Ordination Day

Basilica of Gethsemane - ordination
of deacons this morning

This morning 17 of my students were ordained deacons. The Basilica of Gethsemani was packed with family, friends and religious. Unfortunately it was very very hot in there as there are no windows and no aircons or fans. I managed to congratulate several of the candidates before the Mass but because of the heat and crowd, I decided to leave when the Mass started. Walking down to Gethsemane and up again home is very difficult for me. The Kidron Valley where the Garden of Gethsemane is situated is very deep ... and with the heatwave ... I had to stop several times to rest.

In order to get to the ordination Mass at 10am, I had to wake up at 3am, celebrated my Mass at 4am and finished as much work as I could till 9am. Now I'm exhausted. Need to rest. But tonight I have to organise a dinner for another student from Taiwan who will return in a few days for his priestly ordination so I'm gathering the chinese religious for a meal and say goodbye. Hope it'll work out fine. I'm just so tired to do any planning.

Sun at 6am

Well the sun rises earlier each day ... by 4am (3am solar time) the first rays are out and the Ramadan fast begins. By 6am the sun is so bright it looks like noon ... and the heat also gets unbearable. Groups are getting less but we think it'll pick up in July when school holidays in the northern hemisphere begins.

This coming Tuesday is the Feast of St. Anthony which means I get a holiday ... and on Thursday is Corpus Christi so it's another holiday. But whether I really get to rest is another matter. I should go to Hadassah Hospital as one of the doctors there made an appointment for me ... I might have a melanoma which they want to check. Also my tooth is aching so I might to go to the dentist. But without medical insurance, the fees are very high so that deters me from seeing a doctor. Luckily I've a steady stock of other medicines and that saves me a lot. Thanks to benefactors in Sydney, America and HK.

Genocide of Christians

El Wad street packed like sardines

What a tiring morning. Was up at 3.30am to prepare for Mass at 6am in the Holy Sepulchre with some of my students. They booked the Mass and asked me to preside as for most of them it'll be the last Mass before they get ordained deacons tomorrow morning. For those who can afford, their parents have come for the ordination ... but for those who can't, they're alone without family. It's sad ... so I try to be around them. I know what it's like to be a foreigner. Hope they'll have a meaningful celebration tomorrow.

Well I didn't just have one Mass at 6am ... I had another Mass in the Empty Tomb at 8am for the filipino community from our parish of St Anthony in Jaffa. And at the end of both Masses I had to bring first my students then the filipino community to visit the whole basilica of the Holy Sepulchre and explain the different places inside. After that at 9.30am I had a bible class with the filipino community as well. At the same time there was a thesis defines of one of our students and a conference that I was to attend. So many things at the same time. I also had to rush home to close the university library at 12pm. I was dead tired but I still had to clean up my room. Tried to rest for half an hour but the phone kept ringing.

Jews and muslims
jostle at
Damascus Gate

Yesterday was Ramadan Friday and I had to work till night as usual. I try to get home between 8.30pm an 9pm when the muslims are at home eating so the streets are empty. But because I got called to do this and that ... I could only reach Damascus Gate at 9.30pm. What a mistake. Tens of thousands of muslims were flocking into the Old City for prayers at the Al Aqsa Mosque after dinner. And to make it worse, it was the Jewish Sabbath so hundreds of Jews were coming out of the City after evening prayers. It was a jam I never want to experience again. El Wad street (ancient Tyropoen Valley) is the common artery that people of all 3 religions cross ... and it's the road that leads to my home. It was jammed packed with people going both ways. And to top it all with the heat people were fainting there were several ambulances trying to squeeze through the crowds to get to the sick. What chaos. Well next time I'll definitely time my walk home a lot better ... either that or I come home after midnight when the streets are less crowded.

News continue to flow out about killings of christians in Egypt, Syria and Iraq but not much has been reported on the major news entities. It's so sad but the fact is the world has forgotten about the GENOCIDE of Middle-Eastern Christians. Or the world doesn't want to know about it ... which is worse.  https://t2gospel.wordpress.com/2017/06/02/im-afraid-to-look/

More heat

Pouring water down
on the crowds

It's well over 35 degrees now and the crowds for Friday Ramadan prayers are finding it difficult to cope ... especially with the fasting. Many have resorted to drinking water. Shop owners and residents on the upper floors constantly pour water on the people to cool them down. Others buy bottles of water to wet their faces and necks. There're still 2 more weeks of Ramadan to go so if this heat keeps up, many will find it a difficult struggle.

As usual on Ramadan Fridays, the police block off Damascus and Herod's Gates .... anyone trying to go enter Damascus Gate from New Gate will have to make a big detour round the arab bus station and car park and go to the Musrara neighborhood which is the only entry point to Damascus Gate. And exit? I don't know ... there're so many thousands coming into the City it's practically impossible to go against the current and go out. I had to take the side streets and alleys within the Old City to get to work ... but it's a very steep hill and the streets have in all over 100 steps ... and in this heat ... I just felt like collapsing halfway through. It's so hot the Sea of Galilee has dropped to its lowest point in 97 years.  http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4972407,00.html

While the rest of you enjoy the benefits of eBay and other online shops, here in Israel it's a nightmare. Everyone has experienced it but nobody talks about it ... till yesterday's newspaper article studied the problem which is mainly the very high charges. Customs charges and taxes can come up to 50% of the purchase price. That dissuades people from shopping online.  http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/business/1.794408

And if you think that's expensive ... yesterday also featured a study on just how much toiletries cost in Israel ... 36% to 91% more than other countries. That's how expensive life is here.  http://www.globes.co.il/en/article-economy-minister-imported-toiletries-cost-48-more-in-israel-1001191694

Full moon over Damascus Gate

Well no use complaining as the prices are not likely to come down. So we'll live as simply as we can ... grateful for the little that we have. And enjoy things that cost nothing ... like the cool evening breeze, and the full moon over our City.

Extreme heat

AFC in East Jerusalem

Last night passed pretty calmly ... no major violence. The streets were packed with people though and a military helicopter kept flying overhead. I decided to go home through Herod's Gate to avoid the major crowd .... Herod's Gate being a minor gate so fewer people use it. Along the way I bought some Arab Fried Chicken ... the local version of KFC. I've been working late every night these past few weeks and have no food back home so I needed to buy something to eat. It's quite reasonable ... good actually. The chicken pieces are not cooked and placed on a tray waiting for your order. Instead the chicken pieces are cooked only when you order, so it's fresh and juicy. And it's cheaper than Broaster Chicken, the rival food chain. It would be the best and most convenient meal if not for Ramadan. The shop opens only at sunset because cooked food is forbidden on sale during the fasting hours.

4 pieces of chicken, fries, bun,
coleslaw, garlic mayonnaise and a
can of Cola for 50 shekels

The weather has become stifling. It was 34 degrees today and 26 last night. So hot I couldn't sleep ... I had to walk in the terrace twice ... it was so much cooler outside as there was a wind blower. The room instead is like an oven because the building is built with stones ... the stones keep the heat of the day and release the heat during the night. It's good for winter ... but summer it's unlivable. I might have to pour water on the roof in order to cool down the stones. Weather forecast is hotter days to come. I dread that thought.

Tomorrow is Friday and the roads tonight will be closed again in order to contain the tens of thousands of muslims entering the Old City. I doubt I will go to work as the roads will be unnavigable either because of the crowds or because of the road blocks. Ramadan Fridays means Stay-Home Fridays. I just need to check that I have sufficient medicine for tomorrow as it will not be possible to buy medicines when pharmacies close.

Timing

Wasted bread each evening

The cannon just fired ... time for the muslims to eat as sunset has begun. Now that the strict law of arresting muslims who violate the fasting during daytime, there are fewer muslims eating and drinking openly. But still you see them. They are tired ... tired of a tiny extremist group that tries to command their lives, enforce their views on the majority ... and of course the relentless heat which Ramadan falls for the past 5 years. The severing of ties by 4 arab countries with Qatar has embolden the moderate majority of muslims here to eat and drink in a discreet but not hidden way. That's because Qatar pays the extremists here ... and now that the funds are being cut off, the influence of the extremists are also collapsing.

But still the main feast begins when the cannon is fired. So much food is cooked and not all is eaten or given to the poor. This morning I saw boxes of bread by the roadside ... fed to the birds. What a shame. when the cannon is fired each evening, thousands of muslims gather in the Al Aqsa esplanade for a free meal that other muslims offer. Well they should be poor ... but we see them arriving in BMWs, parking outside the Old City then enter the mosque to be"poor" to get a free meal.

Lock-down of my street

Last night I came home at 9.30pm after work and found my street was locked down by the police. Something must have happened but nobody was saying. Everyone was turned away and only residents in our neighbourhood were allowed to enter to go home. I wonder what happened.

The past 4 nights I had to work ... i.e. meet a pilgrim group. It got very tiring as I have to walk up 1km in the very hot weather at the exact time between 5pm and 5.45pm in order to avoid the crowds of muslims entering the Old City to pray. Then coming home is a lot more tricky. The only window which allows you to enter the Old City is 8pm to 9pm while all the muslims are eating. The streets are empty. But once dinner is over, tens of thousands will flock out of the Old City to walk, chat and watch street performances till 3am. So it gets very stressful for me as I have to time myself just right. Last Sunday after visiting a Singapore group I was stuck outside Damascus Gate for 2 and a half hours before I could even try to enter the City. That was 11.45pm!!! I am really tired of all this work in the night. Daytime I have 2 libraries to supervise and so many classes to teach. It's summer!!!! Give me a break!!!

Bazaars day and night

Ramadan night bazaar

News just in ... terrorist attack at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. It never stops ... and will not unless European countries wake up and realize that this is a war. Not isolated incidents but a consistent pattern of attacks. I say it's all the consequence of "political correctness". To avoid calling things with their true names, invent euphemisms for evil ... you end up with this. History is reversed: the Saracens have entered the Crusader lands and begun conquering.

Meantime western hypocrisy continues. White House was lighted in the Union Jack while the Eiffel Tower turned off its lights in memory of the Manchester/London killings ... but for the murdered Coptic Christians who were no less human there was no such public show of solidarity. Don't tell me that there were people praying for them ... that's not my issue. I'm talking about governmental public recognition of the loss of human lives .... Middle-Eastern christians are dying in a genocide but their lives are apparently cheap and disposable. Not a single christian European country flashed the Egyptian Flag. Only Israel ... a Jewish State .... flew the Egyptian Flag in Tel Aviv's municipality building. Now the Islamists are in the European countries ... conquering it's spirit, subjugating it's ideals to fear, confusion and division. No Joan of Arc, no Richard the Lion Heart will rise from such a society. "Christian" Europe has lost Christ.

Meantime local tensions are high when riots broke out in an arab village that led to one youth being shot dead.  http://www.timesofisrael.com/father-arab-leaders-accuse-cops-of-murder-after-man-killed-in-riot/

Turning the tables, Israeli extremists have vandalized arab property in East Jerusalem, calling for "Death to Arabs".  http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4971611,00.html

Day bazaar at Safra Square

Well despite all the bad news, Jerusalem tries to be festive. It diffuses much of the tensions. In East Jerusalem which is arab ... night bazaars spring up everywhere for Ramadan revellers. In West Jerusalem which is Jewish, there is a day bazaar at Safra Square (Municipality Square) as well s the weekly night bazaar all along Jaffa Street. Let's hope people on both sides realize that life is precious and not worth killing it off.

Enforced fasting

Thistles have dried out

The weather is continuing to be fluctuating between very hot in the daytime to cold in the nights. Not at all nice. I usually like the heat but this year the heat is killing me ... I have no strength to walk up to work at all. The heat just drains away my energy. And to show you how hot it is, the thistles int eh fields and roadsides are all dried before time. They've become brown and spiky. No wonder we only had a couple of weeks when artichokes were on sale. Artichokes are the immature thistles that we cook and eat. But because the weather was too hot, they've all dried up and turned spiky before they can be harvested and cooked. What a waste. I like artichokes.

Bread seller in
Ramadan

I mentioned in an earlier blog that I noticed this year the muslims are a lot more relaxed about Ramadan and Fasting. Food and drinks are sold in the streets ... you even see muslims drinking and eating and smoking though discretely. Yesterday the Palestinian Authorities asked the Muslim Authorities to enforce a strict ban on eating and drinking during Ramadan. Any Muslim caught will be imprisoned for a month. That is really tough ... and I doubt many muslims like it even though they don't dare to oppose it. I think the laced reaction is due to the past years of fasting during the hottest seasons of the year, and also a reaction to the extremism of fanatical islam. Well the PA is not taking it lightly but the enforcement of this law would be the 1st time in Palestine's history and will set a precedence that a political institution can direct the course of the Supreme Court.    http://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/Palestinian-Authority-bans-public-eating-during-Ramadan-494765

Some violence were nipped in the bud yesterday when the Israeli Security arrested several terrorists who had planned to attack jewish visitors in the Al Aqsa Mosque. http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4971315,00.html

But on a positive note, there's the news that a jewish nurse is breastfeeding an arab baby because his mother is in serious condition and father died in a car accident. Other jewish women on social media volunteered, some offering to travel 270 km just to care for the baby. It's very touching. Every mother with a baby would understand. It crosses cultures.  http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4971345,00.html