Sick

The Grotto of the
Nativity of the BVM

It's the Nativity of the BVM today and our neighbour St. Anne's Church aka Bethesda Pool is the centre of the celebrations. Since Byzantine times christians believed that was the place where St. Anne gave birth to Mary. Pilgrims came here to recall the event, as well as the miracle of healing the paralytic by the pool (the Bethesda Pool is just meters away from the Nativity Church). A church was eventually built over the grotto where it is believed Mary was born. During the Ottoman era, the arab muslims used the church as a girls' school ... which ironically saved the church from being destroyed like many others were during this period. However the grotto below the church was out of bounds. Franciscans came in the night and entered the grotto from a tiny window on the south side of the church ... to celebrate Mass in the grotto. For decades this was done till the Ottoman empire collapsed in 1920 and the church was once again opened for religious services. And till today Franciscans preside at this Mass every Sept. 8th, passing by the little window through which the early friars enter and exited, at the risk of their lives because if they were caught by the muslims, they would have been killed.

This morning in a rush to get to Mass I forgot to take my medication. I drank the consecrated wine - I am allergic to the preservative - and almost immediately had an allergic reaction. It was not severe but it was bad enough to put me in bed the whole day. Swollen eyes and throat, difficulty in breathing, running nose, watery eyes. And I had chest pains as well due to the difficulty in breathing. But I'm not going to hospital yet. Will try and sleep through this one.

Big earthquake in Mexico last night ... and right now. we're getting news that there's an earthquake in Japan. Not surprising ... after N. Korea tested its hydrogen bomb in the centre of the earth. Each time a nuclear bomb is blown up in the earth, it sets off an earthquake on the opposite side of the earth. Utterly appalling.

There's an expected 56 million chinese leaving China for the National Day holidays ... but their regular destinations are changing. From the Middle East, they're now going to exotic places like Croatia, Czech and Iceland. Israel will soon be left out of this tourism boom.  http://www.straitstimes.com/asia/east-asia/6-million-chinese-tourists-going-overseas-during-national-day-holiday-in-october?utm_campaign=Echobox&utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Facebook&xtor=CS1-10#link_time=1504763450