Pentecost Sunday

Solemn Vespers in the Last
Supper Room

It's Pentecost today. The usual solemn Vespers was sung at the Last Supper Room. The Our Father was recited in each person's language ... a mixture of tongues like the day of Pentecost 2000 years ago. It's a wonderful experience.  Then there was the annual procession to the Armenian Cathedral of St. James to remind everyone of how the Armenians hosted the Franciscans in the 16th century when the Ottoman Turks evicted the Franciscans from the Last Supper Room. Then the procession went on the the Syrian Cathedral of St. Mark to recall the house where Mark and his mother lived and had hosted Ss Peter and John when they escaped from prison in the Antonia Fortress.

Military presence continue to be very high today in and out of the Old City in the wake of the terrorist attack in London. Palm Plaza is ringed with 3 concentric circles of metal fences ... each with only one gate. Thousands of muslims continue to congregate in the Al Aqsa Mosque and chances for a riot are real. But nobody wants their holidays to be spoiled so frankly I don't expect any violence. But always better safe than sorry ... hence the military presence.

Metal barriers dividing up the whole
of East Jerusalem

Well these few days I've bumped into several old friends that I haven't seen in a very long time. It's always so good to catch up. Perhaps that's a sign of old age ... nostalgia, memories, old friends .... This summer I will be alone as usual. Everyone else will be going home. So these friends ... jewish and muslim ... will be my companions for the next 3 months to pass the time. Meantime it's seeing through our students with their exams which will last till June 29th. My other lot of students at the Salesian University will be ordained deacons next week at the Basilica in Gethsemani; others will return to their countries to be ordained priests a week later. Happy for them.