Funeral

Sunrise today

 So we just buried our confrere Fr Manns. The Church was quite crowded and our Patriarch, who was once his student, and 2 auxiliary bishops were present with the emeritus patriarch. Manns was well known, being a scholar and preacher and expert in Judaism. As we say in latin Sic transit gloria mundi ... thus the world's glory passes. Nothing lasts, not intelligence, fame or wealth. You bring nothing with you into the coffin.

Today was also the Custos' birthday. I happened to be up near his office with the Chinese sisters to bring him our Christmas greetings when we were told of it. So we took the opportunity to also wish him a happy birthday.

The weather strangely was drizzly all day. And the temp was around 6 degrees up to 8 degrees. I had to wear lots of sweaters to keep warm. And walking to and from work is a scary experience as I'm terribly afraid of slipping and falling. Today's sunrise was rather deceiving as the sky was quite clear and the sun was shining brightly. But only after an hour it got real dark.

Everyone has been telling me to go to the hospital and not wait. I've been postponing it for 2 months now. But the last 2 days was very bad and today I still had pains. So Christmastide will probably be spent in hospital ... if I can get an appointment.