Cold Sabbath

Empty street on
Sabbath

The temp. dropped to 12 degrees this morning. Wow it was cold and the rain has stopped ... and I had a nice walk out to the New City at 6.30am to meet a family of friends. It was such a lovely walk on Sabbath because hardly anyone was on the streets. And I've not seen them for a very long time. The kids have grown so much. It was good to them all ... and for the first time the entire family together.

The walk back was equally pleasant ... the cold fresh winter wind and bright morning sun. Feels like Christmas. Which is another thing that got me all excited yesterday ... I remembered Advent was coming and that means I get to put up the Advent wreath and decorate my altar for Christmas. It's exciting ... because it's a break from routine. Our new seminarian from India Bro. Leo was also excited. It's his first Christmas here and it'll quite an experience for him. Well we decided to go Christmas shopping together ... a small christian shop in East Jerusalem.

Chinese pilgrims venerating the
relic of the True Cross

Tourists are coming like a plague ... the streets are so packed it's almost impossible to walk. I dread going out but there's work to do. I try to time myself so I can come home without any injury from pushing and elbowing. The last thing I need after my op. is someone push into my wound.

Despite the ceasefire worked out by Israel and Gaza, yesterday saw some of the worst violence yet. Gaza fired a barrage of rockets into Israel and Israel's army bombarded Gaza in 87 targets. 4 gazans were killed. Israel is blaming Syria and Iran for arming Gaza ... and they're probably right. They use Gaza as a proxy. Utterly dreadful.  https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-5381004,00.html

Meantime jews have been on the rampage on revenge attacks on arabs. Already our catholic cemetery had tombstones broken last week.  https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-5380507,00.html