OL of Sorrows

Weekend beggars

 This morning I felt better because I woke up at midnight to cough alot of phlegm out of my system; took my medicine and drank warm water. Also the workers finished work early at 3pm the day before so there was less dust in the air. I could walk to the Ivrea convent for Mass at 5.15am without choking and coughing and blacking out.

Local election fever is in the air. Groups and individuals are negotiating for coalitions and some unlikely agreements are raising eyebrows and alarms as well. It looks like a far-right and ultra-orthodox govt is in the coming and that's sending jitters to many ... including foreigners living here. Work permits, visas may become harder; and open discrimination/persecution may be rampant.

Today's local headlines is a revelation that Trump offered Palestine to the Jordanian King. And I was like: "who the hell is he to give someone else's land to someone else?" Palestine is not American property to be given away. The sheer arrogance! 

Today is the feast of Our Lady of Sorrows, whose shrine is the 13th Station of the Cross on Calvary. May she see our suffering here and intercede for us!

Well it's Thursday and the weekend begins this evening. There'll be partying in the streets despite the tensions and clashes around the country. And tomorrow morning beggars will appear at Damascus Gate as they do every summer.