Chinese sisters say thanks

The Chinese Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary here in Jerusalem are very grateful to everyone for their prayers and kind donations to help them start a convent, especially the following:

Margaret Leung – 8.5 cm Pyx & statue
Glenda, Vincent & Eva – Monstrance
	HK$
Naomi Chui	500
Cheung Oi Yee	1,600
Tam Yuen Hing Regina	4,600
Li Ying Wah	4,600
	US$
David Lin	500
Rebecca Choy	100
Kathleen Wong	500
Joni Cheng	250
Imelda Cheng	800
Teresa Ho	300

Thanks also to Theresa Tse for the gift of books and DVDs.

The sisters assure you of their daily prayers and intercession for your intentions and well-being.

Sr. Maria Jiang
Superior General of the congregation
comes to visit the convent.
She sincerely thanks all of you
for your kindness and support.

2 days to Nakba Day

Mass at the Grotto of the Finding
of the True Cross

And as Israelis continue their long weekend of Independence Day holidays, groups of arabs are rising up and protesting at the lost of their land, lost of their citizenship. A few million are living in exile in Jordan and Lebanon as refugees for the past 60 years with no hope of returning to their homes or lands. The arabs call it Nakba Day or Catastrophe Day. Officially it's celebrated on May 15th which falls on this coming Sunday. We're expecting riots and violence as Jewish right-wing groups will provoke the already angry arabs. Yesterday on the Israeli Independence Day, a group of jews joined hands and blocked Damascus Gate to the arabs (It was Thursday just before the muslim prayer day; the arabs were entering the City to get to the Al Aqsa Mosque). Scuffles brought out and police had to drive away these extremists jews. Arabs went to the Negev desert to protest their lost of land.

Inside the Grotto

By the way for the isareli celebrations of Remembrance Day (haZikaron) and Independence Day (haAtzmaut), the borders with palestine were closed. No arab could get out of those areas hence many lost 2 days wages.

Last Saturday we celebrated the Finding of the True Cross. This took place e in the chapel of St. Helena or the Finding of the True Cross. Solemn Mass was celebrated there and vespers was sung, It was a beautiful liturgy. Down in this grotto of the Holy Sepulcher church, tradition holds that Queen Helena discovered the true Cross.

So another weekend has come upon us. I just want to sleep .... am so very tired.

Relic of the True Cross

Yom haAtzmaut

IAF fly over our church

Today Israel celebrates Yom haAtzmaut or Independence Day. It's a national holiday of course and Israelis traditional go out to the parks and forests to barbecue. This year was a record - some one million israelis went out in force to all the parks and forests for their family barbecue so much so that traffic jams along the 2 major highways lasted several hours during the evening.

I had to go to see the doctor because one of the antihistamine jabs (some time ago at the Emergency Ward) had become infected. It's painful to walk or sit ... and subsequent antihistamine jabs on that spot had exacerbated the infection.

Crowds along Tel Aviv beaches
watching the airforce display

After the visit (which I went very early at 5am because I was afraid of the traffic), I decided to go and rest in Jaffa nearby.  There was one job I had to do but I managed to rest for an hour there. The rest of the "rest" was filled with phone calls and messages .... some 38 within and hour. it ruined my sleep that I needed very much.

Anyway the Israeli Air Force (IAF) performed a flypast that was impressive. Remember the past 2 years it was dismal ... first because of the Gaza war (Gaza was firing missiles into Tel Aviv so the IAF had to call off the flypast), and last year because of poor weather.

Flyover the City

This year 4 fighter jets did somersaults which wowed the crowds ... followed by flypast of helicopters and various fight planes. All in all it was very impressive .... and something which assured the Israelis in the light of the stabbing attacks these last half year.

I was in a very unique spot ... on the roof of our church in Jaffa. Being built up on the promontory of Jaffa, the highest point in the City, all the planes use it as a landmark in their flight routes. So also the IAF flypast. The planes fly directly over our belfry ... and I was below to take photos. And besides this festivity at noon, I had the chance to meet up some old friends who have stalls in the plaza in front of our church. They did brisk business as not only tourists had filled the area but much more local Israelis seeking a good view of the flypast from the promontory.

Memorial Day

Bedouin women selling mulberries
and vine leaves at Damascus Gate

Today is Yom haZikaron ... memorial day of the fallen Israeli soldiers since the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948. Sirens will sound at 10am for a minutes silence and the whole country stops (at least the israeli part of the country).

Tomorrow begins Independence Day celebrations. It's a national holiday and there'll be an air and sea show along the Tel Aviv coastline. Last year it was cancelled because of the Gaza war .... missiles and rockets were fired into Tel Aviv from Gaza. Anyway the arabs will soon celebrate their lost of land on Nakba Day. It's two sides of the same coin. In the end, the fact is everyone wants to live a normal life ... no wars, no fights ... just a co-existance where everyone wins.

Peaches and plums

Life is pretty quiet without Miss Bird. There is no more clucking and whistling or imitating the telephone ring. Buddy is quite nervous being alone now. I have to buy him some toys to distract him and keep him busy otherwise he screams his head off for attention. Yesterday we could hear him 3 floors down, across the courtyard into the street.

Anyway summer is practically upon us. Daytime is hot ... over 28 degrees. But nights are still chilly around 12 degrees. The first summer fruit are on sale: lots of peaches, plums, pears and mulberries. I should eat more fruit.

Goodbye Miss Bird

Still recovering from the trauma of the Damascus Gate incident. I've been thinking that no one now is above suspicion from these Israeli soldiers and police. Not tourists, not foreigners .... these security people have all the powers in the State. They can kill without asking. The Law is on their side. And all this is driven by fear .... fear which kills the spirit from within. I say that if Israel is indeed so afraid, the it has already lost the war.

Goodbye Miss Bird

My jewish friends would work in security were the first to contact me and asked if I was alright. They understood the severity of the situation and knew the soldiers would not hesitate to shoot me. It was nice of them. Some even went on social media to publicly highlight this incident and berate the all-powerful army that now has gone berserk and disregards foreigners and tourists who have nothing to do with their arab-jewish war.

Anyway this has all affected my health. My asthma has become even worse now ... mainly from psychological stress.

I managed to get away to Jaffa on Thursday ... not so much to rest as to substitute the 2 indian priests who are on holiday. No one was saying the indian masses so I was asked to do it. That means going to Herzliya some 90 kms away, then Tel Aviv which is 30 kms away from Herzliya. I managed to grab 2 hours of sleep in between at Jaffa and it was very refreshing.

It was also my last outing with Miss Bird. I decided to give her away to my friend Chaim at the petshop. She's not for sale. That's clear. I've given her to Chaim as a pet and he cannot sell her away. Chaim has long experience with parrots so I know he'll understand Miss Bird's needs. I realized she needed a mate as she laid 4 eggs this year. So Chaim has many parrots which he can try match her up with. Hope Miss Bird is happy now.

Near death experience

It's been over a week since I updated own the blog. The reason being I'm recovering from a terrifying situation that I never thought in all my years here in the Holyland, would ever happen to me. I was stopped by soldiers, accused of being a terrorist and was nearly shot.

It happened at 5am when I was waiting for a group of pilgrims to come to my house to make the Way of the Cross. As they did not call or show up, I thought they had lost their way, so I decided to walk out to Damascus Gate to see if they were there. It was cold, 12 degrees. I wore a cap and over it I pulled the hood of my jacket over. Hands in pockets. As I approached Damascus Gate, 8 soldiers rushed out to block my way shouting in arabic. I thought they were stopping someone else behind me as it was obvious I'm chinese. I continued walking towards them and the 6 footer soldier went berserk, screaming in hebrew and arabic that he'll shoot me if I took another step closer. They cocked their sub-machine guns and aimed at me.

That moment I realized they were talking to me and were prepared to shoot any minute now. It was scary. I shouted back to speak in english. A female police among them said "It's a foreigner, a tourist" and the berserk soldier screamed "You're a terrorist! You're hiding a weapon!  Take it out" ... all the time aiming his sub-machine gun at me. I said I didn't have a weapon but he insisted I was hiding one. Then they dragged me to the side of the bridge, and stripped searched me. I protested and said in hebrew that I am a priest. But the berserk soldier refused to listen. Another soldier stepped on my right food to stop me from running away while the berserk 6 footer took off my jacket and t-shirt and pants, searching for a weapon. He saw my ID as well when he emptied out my pockets.

Realizing that he made a mistake, he still would not admit it. He just shouted to em to get out of there and if any police asked me to stop again, I should do so immediately otherwise I risked getting shot. "You're lucky today ... I was ready to kill you then".

Working holiday

Tel Aviv alight on the last night
of Pesach

The Orthodox Holy Week has just ended ... and so did the Jewish Passover. Security was very tight. And the Old City was in chaos despite the heavy military presence .... not because of any violence but because of the hundreds of thousands of egyptian copts and ethiopians who came for the Orthodox Easter. All were poor simple folk .... kind-hearted and devout ... but their conduct was not suited for our situation. They stomped into our church at 6am while we were celebrating Mass, talking loudly, eating, drinking, taking photos .... totally oblivious to the 45 priests and nuns inside the church celebrating Mass. It was as if we didn't exist. Finally a couple fo our priests shooed them all out and locked the doors. And it happened not once but everyday of the week. Unruly and chaotic .... that's what everyone says ... from us to muslims to jews. They caused huge traffic jams because they would cross the streets in their hundreds, then linger to chat and eat in the middle of the road .... oblivious to the honking of cares, shouts of drivers and threats by the police. They belong to a totally different world.

Anyway I had a very busy weekend myself and luckily not in Jerusalem. I had Mass with the Konkani community in Herzliya 90 kms away. It was a long driver but jam-free because of the Pesach holiday (no driving allowed). By the time Mass ended and I returned to Jaffa, it was past 10pm. I was exhausted ... but sitting out on the terrace facing the sea, watching the lights of nearby Tel Aviv ... it was very relaxing. The balmy salty breeze from the Mediterranean Sea always gives me an appetite that I lack in Jerusalem.

Miss Bird on holiday

But leaving Jerusalem for over 24 hours always has its problems ... like who will feed the canaries and Buddy and Miss Bird. So Buddy was sent to Bro. Clovis who is his official babysitter when I'm not home. The canaries stay at home and I put in extra food to last 48 hours. And Miss Bird gets to come with me to Jaffa. She hates the long car-ride and made a big fuss screeching at the top of her voice all the way. But once there she enjoyed the terrace, walking on the flower pots and enjoying the breeze and sun.

Saturday evening came and it was time to go home ... exactly 30 hours of break from Jerusalem. That's all the free time I can afford. A working holiday is better than nothing.

Thanks to Rebecca Choy (US$100) for her contribution to the Chinese Sisters' Convent.