Immaculate Heart

Agapanthus love the heat

It's the 2nd Saturday of the month. That means I have the 8am Mass in the Empty Tomb. The expatriate community of St. Anthony's parish in Jaffa come for the Mass. Today it was a small group of less than 15 people. Easy to handle. After Mass we had a Bible lesson in my library and then they went off to the Dead Sea for a picnic. I on the other hand, had to accompany a retreatant to a shop to buy souvenirs, then brunch at one of the few restaurants opened on Sabbat and Ramadan ... the restaurants are all christian. Nothing is worse than Saturday in Ramadan ... the jewish and muslim shops are all closed. After the brunch which was an omelette with chips (!!!! local christians have no idea what brunch is), we went to another bookshop before he returned to the retreat house.

Enough of walking for me. My ankle is still swollen and I really want to rest today. The morning was a whopping 30 degrees. I dread to think what the afternoon would be like. Still I noticed certain flowers like marigolds and roses love the heat and are blooming like crazy. So too the agapanthus ... amazing purples and whites. I should plant them in my terrace garden the next time.

Delicious jambu ayer

A friend brought up a pack of jambu ayer ... lovely juicy fruit which when chilled are delicious in this hot weather. I gave some to the Indian sisters and our Indonesian student. They all loved it. It's something we all missed ... a little bit of home grown fruit. You can't imagine what it means for such a gesture to us who live far from home and for such a long time. Thanks.

Well today we celebrate the Immaculate Heart of Mary. I remembered you all at Mass inside the Empty Tomb. The Archbishop has asked me to help raise $13,000 for the Home of the Aged and Day Care centre in the village of Taybeh. It's one of the 7 remaining villages which is still totally christian ... and Christ stopped here according to John 11:54, when it was named Ephraim. it's in the middle of a desert region. many young people have left for the city to look for jobs and the elderly are left behind. The diocese is using an old building to house some elderly and serves as a day care for other elderly when their children go to work. Please help. The christian population in the Holy Land has dropped to 1.2%. It may soon die if the universal Church doesn't intervene to help. Remember it was here that the Church was born. May the Immaculate Heart intercede for us.