Good news, bad news

Palm Plaza was bordered
off to create a restricted
walkway to the Old City

Friday passed without incident despite the thousands of muslims flooding into the City. Not only are Palestinians from the Territories and Gaza allowed to enter, but this year I've noticed plenty of muslims from Britain and America are also here, all speaking english. The police have blocked all roads around the Old City, and all pedestrian traffic were channeled by fences into smaller restricted walkways - to prevent riots as there's no place to run. Entrances and exits of these restricted walkways were guarded by police who kept a sharp eye for any known trouble makers. This was certainly a new procedure which brought less tension and traffic jams than closing the City Gates. Now the test is this Friday when Ramadan ends and the muslims celebrate Eid el Fitri.

Good news - Fr Dhiya Aziz who was missing last week was released by his captors. It wasn't the jihadists in Jacoubieh who captured him but some unknown small muslim group. Negotiations with the major muslim forces led to Fr Dhiya's whereabouts and the small unknown group was ordered to release him.

Bad news - Sr. Hyacinth our sacristan is not getting better. Her cancer has spread and the doctors are only using radiotherapy to prevent further spreading. Please pray for her.

Riot police preparing to
patrol the Old City

I had to preach a retreat the whole of last week. It was out in St. Peter Gallivant below Mt. Zion. It was a nice walk each morning to get there but coming home at 1pm was dreadful. The sun was extremely hot and it was uphill all the way. I did get a little stipend which was very welcomed. I had used all my money to help pay school fees for many students whose families cannot afford it. This year is really bad ... the economic situation is worsened and more requests and recommendations from the Sisters of St Vincent de Paul, Mother Teresa's sisters and even the Carmelite nuns are flowing in. Anyway with the little stipend, I bought myself lunch - seafood fettucini at Rossini - but was dreadfully ill the whole afternoon. I can't eat proper meals anymore. My stomach is just too weak. So I guess it's back to boiled vegetables.

Another weekend

Umbrella street in
Nachalat Shiva

After the PM called on the Minister for Religious Services to say the latter's views do not reflect the govt's views: that the PM sees all jews as jews ... the minister backed up one step only to rub more salt to the wound. He said that non-orthodox jews are jews ... but they're sinners. It's a no-win situation. The ultra-orthodox parties that hold the clinching votes of the coalition govt. is now flexing it's muscle ... and making it's extreme religious views as normative ... even national laws.

The weekend is once again upon us. It should be a nice relaxing time especially since it's the summer vacation, but ironically I find it's much more busy and hectic than usual. Perhaps it's because it's also Ramadan. There's just these little pockets of time when the streets are not crowded, when you're free to walk and not get stuck in a human traffic jam for literally hours ... that I have to take advantage of to get to work, or back, to go between one work and another. The whole daily timetable rotates around these few precious minutes during the morning and afternoon.

Amazing art

Nachalat Shiva is a wonderland of colourful umbrellas. That's the touristy neighbourhood next to Ben Yehudi pedestrian Mall in the New City. It's a great idea to shade the street from the scorching sun during the day ... but it's very artistically creative too. Lots of people are going there to snap photos. Me included.

Stromata

Jewish implosion today. The Minister of Religious Services just made a public call that non-orthodox jews are not jews. Huge outcry among the reform, conservative and liberal camps. But the Minister will get away with it, as the govt. is predominently ultra-orthodox who share his view. The PM will not risk breaking up his coalition govt because of this. What a shame. These non-orthodox jews are the ones who serve in the army, put their lives at risk to protect country and people, pay taxes to feed and clothe the non-tax-paying ultra-orthodox community. They don't deserve to be treated like that ... http://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Religious-Services-Minister-Reform-Jews-arent-Jews-408224

We still have no word of Fr. Dhiya's whereabouts. Please pray for his safety.

Parkour boys doing their stuff

It may be the holidays but I'm even more overworked. Moving 20,000 books is harrowing ... but organizing the move is even more pressurizing. One miscalculation would mean to re-move all the books again.

The nights are getting warmer now. Feels like mid-summer will soon hit us. Better the summer heat to kill us than ISIS. The Parkour boys are enjoying the heat and are taking advantage of the long daylight to perform. Their leader Sami broke his knee and is on crutches, but that's not stopping him from Parkouring at the Al Aqsa Mosque after night prayers.

Fr Dhiya, franciscan in Syria, disappears after "armed men" came to question him.

Latest news just in - our Fr Dhiya, parish priest of Yacoubieh (Idlib province) in Syria disappeared after some armed muslim militants came to "question" him. Pray for his safety please!

So the mystery is solved - why water-canons were fired at Damascus Gate on Saturday: Ultra-orthodox jews were throwing stones at arab cars passing by the ultra-orthodox neighbourhood of Mea Shearim. Cars damaged and one woman wounded. Nearby arabs gathered to lynch the jews and both groups got into a fierce riot. Police and soldiers fired water canons with stinky water to disperse the rioters.

Well tensions continue today as everyone is expecting trouble from the fanatic muslims. With death threats still looming over our heads and sporadic riots in the eastern side of the City, the police are taking no chances this last week of Ramadan. And ironically there's anger at chinese tourists because China has forbidden fasting and Ramadan celebrations for its Uigur citizens. Local muslims, like in Turkey, feel sociality with their co-religionists in China.

Rafat's skewered potato chips

Meantime local muslims are feasting every night as the daytime fast ends. Food of all kinds are on sale. My friend and neighbour Rafat sells skewered potato chips. Usually it's apples with honey that are done this way, but potato chips like this is pretty creative. Hope he gets good sales. He's only 19 yrs old and just celebrated his birthday last week. And he scalded his right hand with boiling oil yesterday from the makeshift stall where he fries the chips. It's good to know there are still some hardworking arab youths willing to sweat and earn some honest money instead of doing drugs, stealing and loitering in the streets.

Tension Friday

Jaffa Street junction was closed to
all traffic. Background is St. Louis
hospital run by the Sisters of St. Joseph

There must have been trouble in Damascus Gate yesterday after the noon day prayers in the Mosque. As I passed by there later that evening, there was a water-canon stationed at Palm Plaza, all the adjacent roads were closed and there was the awful smell of pungent water that is sprayed by the water-canons. The smell remains for at least a month and it acts as a marker. Police later in the week will make house to house searches and whoever has that smell in their clothes and house are usually arrested. You could sense the tension in the air. There were more police and soldiers than usual.

I had to rush off to Tel Aviv on emergency call yesterday. Being Sabbath, the taxi adds the Sabbath rate which is about one third of the price on the meter. It's so expensive living in this country. All in all the taxi cost US$150 for 70 km. I was worried that I'd have to pay the same amount coming home ... but luckily some of the newly ordained priests came to our Jaffa parish to celebrate their first Sunday Mass. I joined in. The Mass was in spanish. And after the Mass there was a party for the spanish-speaking chaplain who celebrated his birthday. Everything fell into place as the newly ordained priests were returning to Jerusalem in 2 SUVs. I got a free ride.

Sunset at Tel Aviv

Tel Aviv was beautiful and the weather was very agreeable - sunny and breezy. It's not much affected by the Sabbath. Shops and restaurants remain open and lots of people flock there. It's a lot more livelier than Jerusalem which enforces the Sabbath law. Well frankly with the Ramadan crowds (and the tensions) I think lots of people just want to avoid any trouble so they leave Jerusalem during the Sabbath. I think I will too ... especially the coming weekend when ISIS promised to kill all christians in the Old City.

Summer

Finally the purple agapanthus and
orange Canna lilies are blooming

Another day of consternation as christians continue to discuss if they should leave Jerusalem ... in the wake of the death threats by ISIS. I don't think any of you reading this would ever know the experience of being in our situation.

In a bizarre tit-for-tat, syrian rebels captured ISIS soldiers and executed them all (18 I think), while the syrians wore orange jumpsuits ... turning the tables.

Well the summer holidays are well into its 2nd week. Almost everyone has gone ... the house is awfully quiet, which is good. Kitchen renovations have begun. The usual chaos of summer has set in ... fewer people but same amount of work. Those who stay back, namely me because I'm the only one who never takes a vacation all these 12 years, will have to do all the work. I wish I could spend some time in Jaffa to relax but the most I can do is one day ... not a stretch of several weeks. ONE DAY HOLIDAY!!!! Man, it sounds so depressing.

10 newly ordained

Spy drone always above
our church

ISIS has extended its death threat this morning ... first to Bethlehem where it claims it will kill all the christians and burn the Basilica of the Nativity to the ground; then to Gaza where it will kill all Hamas members (muslims), then Fatah (ruling palestinian party) members, then the State of Israel. Let's see how Israel will respond to that.

The weather has been warming up again after the strange weekend of cold and drizzle. The Ramadan fast was less harsh under the cool weather. But now it looks like the heat will take its toll again. I've already seen many muslims mitigating their fast with sips of water. Otherwise it'll end up like Pakistan where muslims die in the heat because of dehydration.

Yesterday I was sent to Jaffa to work. The community had a regional meeting and no one could watch the sanctuary for them so I was asked to go and substitute. It was a quiet job ... not many groups, only 2 masses. The weather was gorgeous though but it was spoilt by the dreadful spy drone that hovers over our property everyday. We have no privacy as it hovers for hours, taking photos or films in and around our monastery. Isn't there a law against such invasion of privacy?

Some of our newly ordained
franciscan priests and deacons wearing
the gold vestments

Anyway Monday was a great day for us - feast of Ss. Peter and Paul. Some of our seminarians were ordained - 6 priests and 4 deacons. Some were my students.  Most had family members flying in to join the ceremony. It was a 2 hour ceremony with the Patriarch presiding. In the evening the monastery threw a dinner party for the friars and families. The next day the newly ordained were allowed to wear the precious 18th century vestments made of silk and hand-embroidered gold. They were gifts from the Spanish royalty I think. They celebrated Mass at the Last Supper Room where the Eucharist  and Priesthood was instituted by Christ 2000 years ago. What a privilege! Not many priests in the world can say they celebrated their first Mass in the actual place of the Last Supper.