Feast of St. Francis

Relic of St. Francis on
display 

Succot has began. Orthodox jews dressed in their finest are walking briskly to the Wailing Wall to pray. From now till tomorrow evening no work is allowed. No public transport, no shops or offices opened, the City comes to a standstill .... like 5 days ago for Yom Kippur. and on the last day of Succoth which is next Thursday, again another no-work day. No wonder the jews call this month the High Holy Days or Days of Awe. When everything shuts down ... things can get really awesome. Between the 1st and last days, road traffic will be strictly regulated - some will be closed, because tens of thousands will be flocking to the Wailing Wall for prayers ... some for purely religious motives, others for political ... and it's the political ones that will cause riots and clashes with muslims every year.

And the borders with Palestine will be closed for 11 days until the jewish feast is well over. This is the first time a closure of this length of time is imposed. Usually it's a couple of days. Israel is not taking any chances ... what with ISIS already in our borders. We can never be too careful. Better safe than sorry.

The Maria Bambina sisters in
audience with the Archbishop

For us today it's the feast of St. Francis of Assisi. 10 of us opted to celebrate the Mass in our house with the neighbouring nuns and laity in attendance. Others went for the solemn Mass at St. Saviour's Church. The huge neo-gothic Church was packed with people. On the left of the sanctuary was a temporary altar with the statue and relic of St. Francis on display and veneration. Now that is awesome!

Our new Indian sisters were not sure what to do on this feast day ... to arrange the altar and prepare the dining room. The polish nuns left for good. Now we have the Maria Bambina sisters who run a large hospital in Nazareth. They're sending 3 sisters to come work in our kitchen and sacristy. But being new I had to teach them what to do. Was busy all morning doing that. Earlier this week I had to bring them to visit the Apostolic Administrator and then get their community registered with the Diocesan Office in Jerusalem.