School starts

Inauguration Mass

It's Friday and it's tense throughout the country and in the Old City. Yesterday's violence at Gaza and the other borders has caused the entire country to be nervously expecting some clash. The muslim crowd is coming by the thousands into the Old City to pray at the mosque. It's a ripe situation for a riot.

We had the inauguration Mass for the new school year at St. Saviour's parish. The nuncio's secretary was the main celebrant because all the important clergy are in Rome for the Synod. The grind of academic work begins again ... the paper chase ... and another generation will graduate in the next 300 days. Time flies.

Lunch at Cenacolino

I had to continue work after Mass and then the superior of the Cenacolino (Last Supper Room) invited me over for lunch. It was very nice of him and I noted the fraternity there has grown. More students have been sent to stay there because the seminary is crammed full of seminarians and there are  no more rooms. We've started to move the final year students to other monasteries. That way new students get to stay in the seminary. Anyway lunch at the Last Supper Room is so nice because it's simple. We abstain on Fridays so the sister who cooks in the kitchen steamed fish and fresh salad. But because yesterday was the Feast of St. Francis and today is the inauguration of the school year, we had drinks and ice cream.

The Russian meddling in all the world's politics is frightening everyone here ... from american elections to Malaysia's downed flight MH75. It's scary how the russian tentacles have spread ... and here we're worried about russia's influence in the syrian war. By sending russian missiles to intercept israeli drones and rockets is going to be a game changer. But on the side I'd say watch out for China which is more prudent and quiet and even more powerful than russia. Now the news says that the Chinese head of Interpol has gone missing. Scary.

Angela Merkel on the otherhand has left Jerusalem today. She was here for the past 2 days and roads were closed and security was super tight ... in a phrase, our daily life was disturbed again. That's life in the City ... we put our lives on hold when big shots come.