Eternal Rest Grant Unto Him O Lord

Hi everyone,

First and foremost I want to express my sympathy to the Foys family after the loss of Deacon Frank. Eternal Rest Grant unto Him O Lord, and Let the Perpetual Light Shine Upon Him. Deacon Frank actually trained me how to be an altar server. Learning how to be an altar server was a huge blessing in my life and a gift I have used ever since. Deacon Frank would always call me to serve weddings and funerals too. I also remember how he talked about wanting to deacon my first Mass as a priest as well. I always felt very loved and cared for by him. I'm going to miss him a lot. One of the last times I got to speak with him he told me the story of how he became a deacon. What a privilege to hear.  Thank you Lord for the blessing of his life and help me to be a good and holy deacon as he was!  Though I can't be home for the funeral, my prayers will be there. I'll be praying here in the Holy Land.

In the past few days I have been able to visit a lot of neat sites. What stands out the most is the Church of the Annunciation. What a beautiful church!  In there is the grotto where the angel Gabriel appeared to Mary and she made her Fiat to becoming the Mother of God. It's really neat seeing as the parts of the church that you can go in are on various levels. The big main church is on the "3rd" floor and the grotto where Mary met Gabriel down below. We also got to visit what was believed to be the home of the Holy Family.  We also visited Armageddon. This is the place where the "last battle" is supposed to happen. It was actually an old city inhabited for thousands of years that is now a lot of rocks. People have come though and excavated the site and it had some impressive features for its time.

We also visited by the Mediterranean Sea at Caesarea Maritima. This is the place where the Angel freed Peter from his prison chains and where Paul waited to be taken to Rome to be tried in a Roman court. Very cool to be there and quite beautiful!  The water was super blue!  So far I have seen many beautiful sites and holy places.  It will be a blessing to keep seeing these places and to keep seeing the Scripture in new light.    

Alright everyone. Talk to you soon and know of my prayers!

-Chris