Crazy weekend

Filipinas selling
food

Yesterday was a busy tiring day. I made the 2.5 hour journey to Herzliya for Mass. The worst part was walking 1km uphill to the minibus terminal in the killer heat. Halfway walking there ... I just wanted to go home again. The ride took an hour and the driver cheated me of 11 shekels as I was already so tired and confused by the heat. Once in Jerusalem I had to wait for someone to pick me up to Herzliya. The Central Bus Terminal area was packed with people of all sorts. Filipinas selling home-made cakes and food .... korean christians shouting "Jesus saves" in the middle of the road ... it was chaos compared to Jerusalem where everything stops because its the Sabbath. Anyway the police came to question the koreans and then did a walkabout to check for illegals along the streets.

Police question
korean evangelists 

The car came to pick me up after half an hour .... Mass was celebrated to a crowd of 50+ persons and then I asked to go home immediately instead of staying for dinner. I was too tired and to travel another 2.5 hrs would kill me. Last week I got home at 11.40pm. So the driver sped through the highway and brought me back to Tel Aviv in a record 12 minutes (good thing we didn't get killed) ... there was a half hour wait for the minibus to fill up and then it raced back to Jerusalem. The driver was nice and instead of dropping everyone at the terminal, he drove a couple of us all the way down to Damascus Gate ... saving us a cold, long walk. Then it was another 1km walk to my house. Reached home at 11pm ... 40 minutes earlier than last week. Got to bed immediately because I had to wake up at 4am and prepare to go to Mass at the Ivrea Convent at 6am ... then a 4km run west to Ratisbon Monastery for Mass at 8am with the Ethiopians. Once ended, I had to rush south 1km to meet a convent of franciscan sisters to preach them a monthly retreat. Now it's 12pm ... finished. It's now a mad rush back home 1km away because a group is coming to see me. Then at 4pm it's a 100km ride to Netanya for Mass. Summer holiday????  I haven't had a day's rest this summer ... and my left ankle is swollen.

There was a dreadful terrorist attack by a natural pool which jews use as a ritual bath. Somebody threw an explosive that killed a girl and injured 2 in the family. It's a terrible attack and execerbates the already tense situation in the northern and southern borders. I somehow haven't seen any report saying the terrorist(s) is/are arabs .... but it's taken for granted. Borders are closing and block-stop-and-checks are taking place everywhere throughout the country. The Old City is packed with police ... and you can be sure that by this evening the perpetrators will be caught. The funny thing is the jewish perpetrators who burn and vandalise our churches and christian properties are still not caught after 6 years.