Feast of Sacred Heart

Muslims leaving Herod's Gate

The weekend is upon us ... the Sabbath siren just sounded all around the City, warning jews to stop work as the Sabbath has begun. And being Friday today, the muslims came to the Al Aqsa Mosque for prayers. And the crowds were larger than previous weeks ... showing the virus lockdown has eased despite the sake in infections this week. However most people are wearing masks when entering the Old City ... because the police are catching those without masks and fining them 200 shekels. Just at the end of our street, at the 3rd Station of the Cross, police caught several people as I passed by on my way to work. I didn't dare take photos.

Our parish in Jaffa has issued a notice saying there will be no public masses anymore as the Municipality has ordered a lockdown in that neighbourhood because of a surge in coronavirus infections. And that's because everyone flouted the mask and distancing rules. In a way this curfew-like regime would stop crowds from gathering to riot as they have done for the past week.

My amazing night-blooming jasmine

My night-blooming jasmine in the sacristy courtyard had suffered several stretches of "drought" as no one watered it. The leaves had shrivelled and new leaves are very tiny. I had to save it by heavy watering twice. And it came back to life. Then 2 days back it pushed out blooms on every branch and nodule. Utterly incredible ... the whole bush is packed with blooms and the perfume is so strong it can be smelt 3 storeys up to my room.

Today is the feast of the Sacred Heart. Mass was solemn with Gloria and Credo ... but I celebrated alone. The docs have been warning me to avoid communal celebrations or activities because of my asthma and my resistance is quite low and I am likely to catch anything. I'm not panicking and I do go out to work once every 2 days, but I am very careful with hand washing, wearing masks and keeping distance from others. better safe than sorry.