Herzliya

St. Francis of Assisi Chapel in
Herzliya

Herzliya is a City almost 80 km away from Jerusalem. There's a catholic community there that meets on Friday evenings for Sunday Mass. Sounds strange ... but in Israel the weekend is Friday-Saturday so Sunday Masses are celebrated on these days instead ... with the permission from the Bishops' Conference. In fact all Sunday Masses for migrant workers are on Fridays or Saturdays because its the only time they have time off.

Deserted streets in
Herzliya

I had to go to Herzliya for the Mass yesterday. It was my first time. The chapel is actually a small space in an industrial building ... meant for a small factory. Simple benches and decor ... something very franciscan. I liked it. But without any windows and outside temperature being 35 degrees, it was very hot in the chapel despite 5 fans and one aircon.

The parishioners come from a diverse background: filipino and indian migrant workers, american and african embassy workers ... a very big mix. No organs or guitars .... all music was sung without accompaniment. Very franciscan. It was a very nice experience. But being so far, I could not travel back to Jerusalem after Mass so I spent the night in our Jaffa monastery. Being Friday evening which is the start of the Sabbath, the streets are deadly quiet. Waiting for the taxi to bring me to Jaffa was quite scary as I was practically alone in the City's main road. Sabbath is taken very seriously here.

Meanwhile there was panic in South Tel Aviv's famous Carmel Market ... a man was seen running down the market with a knife in his hands. People panicked thinking it was a terrorist, everyone scrambling and 2 were hurt in the melee. It turned out that the knife-wielder was a lunatic ... or another version has it that it was a gang fight.

And one piece of bothering news this morning - Singapore was targeted by ISIS for a missile attack. Terrorism knows no borders .... just watch out and be careful.