Trinity Sunday

Solemn sung Mass at the Holy
Sepulchre today

A rather theological abstract feast day today ... there is no equal in the orthodox and oriental churches. This is typical of the roman church which meditates on abstracts. There was solemn Mass at the Holy Sepulchre but though I was there, I did not want to concelebrate even when invited. It's too long and my IBS is precarious. Instead I celebrated Mass privately in the Crusader Chapel.

It was tiring day as I was up at midnight to prepare to go to the airport and pick up visitors. Due to lost luggage, we could only leave the airport at 4.30am. Then it was morning of visiting nearby churches and sites such as Zedekiah's cave and the Terra Sancta Museum. The weather was scorching ... 37 degrees and above. I was floating in and out of consciousness, sleep and exhaustion. But there was a plus side to this visit ... I got lots of home food that I hadn't eaten in a very long time.

It was a quiet Sunday though there were clashes outside in the border areas. The heat and the fasting has driven most muslims indoors and there was no violence in and around the Old City. There were however several jewish attacks on arab properties ... the cutting down of arab grape vines and olive trees. It will take a century for those trees to fruit again.  https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-farm-terror-palestinian-vineyard-annihilated-with-chainsaws-1.6115888

Let's hope things will not worsen and the end of Ramadan will cool the situation.