Holy Family feast

At St. Anthony's
church, Jaffa

It's Holy Family Day. Most have gone to Nazareth to celebrate the feast at the house of the Holy Family ... also known as the church of St. Joseph. I spent my morning after Mass instead cleaning the sacristy of the Armenian Catholic church. There were lots of laundry to do: purificators, alter linens etc. Then it was back home to clean the courtyard. The storm of the past 2 days have littered the courtyard with leaves and branches. It needed some tidying.

In the afternoon visitors began to come. 12pm one, 2pm another and 3pm another. Not sure if any others are coming later. I must go and buy food for Buddy and JJ as they have no seeds left to eat. Poor boys. And they have hardly seen me the past few days as I was away working in the parish. So today they've stuck close to me ... on my shoulder and arm all day. I try my best to play with them ... but JJ who is almost 1 yr old is very mischievous and noisy ... like a typical teenager. It's non-stop playing for him everyday. That means chewing everything in sight ... especially electric wires. I have to watch him all the time so he doesn't get into big trouble. Buddy is older ... 3 yrs now ... and is much more settled. He'd just sit on my shoulder and go to sleep. No problems with him.

The rains of the past 2 days have caused the Sea of Galilee to rise by 20cm. It made up for the drought for the past year. Flash floods have led to 2 deaths so far. It's stopped raining today and this should last till next weekend when rains are predicted.  https://www.timesofisrael.com/days-of-heavy-rainfall-raise-sea-of-galilee-by-some-20cm/?fbclid=IwAR3nL31fvUWuTruBZ4Ag6JU2sqFXj8CWTEEtqeJfENZqu2NTI_pgUjCEfSM

And while the winter gets harsher in Syria, thousands of refugees are on the run again ... govt. bombings in the north-west where most christians are seeking refuge have led to a bitter exodus for safer areas. Our poor christians are so persecuted but the world continues to ignore them. In Nigeria, christians were killed on Christmas Day by ISIS ... but hardly any noticed is given around the world. What a terrible way to end the year ... and begin another.