Winding down to Toronto

My dear Friends

By this time next week I will be high in the sky and almost in Toronto! I feel calm and excited at the same time. I am blessed with a great place to stay amongst some real good friends who run an international guest house right in the middle of everything in the Annexe, a neighbourhood of artists, poets and musicians which has been described as 'the most vibrant in the whole of North America.'

On the first day I will chill out and maybe take a slow walk down Bloor Street, to just get myself re-oriented. Then have a bite to eat and watch the world go by-I am assuming that the weather will be warm! On the Sunday I hope to go to the Eaton Centre to buy myself a pair of trainers-the Catholic Cathedral is just nearby. It will be the Feast of Corpus Christi and Pope Francis has suggested that we all might like to gather in our respective places and countries and pray in adoration.

The rest that I know I am going to keep a secret and will let you know on my return. My programme will include relatives and friends and - oh - an ice cream every day!

Catch up with you about the 21st of June(if not before)-be well until then.

Shalom and more shalom
Your Friend Gila xx

Free as a bird

My dear Friends

Now that I have got past the stressful stuff, i am feeling quite calm in the run up to Canada. I celebrated the Feast of the Ascension, 6 weeks after Easter, on the usual day last Thursday with my Protestant friends, who welcomed me at their little service in town, where I sat beside and prayed with a Northern Irish Protestant lady. It was very moving. They allowed me to do the reading, Acts 1-11 where we celebrated the Ascension of Jesus into heaven at Bethany and anticipated the coming of the Holy Spirit at the end of this week.

The Catholic church in England and Wales transferred the Feast to Sunday, this morning, so I got a double dose of grace and two wonderful sermons-one from the Protestant minister last Thursday and today from our local Dominican priest.

Speaking of Bethany-after Sister Jane's funeral a few weeks ago, (see a couple of entries ago) I needed some fortification so I went to a large Cambridge hotel to have a brandy-my mother used to carry a small flask around with her for 'medicinal purposes.' A young man was serving behind the bar. He was charming, a Palestinian and - he had been born in Bethany! It is an interesting story, because his uncle and the whole family decided to move to Jericho, where it's extremely hot. I told the young man of my experience way back in 1965 in the summer, my first visit to Israel  We went on a tour bus to the Dead Sea and Jericho-the air conditioning broke down and it was 110 Fahrenheit in the shade!

We started discussing the situation in Israel-Palestine, where Jericho is apparently now part of Palestinian territory, near Gaza. This young man said it was nothing to do with building on the West Bank. The main issue was how to educate the children on both sides not to hate. I told him how my cousin married an Israeli whom she met on a farming programme in Essex, they went out to live in Israel and her husband worked with the Arabs. After the 6 day war, when her children were growing up, her daughter took a very negative view of the Arabs and was horrified when I said (this was on my second visit) that i had a visa to go to Egypt. My poor cousin assured me that she had never brought up her children to hate.

Today we get an overview of the whole of creation and the Trinity ruling over the world. Whatever happens on this earthly plane, we must never give up hope and must always remember, as my mother used to tell me when things went wrong that: 'God rules the world.'

Shalom and more shalom
Gila