Stephen K. Ray's Blog, page 14

Easter is Coming! Get to Confession! Five Benefits of Frequent Confession

5 Benefits of Frequent Confession The Father rushes to receive us back

It’s Lent! This season provides us as Catholics an opportunity to “repent and believe in the Gospel.” One of the ways we can best do this is by going to Confession, where we have the opportunity to accept the many graces God has in store for us through this beautiful – and often underutilized – sacrament. But Lent isn’t the only time to make Reconciliation part of your schedule. Frequent Confession has so many benefits, including:

1. Confession helps us to better “know thyself.” St. Augustine and countless other saints and doctors of the Church talk about the importance of knowing ourselves well. Through coming to know ourselves better, we realized how fallen we are, and how badly we need God’s help and grace to get through life. Frequent Confession helps remind us to rely on God to help rid us of our sins.

2. Confession helps us to overcome sin and vice. The grace we receive from the Sacrament of Confession helps us combat our faults and failings and break our habits of vice much more easily and expediently than we could otherwise do without the sacramental grace.

3. Confession brings us peace. Guilt from the sins we commit can make us feel all mixed up inside and cause us to lose our peace and joy. When we hear God’s forgiving words to us from the lips of the priest in Confession, a burden is lifted off our shoulders. Sins weigh us down and enslave us, often giving our passions power over us, instead of us having control over our passions. With the healing power of the Sacrament of Reconciliation, we can again feel the peace of heart and soul that comes from being in a good relationship with God.

4. Confession helps us become more saintly, more like Jesus! Jesus was perfectly humble, perfectly generous, perfectly patient, perfectly loving—perfectly everything! Don’t you wish you could be as humble, generous, patient, and loving as Jesus? Saints throughout history have felt that way too, and they have frequented the Sacrament of Reconciliation to help transform them into people who are more like Christ. Little images of Christ—that’s what saints are!

5. Confession strengthen our will. Every time we experience the Sacrament of Confession, God strengthens our will and our self-control to be able to resist the temptations that confront us in our lives. We become more resolute to follow God’s will and not our own whims.

Jesus speaking through his priests

The words of absolution in the Confessional are beautiful: “I absolve you from your sins, in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” Jesus is waiting to forgive you—all you have to do is ask! Don’t miss out any longer on the healing power of Confession…go to Confession this week, and invite someone else too, as part of this “Year of Mercy” called for by Pope Francis.

Also, consider sharing this article or our GoodConfession.com site with someone in your life whom you believe would benefit from the graces of sacramental Reconciliation!  Visit www.GoodConfession.com.

Article by: Katie Warner, Manager of Communication and Evangelization for Catholics Come Home

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Proposed Easter Week Timelines

The First Timeline (to the left) is in outline form. I don’t recall who shared this with me, nor do I endorse every element,  though it is a very helpful timeline.

The Second Timeline (below), created by BibleGateway.com, is in graphic format and provides an interesting flow of Easter Week. Enjoy!

Click on each image for a larger, printable PDF document.

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New Pilgrimages Update

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New Pilgrimage Update

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Laughter in the Bible: A Quiz

1. Which couple laughed at the incredibility of God’s promise to them?

2. Which son brought laughter to his mother?

3. Which king was laughed at when he invited people from all over Israel to celebrate the Passover?

4. Who advised that laughter should change to mourning?

5. Who referred to himself as laughingstock?

6 Who laughed at Nehemiah’s attempt to rebuild Jerusalem’s walls?

7. Who told his friend that God would fill his mouth with laughter?

8. Who said laughter was mad?

9. Who was laughed at when he said that someone was not dead but only sleeping?

10. Who was afraid the townspeople might laugh at him because of his relations with “a prostitute”?

In no one gets them all, see my answers in the Comment below, but don’t cheat until you give it a yeoman’s try

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Free “Sacraments Chart” in following up on my talks in Port Huron MI

Free Sacraments Chart
by Steve Ray

I enjoyed my time with all the good folks in Port Huron. I promised this Sacraments Chart for free for those who attended. Well here it is.

I am making my Sacraments Chart available for free downloads.

Want to know all about the Sacraments in a handy, short reference format? Download this link and print out your own 2-page chart — Seven Sacraments of the Catholic Church. It gives you references from the Bible and the Catechism.

This chart was made to go with my 7 talk series on the Sacraments: Food for the Journey, Weapons for the War. You can purchase this set by clicking here.

I had to fight my way into the Church! In the process, I learned a lot about the Catholic truth and the Sacraments.

This series was done in front of a live audience and is presented first from my old Evangelical perspective. I explain what I thought and taught as a Protestant. Then I step to the other podium and argue with my old view and explain the Catholic teaching on the Sacraments. It is full of stories, anecdotes and examples.

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Feast Day of St. Cyril of Jerusalem and the Church of the Resurrection

Today we celebrate St. Cyril f Jerusalem who was ordained a priest shortly after Emperor Constantine legalized Christianity in AD 313. Shortly after that Queen Helen (son of the emperor) arrived in Jerusalem to discover the holy sites and to build churches commemorating the Gospel.

The groundbreaking was AD 326. Since St. Cyril was a priest and soon after a bishop of  Jerusalem, he would have witnessed the construction. He was the head catechist to train new converts prior to baptism.

Here are three illustrations of the church from those early years—very different from its appearance today. I took these pictures from the aged pictures in the sacristy of the Holy Sepulchre.

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Steve joins Dr. Michael Dauphinais of Ave Maria University to discuss conversion and the truth of the Church

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My Analysis of the Overthrow of Syria and it’s Effect on the Middle East – It has come true!

Last December 2024, we learned that the rebels in Syria had toppled the longtime dictator and President Basher Assad. I predicted at the time (see my analysis below) that it would precipitate chaos and the slaughter of the Christians. The media is not telling us the extent and the horror of the slaughter in Syria, where it is even reported by some that Christians are being crucified.Well, look at the news this week!

SYRIAN INTERIM GOVERNMENT KILLS THOUSANDS OF CIVILIANS:

The Syrian interim government’s Security Forces have reportedly killed as many as 3,000 civilians, predominantly Alawites and also Christians, in response to a March 6 attack from remnants of Bashar al-Assad’s former regime. Syrian Christian leaders issued a joint statement condemning the violence and demanding restraint. READ

My Analysis of the Fall of Assad in Syria and the Implications, especially for Christians (Dec. 10, 2024) Syria’s President Assad was a dictator who controlled Syria like Saddam Hussein had used brutality to keep public order in Iraq. Both were ruthless dictators, but in general protected the Christians. The Arabs in the Middle East are tribal. For the most part, they don’t understand or desire democracy. They have tribes with chiefs. When Saddam Hussein (the big chief) fell, Iraq turned into chaos with competing Muslim fanatical groups — a bunch of “tribes with little chiefs” — fighting for control. The most radical Muslim groups won out. Look at the rampage of ISIS. I anticipate the same happening in Syria. Assad was secular, educated, and somewhat predictable. He kept order and balance between the various tribes. Israel and the rest of the world had a leader they could anticipate. His replacement(s) will have no unity, and be hysterically religious Muslims and uneducated warlords. They will divide Syria up into competing Sunni and Shia factions. And of course, like in Iraq, the Christians will be the first to suffer. It was also repeated with Mubarak in Egypt and Qaddafi in Libya. For Israel, President Assad, even though an enemy, offered some governmental stability and was somewhat predictable. Russia and Iran used him as a puppet, but things were relatively stable. He allowed Iran to smuggle arms into Lebanon which will certainly end now. But now that he’s gone the Sunni Muslims from Turkey will try to take Iran and Russia’s place controlling Syria, which is probably no better than Iran and Russia. For Israel, they were fighting on three fronts (Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon and the West Bank) which have all been emasculated along with Iran. Trump coming into office is already expected to put the squeeze on the wars in the Middle East and elsewhere. The downfall of the Assad Regime now opens a fourth front for the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) in the Golan Heights along the Syrian border. Israel is now working to establish a buffer zone with Syria and destroying Assad’s weapon deposits and chemical weapons plants that existed in Syria so they don’t fall into the hands of the rebel groups. My initial inclination is that it will be unpredictable for a while. But we can expect Syria to be in chaos. Christians will be threatened. Hamas is defeated, Hezbollah severely weakened (decimated) and Israel has been doing in the Middle East what no one else had the courage or ability to do confronting the evil of Iran along with its proxies I hope I am wrong, but precedent with other rebel takeovers and consulting some Middle East associates suggest that my assessment is probably correct. Please pray especially for the dwindling Christian population and the protection of the churches and the holy sites.********************************************Two friends with a stake in the situation reply:Dear Steve,
Just read your assessment of the Syrian situation. As one born in Baghdad, with Lebanese citizenship before immigrating to the US, & having lived through 3 coups, Iraq, Lebanon & Iran ( ousting of the Shah), I agree with your assessment 200%. There is no future for us Christians in the Middle East & hasn’t been for a long time. I worry about the Holy sites in the Holy land (Israel), & hope that as long as Israel exists they will protect them.
In Christ
V.***************************

Thank you for sharing your analysis and reflections on the situation in Syria and the broader region. I fully agree with the points you’ve raised, with the critical caveat that the opposition movement in Syria does not turn into a fanatic group intent on targeting and eradicating the Christian presence in the region. Such a development would undoubtedly have dire consequences for the already vulnerable Christian community in Syria.

You are correct in drawing parallels between Assad’s regime and Saddam Hussein’s governance in Iraq. Both maintained a semblance of order and, to some extent, protected minorities, including Christians. The chaos that followed Saddam’s fall serves as a stark warning of the risks Syria might face without a unifying, albeit authoritarian, leadership.

Your observations about the potential fragmentation of Syria into competing Sharia factions and the implications for Christians are, unfortunately, quite plausible. History has shown that in such power vacuums, extremist groups often rise to prominence, resulting in instability and persecution of minorities.

For Israel, the shifting dynamics in Syria indeed present new challenges and uncertainties. While Assad was a known quantity with predictable policies, his potential successors, driven by factional and religious fervor, might bring even more volatility to the region.

It’s a complex and evolving situation, and I miss our in-depth discussions about such topics as well. Hopefully, we’ll have the chance to share insights over a meal again soon.

Warm regards,
Amer

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Are you Born Again by “Water and the Spirit”?

It seems that God is kind of predictable in a way since He always starts new things in the same way — with “water and the Spirit“. Consider the following:

1) The first creation came from the the earth which was covered with WATER and the SPIRIT hovered over the waters and from the water emerged land and man and God’s first creation (Gen 1:1-2).

2) A new humanity was started with Noah through WATER and SPIRIT. The ark went through the water and a dove (representing the Spirit) hovered overhead with an olive branch. Peter said this represents baptism which “now saves us” (1 Peter 3:18-21).

3) The nation of Israel was created through the WATER of the Red Sea (baptism) with the cloud and fire of the Holy SPIRIT overhead — my oh my, again we have water and Spirit (Ex 14; 1 Cor 10:1-4).

4) Ezekiel then describes what the New Covenant will look like and he said we will be sprinkled with clean WATER and his SPIRIT will be placed in us (Ez 36:25). Born again, I suspect.

5) Then Jesus, right before saying you must be born of “water and the Spirit” had just gone down into the WATER of the Jordan and the SPIRIT came down and landed on his head. Again, water and the Spirit (Mt 3:16; Jn 1:29).

6) Jesus teaches Nicodemus that he must be born again, or from above which is accomplished through “WATER and the SPIRIT.“

7) When Jesus finished these words what was the first thing he did? He went down and baptized people in the Jordan with his disciples (Jn 4:1-2).

8) At the first Holy Ghost Gospel Revival meeting Peter stood up at Pentecost and said,  “Repent, and be baptized (WATER) every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy SPIRIT“ (Acts 2:38).

9) Peter also says “Baptism now saves you“ (1 Pet 3:18), and Paul is told “Rise and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on his name” (Acts 22:16), and Paul writes that we are saved “by the washing of regeneration (WATER) and renewal in the Holy SPIRIT“ (Titus 3:5).

*******************************************************

Too bad many Evangelicals and Fundamentalists refuse to see it but the Bible is pretty clear about new birth through the sacrament of baptism. Jesus is not ambiguous in this matter and he is alluding quite clearly to new beginnings in the Old Testament. The Early Church is also very clear and so is the teaching of the Catholic Church today.

(Picture to right is the place in the Jordan River where Jesus was baptized. Click for larger image.)

St. Augustine said, “Who is so wicked as to want to exclude infants from the kingdom of heaven by prohibiting their being baptized and born again in Christ?”

When someone asks me “Have you been born again?“  I simply answer “Absolutely, but I’ve been born again the Bible Way!“

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