Storm again

Chinese sisters'
oratory

The Lenten rigours have begun. Last night at 20 to midnight the friars and many local religious gathered in the Holy Sepulchre to pray the vigil office of the 1st Sunday of Lent which ends with a procession around the Empty Tomb. It's quite impressive if you're not sleepy at that hour. The prayers end at about 1.15am and then Mass begins immediately on Mt. Calvary. This midnight vigil will take place every Saturday night. Hope I'll be able to go to one and pray for you all.

By the way the Chinese sisters send their New Year greetings to you all, and thank you all for your kindness. They pray for you all daily and offer a Mass for your intentions once a month. Their little oratory ... not a chapel as there is no space for an altar ... was blessed with a gift of a tabernacle and stand from M. Teresa's sisters. In the picture on the bottom right floor there is a white sheet of paper. It contains all your names and the sisters offer it up in their daily prayers. The oratory is so small only 3 sisters can enter it at any one time.

Dark gloomy day

Yesterday afternoon saw dark gloomy skies with a very strong cold wind ... with a little drizzle. But in Tel Aviv and the rest of the country, the daytime storm was extremely heavy, causing lots of floods. Roads to the Dead Sea were closed. A tourist bus in the Negev desert was stuck in the flood and the tourists had to be saved.  In Rishon leZion and Tel Aviv there was hail carpeting the roads and fields like snow. The whole country experienced extreme weather conditions except Jerusalem.

https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-5117745,00.html
and  http://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Ukrainian-tour-bus-rescued-from-flash-flood-in-Judean-Desert-542863

But by evening the rains returned and by midnight the storm burst. Just like the night before there was an electrical storm and the rains were very heavy. Some of the guys in my house on their way to the Holy Sepulchre ran home soaking wet. They never quite made it to the basilica.

Down south in the country, missile alarms had sounded twice, sending people to hide in bunkers but there were no missiles from Gaza. Israel bombed many targets in Gaza anyway ... a pre-emptive strike as Israel is expecting a war from Gaza soon. http://www.jpost.com/Breaking-News/BREAKING-18-Hamas-targets-struck-by-the-IDF-Saturday-night-542898