1st rain of winter

Rain ... and my plants are happy

It rained this afternoon. The first rain of winter. It started with large drizzle and then heavy drops. Then it rained with thunder rolling ... for over an hour. What a great start to winter. The wind was chilly and the damp ground smelt nice. The hot dry ground was cooled by rain.

However for the jews it's a bad sign ... a sign that God is displeased. It should only rain after Sukkoth which is a week from now. Now is the harvest season which climaxes with Sukkoth. To rain now will render the fruit harvest rotten by the rains. It's therefore seen as a punishment by God.

Profession rite this morning

Earlier this morning we had the solemn profession of 4 of our friars. Great event as their families from Latin America, Syria and Italy came. The church was packed. This year like last year, we have a bumper group of seminarians ... 22 new ones plus 3 who have returned from their apostolic year. There's no more room in the seminary and the classrooms are overcrowded. That's a good sign for us ... but for the seminarians we must try to provide sufficient food and lodging and study materials for them all. I think the total number of seminarians are 80 plus.

I had to go to our house in Jaffa for a job. Woke up at 3am and left home at 4.45am ... luckily there was no traffic in the highway as it's the Sabbath. Reached there at 6.10am and rushed to get my job done. The rest of the friars were ready to go to Jerusalem for the solemn profession so I went back with them. It was a short stay for such a long journey ... one hour and a half to get there ... another hour and a half to get back ... but only one hour there to finish my job. Hope I get to stay a little longer next time ... to rest.