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?