New ordination

Empty street on Sabbath

Yesterday one of my students was ordained in India. There were many concelebrating priests and laity. A very big affair. In 2 weeks another will be ordained in Puerto Rico. 3 others had already been ordained in July ... in Albania and Sri Lanka. They are the last of my students whom I taught full-time. With over 20 years of students passing through my hands and getting ordained ... it's time for retirement. Age and sickness have caught up.

This morning was eerily chilly ... and very humid. Rain clouds floated pass toward Jordan and dew covered most of the ground. You could smell the dampness in the air. But the hot dry sun came in the late morning and it became another hot day. Lucky for the cool morning because I had to walk 2km to celebrate Mass for the Ethiopians. I love their singing .... it's a mournful chant which is very melodious. I like to learn it ... maybe I'll get someone to teach me.

Another deserted street

The walk to and from the chapel where Ethiopic Mass was celebrated was really surreal. It's Sabbath so there were no cars and very very people and no dogs or even cats or rats in the streets. It's surreal .... the silence except for the wild parakeets screeching their heads off. It's been quite some time since I walked in the jewish side of town on a Sabbath and it was quite relaxing and stress free with all that silence ... except for a drunk arab who was bleeding from the head and 5 emergency attendants were surrounding him.

News-wise there's nothing significant .... it's a rather quite weekend. We'll just wait for the feast of the Transfiguration to come so we can get busy over something.