal.

Solemn celebrations continue in the Holy Sepulcher for the Easter Triduum. Few people are at home so I decided today instead to go to Notre Dame Center for the english service at 3pm. It was very crowded and the Nuncio presided at the Passion, Veneration of the Cross and Communion service. A really great liturgy because there was no MC to tell people "Please stand. please sit". The liturgy just flowed organically and people followed what the priest and choir did ... standing, kneeling and sitting at the appropriate times without promptings from someone at the microphone. What a relief!

Another view of the procession

If I'm feeling stronger I might join in this evening's Funeral Service at the Holy Sepulcher when the statue of Christ is brought down from the Cross on Mt. Calvary, anointed with spices and wrapped in a linen cloth and placed inside the Sepulcher for a whole night. This is the only liturgy of its kind in the entire world. Truly spectacular.

Tomorrow for the Easter Vigil I think I shall join the Salesians at Rosary convent. I'm quite tired of italian and latin in the liturgy. A bit of english can be quite stress relieving.

Holy Monday

The 4 MC martyrs
of Yemen

2nd day into Holy Week. On Holy Monday we get to celebrate Mass at the 5th Station from 6am to 8am ... one Mass each half hour. That's the only time Mass is ever celebrated at that Station.

The weather has gone even more crazy today ... drizzling all night and morning, very cold winds but the sun shines bright whenever there's a break in the clouds.

Police and military presence is still on high alert during this week's feasts. Dog patrol and mounted police continue to patrol the streets, stoping and body-searching young men and women in public.  In this heightened alert tension, we recall also the 4 Missionaries of Charity martyred in Yemen together with 16 of their co-workers. It was horrific ... those cowardly muslims who killed the defenseless nuns for caring for their muslim abandoned handicap. The sheer ingratitude and bestial nature of these murderers. Even here in the Holy Land we never forget one moment of our precarious situation - the constant muslim threat to our existence. We already saw it rearing its ugly head at Christmas when they forbade us to celebrate Christmas in Bethlehem ... no lights, christmas trees or carols allowed in public. Yes that's how bad it was ... but you never read it in the news. The muslims threatened to burn christian shops and houses who put up christmas decorations.

The packed church
during the Mass

In Jerusalem the patriarch presided at a Mass to remember these martyrs. The parish church of St. Savior was packed. It was a very sad day but everyone had only high regards for these simple nuns who sacrificed their lives to serve the poorest of the poor regardless of race or religion. It's a profound reminder to us all during Holy Week that we too are all called to carry our crosses and follow Christ to Calvary. Some have taken their mission more seriously.

Palm Sunday

The stone of Bethpage

Cold and very windy ... and it rained last night. We thought the Palm Sunday procession from Bethpage to Jerusalem (1 km up and down the  Mt. of Olives) would be wet and miserable. But by noon the sun was up and the procession got underway. It was crowded but not as previous years. Many people have avoided Jerusalem for fear of terrorists' attacks. Police were everywhere to secure the route.

I decided not to join in ... not even to St. Anne's Church (Sheeps Pool) where the procession always ends. Have been feeling so weak from exhaustion and medication ... and the chronic diarrhea. But I managed to join in the parish procession in the evening at New Gate though. Bands of bagpipers march from Notre Dame into the Old City through New Gate ... the only christian city gate. It's a once a year opportunity for christians to express their faith publicly and the local crowds were there to support ... christians from jerusalem and other parts of the country joining in. Here are some photos of the procession taken by friends.

Crowds leaving Bethpage to Jerusalem

The Passion of Christ sung at solemn
Mass in the Holy Sepulcher 

More crowds heading for Jerusalem

Franciscan friars leading the procession

Down the mt. of Olives

Holy Week starts

My palm

Today is the last day of Lent ... the last Saturday before Palm Sunday. Thousands of indian migrant workers packed into the Old City to make the Way of the Cross ... it's the only day they are free to worship because Sunday is a working day. All the indian priests in the country were at hand for confessions and leading the Way of the Cross in groups. It was very crowded in the streets, something we have not seen for a long time since the war started. Yes it's a war ... everyone admits it except the government.

I bought a palm branch for Palm Sunday procession yesterday. Many christian shops have started selling them ... braided in traditional style. They come in 3 sizes: small, medium and large. The medium costs US$10. Pretty hefty but since I didn't have a palm last year, I thought I should get one this year. I'll probably not go for the whole procession from Bethfage down to St. Anne's (Sheep's Pool) but I'll wait at Gethsemane of maybe at St. Anne's itself where the Patriarch will bless the people with the Blessed Sacrament.

Exhaustion has overtaken me and I've been sleeping for the past several hours ... in fact I slept during work and class. Total body shut down. Holy Week will be a long rest for me .... I hope.

Jerusalem Marathon

The weather was fine the last few days - temp. as high as 28 degrees ... almost like summer. Then the last 48 hours saw a turnaround ... temp. dropping down to 10 degrees. It rained the whole night as well and the wind is bitterly cold. I have to turn on my 2 radiators to stay warm at night as my asthma is back again after a course of courtesans and antibiotics. My body is falling apart ... I can feel the overpowering pressure and tiredness in mind and body. Too much work, too much worries and my allergic asthma is recurring after the medication has stopped. I've lost over 5kg. And people around me are warning me of a breakdown ... I should take a break. Easier said than done.

Marathoners at Jaffa Street junction

The weather did not dampen the Jerusalem Marathon this morning though. Thousands of participants joined in the cross-City run. Roads were closed till noon and no traffic was allowed. There was no train service as well since the route followed parts of the rail system. I wanted to carry some stuff to the chinese sisters convent but at the Jaffa Street junction I was stopped by police. There was no way I could cross the road as the marathoners had taken over the road. One thing though - police presence was super heavy with even the dog unit and mounted police joining in. Luckily there were no incidents ... with only 2 stabbing attempts thwarted outside of the City.

Holy Week starts in 2 days ... let's hope there'll be no incidents as well.

Emergency Ward again

Was in hospital for a couple of days. Symptoms appeared to be the flu coupled with an allergic reaction but after tests at the Emergency Room, the docs say it's a severe allergic reaction plus exhaustion. Am under heavy medication. And I lost my voice. And work has been accumulating. I start at 4am each day and end by midnight ... mostly without a meal. The mental exhaustion is even worse than the physical.

The wave of violence continues ... not like the previous Intifada when co-ordinated attacks occurred. It's still lone wolf attacks, sporadic and often involving youths below 20 yrs of age. But recently a few attacks involved guns and explosives. Police and soldiers have tightened control in and outside the Old City but it is not stopping thee attacks. Everyone is saying the Israeli military is not prepared for this new method of aggression. Newspapers have been analyzing this phenomenon and say it's the result of frustration by youths who see they have no future.  The political stalemate has left many young people without school, work or freedom of movement. The youngest in jail is a 12 yr old girl who tried to stab a soldier.

People try to get on with their lives despite all the blockades, stop-and-search and other inconveniences. It's not easy But the sense of hopelessness hangs heavily. "What can we do?" is the answer. Streets are now filled with Spring fruit such as strawberries but few families can afford to buy them now that work restrictions have tightened, cost of living skyrocket and everyone is barely getting by day by day. This year looks miserable.

Saved by the flu

Artichokes are in
season

48 hours of violence ... starting with a 50 yr old arab woman stabbing policemen inside the Old City yesterday morning; then her son and an accomplice went on a shooting spree at Salahaddin Street in East Jerusalem, while at the same time 60km away another attack took place in Petah Tikvah and 70km away american tourists were killed or wounded in Old Jaffa.

This morning a shooting spree from a moving car hit a bus in Ramot (north of Jerusalem); the same car came into Jerusalem just outside the Old City and opened fire indiscriminately ... critically wounding a passing christian. Later we found out he was Victor who used to work in our kitchen. Word is that he was shot in the head.

I would have walked by that section of the road at that time everyday to go to work, but today because of the severe flu I stayed home and that saved my life. Well being saved from being shot is one thing .... but the flu is really killing me in other ways: painful joints, fever, chills, coughing fits with congested lungs; and a dreadful asthma reaction which I now think is an allergy to a new toothpaste that I'm using. There's a chemical in there that I'm severely allergic to.

Sick

After a very very tiring weekend filled with non-stop work ... I'm now sick with a cold and severe asthma (possibly bronchitis). Painful joints, fever, headache, sore throat, phlegm, dizziness, lost of appetite, fainting spells. Am feeling extremely weak.

Female religious
at the chapel

Saturday started with an early Mass for the Konkani speaking people, 2 baptisms and Lenten talks all day. Ended quite late at night ... I got home around 11pm. Sunday also started early with a retreat in Bethlehem. Over a hundred female religious from the Judah region gathered for the election of delegates for their new federation committee. They were divided into language groups: arabic, italian, english and french. I had to preach the english conference and preside over the general liturgy. Then the afternoon was more work till late in the night. The hot sun but chilly wind made me very sick. Then of course Monday morning means getting up at 3am for classes. Everything has taken its toll.

I'll try and rest today ... if possible.

Trust no one

New Coptic Archbishop enters
from Jaffa Gate

The weather has been extremely erratic ... becoming cold and hot within hours thus making lots of people sick. However Spring is certainly here and flowers are blooming everywhere.

The new Coptic Archbishop of Jerusalem made his solemn entrance into the Holy Sepulcher yesterday by way of Jaffa Gate (status quo entrance). Heads of other churches were there to welcome him. But being very poor, we lent them some of our kawwas (dragoman / Ottoman protectors in traditional dress) to lead the procession and provided also the bagpipe band to lead the march.

Procession going toward the
Holy Sepulcher 

Meantime everyone is disgusted at the muslim fringe that killed M. Teresa's sisters and their co-workers. Though no one will say it openly, we know never to trust them, never to believe what they say.  And no ... we should stop making excuses for them by calling them "fringe", "extremists", "fanatics" , "radicals" because they are not. They are normal muslims mainstream and fervent.  Only the Hindus and Buddhists have the courage to stop these people. Other religions cower and submit.

Spring may be in the air ... but I smell a war coming.

We will not leave

Our friars in Syria

As we are still reeling from the terrible events of Yemen yesterday ... we here in the Holyland had to also make up our minds regarding our presence in the Middle East especially in Syria. Already one of our friars Fr Dhiya was kidnapped twice within a year by jihadists in Syria and another beheaded. Our 4 village parishes are reduced to a few hundred mainly elderly catholics who have no means nor strength to escape. It is difficult for new friars to enter these areas to assist the resident friars who are exhausted psychologically, emotionally and spiritually by the constant dangers, lack of electricity, water, medication and food. It is not fair to demand that these friars remain in these areas.

Aiding syrian children

So our Custos sent an email asking all of us to reflect if we should continue to remain serving in these danger zones. The answer from all of us was practically unanimous: WE WILL NOT LEAVE OUR PEOPLE ALONE. We will stay. We will not abandon the old, sick and helpless to the hands of ruthless muslim extremists. Some of us even volunteered to enter Syria. It is not and will not be an easy mission but we will persevere. And like Mother Teresa's sisters in Yemen, some of us will have to die for this commitment.

I am proud to be a Holy Land franciscan.

Mother Teresa's sisters killed

We just received the tragic news that 4 of Mother Teresa's sisters in Aden (Yemen) were killed by armed men who stormed their convent this morning. The awful tragedy of persecution does not end. Now the handicap and abandoned elderly have no one to care for them. One of the youngest Sr. Reginette was supposed to come to Jerusalem next month to prepare for her solemn profession. I was helping her with the visa arrangements. Now she is dead.