Feast of Blessed Allegra

Damascus Gate steps
all wet and slippery

It's raining right now. It's cold and the streets are slippery. Just as forecast. Well the Chinese New Year will be wet. Perhaps it's a blessing. When it rains, there's never violence. Everyone stays home ... dry and warm. I just finished Eucharistic adoration and confessions at M. Teresa's sisters' convent ... 7pm when I looked out of the window and saw that it was raining. I had to go home in the shower ... which was pleasant in a way because we so rarely have rain. On the way home, I found soldiers and police huddling at many doorways with shelters. A police van came along to deliver hot drinks and dinner to them. I thought I needed one too.

Mass for Blessed Allegra

Today of course is the Feast of Blessed Gabriele Allegra. In Jerusalem, and in my house, he's remembered as a professor and scholar. We celebrated a commemoration Mass for him ... and the chinese sisters and chinese laity also came. We sang the Ave Maria in chinese during communion. Fr. Matthias, who is from the Studium Biblicum in China which was founded by Blessed Allegra, presided at the Mass.

In school, there was a small exhibition on the life and work of Blessed Allegra. Unfortunately not many students saw or will see it because term break just started yesterday. Too bad.

Yesterday as a result of so much rushing up and down the hill from one place to another (for 3 consecutive days) dealing with various postal problems and other urgent stuff, I hurt my sciatic nerve again. It was bad. I could not stand up straight. And I had to hobble home. Sleeping was impossible because of the pain. Because I was so tired, I didn't even think of spraying analgesic balm on my hamstrings. This morning though it was better. I can walk on flat ground. It's climbing stairs and slopes that hurts the back and legs.