Happenings

Fr Mark gives his
1st blessing

We have 2 more ordinations this week. Our Armenian twins will be ordained in Aleppo, by their uncle the Franciscan bishop administrator of that city. Both guys had been a great help when I was serving the Armenian Catholic community. They provided the singing and readings in Armenian.

The Indian seminarians reminded me that 3 of them will be making their solemn profession in October ... so I mustn't die before that.

Another piece of good news is Sr. Rawan graduated in University with a BA in Education I think. She belongs to the convent of Ivrea where I celebrate Mass every day during summer. That's a milestone for her and her congregation. Now she can serve as their kindergarten's new directress. And Alexandra, a nursing student whom some of you are sponsoring for her studies, just got married on the same day. It's a good start for her in her new life. So much has been happening the past week, and I could hardly catch up.

Sr Rawan
graduates

I'm getting dizzy spells again. Not sure why. Could be the heat ... or the exhaustion from work ... of the toothache that I developed yesterday. The Covid symptoms of fever and sore throat are still affecting me every morning. And my taste and smell are not fully functioning. I get easily tired and suffer from brain fog. And lost of memory. At the ordination yesterday many people came up to speak with me ... I recognised their faces but I cannot recall their names or where I met them before. It got to a point when I became so confused I decided to go back to my office and stay there. I just can't remember anything or anyone. The past few days people in the streets were greeting me like they know me for ages ... but I can't even recognise their faces. Where have I met them before? I even forgot to go to celebrate Mass at the Ivrea convent! And I realise that even now I have problems spelling. I keep getting the alphabets mixed up, and it's been a year that this has happened. Is that a sign of Alzheimer's?

Ordinations

Mahane Yehuda market

Right now 2 of our deacons are being ordained priests. It's the solemnity of Ss Peter and Paul and it's the traditional day when priests and deacons are ordained. In fact a week before, a dozen or so have been ordained already in their various congregations around the Holy Land. There's no shortage of vocations ... it just depends on where you look. I remember a few years back we had 28 deacons in the Custody, not counting others from the diocese and congregations.

Mahane Yehuda market

The weekend is upon us, another week begins. I'm hoping to finish all my work as scheduled. I'm already quite behind time, but at my age I feel my limits. The body and brain can't go on even when I want to.  I was just talking to Sr. Anna an African sister who said once we hit 50 we just feel it ... tired and incapable of going on. It's moments when you just have to let go and stop, take a break, we'll come back to it after a rest.

Anyway I've completed the series of 5 vaccinations against rabies. Technically I'm safe now. The last jab was last week and after that I walked through Mahane Yehuda market. It bustles with life and noise and smells. But things are awfully expensive nowadays.

Injured

5.30am summer time

Another weekend ... time is flying fast. Half the year is gone. The sun rises early and sets late. The muzzein begins the call to prayer before sunrise at 3.35am (daylight saving) which in real time is 2.35am. That's early. The summer solstice was last Thursday June 20th. That marked the official start of Summer and so schools start the summer break on that day. After the solstice, the nights will get longer and eventually daylight and night will equal out in the autumn equinox. 

The weather forecast is cooler weather this weekend ... about 28 degrees max. But next weekend will soar up to 33 degrees again. Like all summers, I go to celebrate Mass at the Ivrea convent for 3 months every single day. Walking there in the afternoons is very hot and uncomfortable. I have to bring my asian chasubles to use because it's very light fabric and suitable for this weather. The sisters only have heavy winter european chasubles that suffocate you when it's 30 degrees inside the chapel without fan or aircon. 

Sunrise over Damascus Gate

Yesterday was a difficult day for my knees. I walked over 5km up and down the hills of Jerusalem because of the hectic schedule: 1pm class online, then walk 1km downhill for another class with the MC sisters at 3pm, the walk 1km to the Ivrea convent for Mass at 5.30pm, then walk 2km uphill back to New Gate and into the New City to meet at 7pm a former student who studied here 7 years ago. My knees are terrible swollen and I have pain bending them. An electronic wheelchair comes to mind right now. Or a small golf cart. Knee injury is really bad when you live here ... the entire City is built on a hill and there are stairs everywhere.

Zinnia

My blossoming zinnia

 What a busy week. Trying to meet datelines and doing small errands. Luckily the weather has cooled and it's around 22 degrees in the evenings, nights and mornings so it's pleasant to walk to and from work. During the day it hits above 30 degrees but I'm indoors so I'm not affected.

Sometime in late Spring I scattered zinnia seeds along the grass shoulders of the tram way that runs along Damascus Gate park. That's the daily route I take going to and from work. Several zinnias have sprouted and even blossomed. Unfortunately someone found it out and stole 5 plants away. There are still a dozen growing in spots difficult to reach and they're blossoming. It's great! It brings in a splash of colour to an otherwise boring silver of the lavender bushes that have tiny flowers, so small they're almost invisible.

These were stolen

Each time I pass by the park I look out for the 3 bulbuls that I hand-reared and released there. No sign of them. They must be happily flying far away enjoying their freedom. I'm glad I brought them up and released them as they're becoming a threatened species. Invasive foreign species of crows and mynahs have wiped out their numbers by eating their eggs and chicks, and competing for food.

I understand summer camp has already started in some schools and associations. In this tough economic times and the war, not many families can afford to send their children to these camps. It gets quite expensive.

Holidays

Mounted police

The summer holidays have started.  Suddenly there are no rush of students in buses and trams. No traffic jams at the City Gates when parents try to drive their cars into the very limited space inside the Old City so that their children can be nearer to school. I'm not sure if summer camps will go ahead as the financial situation for many families are not the best or even normal. It's generally tense though liveable ... police sometimes come in droves and sometimes the streets are empty of police. You never know when. Shops selling sandwiches and snacks to students will have less business. However tourists are coming back ... yesterday there were groups from Brazil, Philippines, Italy and Latin America. Hopefully more groups will come in late summer and autumn. People here really need the business otherwise next year the financial situation will become dire for many.

The weather is a little cooler ... about 28 degrees during the day and 19 degrees in the night. And there's a cool easterly wind blowing yesterday which made walking home form work tolerable. I'm sure the 3 bulbuls are finding the weather conducive for hunting insects and finding scraps of food left by picnickers in the park. I've been hoping to catch a glimpse of them each morning I go to work but they're not around. There're lots of pigeons, sparrows, mynahs, crows and other small birds but no sign of my mojo trio.

Freedom

Caught the alpha

My babysitting the bulbul juveniles are over. I managed to catch the alpha ... or rather he wanted to be caught - he was terribly lonely yesterday - and released him in the park. It was bright and cool and the sprinklers were working. It's important that the birds see the sprinklers because they will know where to look for water in this heat. It's 33 degrees today but tomorrow it'll be a degree cooler.

So the 3 juveniles are finally free, enjoying the limitless space. There'll be scraps of food and lots of water there so it's a good spot for their release. But because they're too friendly and there're lots of people in the park, they might just jump on the shoulder of someone, begging for food ... and they'll be caught. It's a risk to take.

Alpha flew directly to the
sprinklers

Yesterday I had a very tiring day ... besides the release of the 2 bulbuls, I also walked 2km up north to the District Health clinic for my final vaccination. However the nurse said my appointment is for tomorrow. The vaccination must be taken exactly on the day and not any time earlier. So I walked back to my office utterly exhausted from the long walk under the very hot sun. This morning again I had to make the journey. But this time the nurse gave me the last injection. I'm finally free ... like the bulbuls.

Valuable lesson

The juveniles

Today I learned a valuable lesson from the 3 juvenile bulbuls that I planned to release. Capturing them to be transported to the release site was the crucial step. Mojo the youngest and runt of the brood is very attached to me so he flew onto my arm as usual and I caught him and placed him in the transfer cage. Catching no. 2 was more difficult. It took me 35 minutes chasing in my little office to finally exhaust him and caught him.  It was distressing for him but the irony is if he wanted to be released into the great outdoors, he must first be captured.

The 3rd one, the alpha of the brood, was impossible to catch. He was too quick and smart, hiding under cupboards and tables. I gave up. I brought Mojo and the other one and walked 150 m to Damascus Gate Park where I released them. They were so happy to fly free into the great space ... with lots of greenery and water and food.

But for the alpha bird, it preferred freedom in my tiny office to losing this freedom for a while in order to gain the great outdoors. Preferring to fly 10 feet back and forth, he doesn't realise that once caught, he will enjoy flight with no boundaries. So now he's enjoying his little victory ... not knowing what he missed. 

So sometimes we just need to lose in order to gain. To let go and surrender what we like, in order to receive a greater prize. We may not like giving up but if we only knew what's waiting for us if we do.