All Saints Day

St. Peter's church by the sea at 6am

All Saints Day today. Though it's my turn to preside at our community Mass, this morning I was excused because I had a hospital appointment in Tel Aviv. I woke up at 3am to prepare myself ... but despite all that I still to bring my passport. At 4.55am I went out to Damascus Gate to get the taxi for Tel Aviv but not before buying fresh arab bread called "kaik" which my Jaffa community loves to eat. Arrived at St. Peter's church in Jaffa at 5.55am ... but because it was cold both in Jerusalem and Jaffa ... I caught a dreadful cold. But I could concelebrate the Solemnity with my community in Jaffa before going off to the hospital for my appointment.

Checkup was quick and it's good news ... the bone graft is growing and anchored. However the doc said I need to clean up a few cavities so as to avoid any infection spreading. Now that was painful. I have to get back to painkillers again. Anyway all I wanted to do was to go home as quickly as possible ... so I took the bus home. The mini-bus drivers are crazily dangerous as they speed down the highway to Jerusalem. Once home I slept the rest of the afternoon as the cold was making me quite weak.

Tel Aviv at 6am

Anyway the rest of the Holy Land was celebrating All Saints Day ... not sure where the main celebration was. Tomorrow is All Souls Day and the friars will have Mass at our cemetery and bless the tombs. The chinese priests and religious will have Mass at the Last Supper Room, which I organised, and then we'll visit some tombs in the cemetery before going for lunch. We're celebrating Sr, Teresa's earning her Diploma from the Salesian University and the arrival of Sr. Clara.

On a national level, the mayoral elections are over ... with some surprising results in the northern cities. Jerusalem though is stuck with a tie vote ... so another round of elections will be underway. Then news is out that Israel's airforce attacked Russian military bases in Syria ... a very risky move as it might inflame the region war. In the south, Gaza's military factions have vowed to keep the ceasefire with Israel but the renegade groups armed and supported by Iran will definitely not honour this ceasefire ... and get everyone into trouble again by a new wave of bombings.