Lazarus Sunday

Lazarus Sunday morning - the tomb
of Lazarus lies just beyond the
tallest steeple in the middle of the
photo

Today is Lazarus Sunday ... the Gospel reading is about his revival from the death. Orthodox and Oriental christians celebrate it on Saturday before Palm Sunday but the Roman Church celebrates it one week before. The franciscans had already made the pilgrimage to Bethany where the tomb of Lazarus is. That was last Wednesday. The muslims control the tomb and make everyone pay US$2 for entry. Daylight robbery. I refuse to go there as a matter of principle.

Anyway I celebrated Mass at the Armenian Catholic cathedral and remembered you all. The armenian crowd is still small. The Salesian and White Fathers' seminarians still come to help out as acolytes and choir. I even had a deacon this morning. The Sisters of Notre Dame (Ratisbonne) came with their novices as well so the congregation was quite big.

My freesias are
blooming

The morning was cool and crisp. People are back in the streets after yesterday's lockdown. It's terrible that a 17 yr old boy from Nablus could come and attack jews with a knife yesterday. He was killed on the spot but for the rest of us living here ... it's the inconvenience of being locked down, restricted movement and City Gates closed. The attack took place a little distance from the 5th Station of the Cross ... about 150 meters from my house.

Yesterday evening thousands of arabs and leftwing jews marched in Jerusalem, calling for peace and the stop of settlements. The govt. had passed a bill to build new settlements in Palestine. They reminded the public that the stabbings are symptoms of the continued occupation and land-grabbing by Israel of Palestinian lands. The right of course argues that there is no such thing as Palestine and the whole land is Israel.    http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/1.780816

Israel security has warned that ISIS is now moving from northern Sinai to the southern deserts as part of its control scheme. Tourists to Mt. Sinai and St. Catherine's Monastery, as well as the Red Sea resort towns of Sharm al Sheikh are all in danger and has imposed a no-go zone.  http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4943273,00.html