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| Last week's full moon |
It's been several days since the last blog. Time flies so quickly. The country is slowly opening up and school officially opened today for our students for face-to-face classes. That meant that I had to ready the libraries for students to come back and set the procedure of checking vaccination certificates and sitting arrangements; and that also meant briefing the staff what to do. Suddenly all the peace and quiet of 1 year is (almost) gone.
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| The Empty Tomb yesterday |
The full moon was above us ... whenever the Passover/Easter is celebrated 10 days ago. It's quite a sight. But last night 5 loud blasts from the cannon in the muslim cemetary sounded. Ramadan started ... one day ahead of prediction. It should have been tonight but last night the muslims sighted the new moon so Ramadan started. Of course it's Saudi Arabia who sets the rules, so Jerusalem's new moon had to be confirmed by Saudi Arabia. Anyway the streets today were deadly quiet again, like during the lockdowns. Only this time, it's because the muslims are fasting and all shops are closed except those selling fresh vegetables and fruit. But come evening and all the food stalls and wandering hawkers will be packing Damascus Gate. I hope to enjoy my usual Ramadan food which was not possible last year. There's the almond and date syrup, qatayef (pancake), and some other snacks. Something I can look forward to.
Covid cases have gone down from thousands to just a few hundred. The vaccination programme has been a success. But now the scare is that people become over-confident and by being careless, a new strain might cause chaos again. I still wear the mask everywhere and avoid being with crowds. Even when I celebrated Mass in the Empty Tomb yesterday morning. It was for all you benefactors of the Holy Land for your kind contributions to help the poor in our mission. Very generous of you. I prayed for your intentions, for the living and the dead. You can watch it on the following link. https://youtu.be/Nmaht1w666o
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