Stephen K. Ray's Blog, page 22

Paul Cruise Day 2: St. Peter’s and Ancient Rome

After a good night sleep, everyone felt better today. After a great breakfast, we walked one block to Mass at a church with a long name: Santa Maria delle Grazie alle Fornaci fuori Porta Cavalleggeri!

From there to Saint Peter‘s Square where we got in line for the security. Our two guides Liz and Daniele took our group on a short tour inside the basilica. Unhappily, much of the interior is covered up for restoration in preparation for the Jubilee Year 2025.

From there, we had lunch in cafes and ristorantes and then descended into subterranean Rome under the Church of San Clemente. This is one of my favorite churches because it contains the bones of my heroes, two of the courageous Apostolic Fathers — St. Ignatius of Antioch and St. Clement of Rome.

Then on to the Roman Forum and the Colosseum before going out to L’Archeologia for an unbelievably elegant dinner.

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Paul Cruise 1 Rome Arrival and 3 Paul Sites

Every two years we do this marvelous pilgrimage and Saint Paul Mediterranean Cruise through Italy, Greece, and Turkey. We will be hitting 15 biblical sites along the way. The group arrived today and everyone’s excited to get going.

We started out by visiting Tre Fontane, which in Italian means “Three Fountains” where Saint Paul was beheaded and his head bounced three times and springs of water bubbled up from the ground each time his head bounced.

Then to “Saint Paul Outside the Walls, the 2nd largest church in Rome and the place where his bones are in interred. Then to Saint John Lateran which is the “Mother Church of the World“.

This church contains the Heads of Peter and Paul in gold reliquaries above the altar the table used for the Last Supper, with the Chair of St. Peter in the apse. This is the cathedral of Rome and we had Mass here before checking in to our elegant Michelangelo Hotel, 8 minutes walk to St. Peter’s. Sumptuous dinner and got everyone to bed early.

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Join My Walk Around the Vatican Walls & St. Peter’s Square

Today I took a walk around the Vatican walls and all through Saint Peter Square explaining everything along the way.

In the old days I used to run around these walls every day while I was in Rome, but now I walk. Hope you can join me by video and hope you enjoy it.

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Short Primer on the Mass

A while ago a Lutheran attended Mass with me. To prepare him in advance for what he was going to experience, I put together this short “Primer on the Mass.” I hope you find it helpful and useful. Pleases share if with family and friends if you think it could help them to understand. 

Click below on the image for the full article

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Mary Saw Mercy… so real and visible and close it may have splashed on her face.

In April 2025 we are taking a group of pilgrims to Poland for Divine Mercy Sunday to celebrate Divine Mercy and the Divine Mercy Shrine with the Sisters of Maria Faustina!!

So, I thought I would share this meditation on the Divine Mercy of God.

Mary knew mercy. Mary saw mercy. The mercy was so real and visible and close it may have splashed on her face. Sister Faustina’s Divine Mercy shows the blood and water springing from the side of Christ, the fountain of mercy. Mary stood at the foot of the Cross where the blood and water flowed from her Son’s side.

 Mercy became flesh in Mary’s womb in Nazareth; Mary gave birth to Mercy in Bethlehem; she raised her Son and lived with Mercy for thirty years before sending him out to be and show mercy for three years.

Then she saw the ultimate Mercy demonstrated in such a divine and human manner— the Son of God, her own son, hanging on the Cross to make mercy available to all people.

John 19:34  “But one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once there came out blood and water.”

Imagine standing in all these places in the Holy Land when we go and celebrating it here with the nuns at the bones of St. Maria Faustina where we will pray the Divine Mercy with the sisters today. Imagine eating the Body and Blood of Our Lord — mercy itself — in the very places he showed us what mercy was. Join us Poland for Divine Mercy Sunday in Poland with the Sister of Maria Faustina in April 2025.

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Mass with 2 Protestants and 1 Crucifix

A while ago we went to Mass with two Protestants.  As we walked in the door — there it was, as big as life — a CRUCIFIX with the Body of Our Lord hanging over the altar.

I knew what the Protestants were thinking — I used to think the same — “CATHOLICS ARE WRONG, JESUS IS NO LONGER ON THE CROSS, HE HAS RISEN FROM THE DEAD AND IS IN HEAVEN.”  Of course t,hey think Catholics are wrong to keep Jesus on the cross as though he had not risen and ascended into heaven.

Are they right?  Well, YES and NO.  Jesus DID rise and ascend into heaven and He IS glorified at the right hand of the Father and we are mystically seated there with him (1 Pet 3:22, Eph 2:6).  BUT the Catholic Church is ALSO correct to show Jesus on the Cross — not only to remind us of His suffering and death and to show what happens during the Mass — but because in a mystical way He IS STILL on the Cross.

God the Father sits on His throne in heaven.  And what does God see from his throne every time he “opens his eyes”?  He sees Jesus on the Cross!  Really?  Yeah, really!

Jesus is our Passover Lamb (1 Cor 5:7).  In the Old Testament the lambs were slain on Passover to save the Israelites from death.  The lamb was held over the altar, his neck was slashed with a knife and the blood was drained onto the altar.

This is why we have an altar in the Catholic Church! The altar represents the Cross (among other things). An Altar is where a Sacrifice takes place!  Jesus was slain as our Passover Lamb to save us from eternal death and to appease the wrath of God.  That sacrifice is re-presented at the Mass (see my talk Defending the Eucharist!).

Take a look at Revelation 5:5 and ask yourself — what John is telling us?  It reads,

Between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders, I saw a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain . . .“

Who IS the slain Lamb that is still standing?  Jesus is the Lamb!  Standing on a altar before the throne of God the Father is a Lamb still bearing the wounds of slaugher.  Jesus is that Lamb and he still bears the wounds of His sacrifice. That is what God sees when He “opens his eyes” — Jesus the sacrifice — Jesus on the altar — Jesus on the Cross.

Charles Wesley, the great Methodist minister and hymn writer agrees. In his hymn “Arise, My Soul, Arise” in which he says the very same thing in very poetic terms.

“Arise, my soul, arise; shake off thy guilty fears; The bleeding sacrifice in my behalf appears, Before the throne my surety stands, My name is written on His hands. He ever lives above, for me to intercede; His all redeeming love, His precious blood, to plead: His blood atoned for all our race, And sprinkles now the throne of grace.”

But wasn’t Jesus crucified once and for all, never to sacrificed for sins again?  Yes, of course!  In   space and time  Jesus was crucified once and for all in AD 30.

In God’s eyes — in eternity which is not limited by space and time — Jesus was crucified before the foundations of the world (see endnote 1) and in “eternity future” He is still seen by the Father as a slain lamb on the alter in heaven, as the crucified Lord on the Cross. All salvation past, present and future is based on this one historical event.

In the Mass, Jesus is NOT re-crucified, but we partake in a mystical way in the re-presentation of the ONE ETERNAL SACRIFICE which is ever before the eyes of the Father (see Endnote 3).

I used to say “Jesus WAS our sacrifice. He cannot be crucified again on Catholic altars, so Catholics are wrong!”  But the Bible says, Yes, he WAS our sacrifice, but he also IS our Sacrifice. Look at what John says in his first epistle:

“[Jesus] is the expiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world” (RSV-Catholic Edition).
The Protestant NIV renders this “He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins.”

The Greek word for IS (eimi) is in the present tense. Today, right now He IS our propitiation, our sacrifice. After His resurrection with His new spiritual body Jesus still has the wounds of his crucifixion (Jn 20:27). He has a body in heaven and still bears the wounds of the Sacrifice. He is presented before God as slain sacrifice — yet now alive.

So, what does God see when He “opens his eyes”?  He sees Jesus on the Cross!  If this is what God sees in heaven, then it is certainly proper for us to show Jesus on a Cross to remind us what he did for us — and to see what God sees every day and has from eternity.  So Catholic are right after all. Suprise!  Surprise!

By the way, once a Baptist said to me, “You are wrong, Jesus is no longer on the cross, He is in heaven.”  It happend to be Christmas and I noticed they had a Manger Scene (creche) on their table.  I said, “Why do you have Jesus in the manger?  He is no longer in the manger — he is in heaven.

“And oh,” I said, “isn’t that a cute statue of Mary!  I thought you Protestants considered statues to be idols?  Why do you have a statue of Mary in your house?”

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Endnote 1: There are two ways to translate this verse, but either way it comes out making the point. The best Protestant translations of Revelation 13:8 read: “All inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast—all whose names have not been written in the book of life belonging to the Lamb that was slain from the creation of the world” (NIV – New International Version).
“All who dwell on the earth will worship him, whose names have not been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world” (NKJV – New King James Version).

Endnote 2: Pictures: 1) Crucifix; 2) Passover Lamb slain by the modern day Samaritans; 3) Image of Jesus the Passover Lamb sacrificed on an altar before the Throne of God (could not make out the name of the author) 4) Caravaggio’s famous painting “Incredulity of St. Thomas.”; 5) Creche scene.

Endnote 3: Catechism paragraph 1367:  “The sacrifice of Christ and the sacrifice of the Eucharist are one single sacrifice: ‘The victim is one and the same: the same now offers through the ministry of priests, who then offered himself on the cross; only the manner of offering is different.’ ‘And since in this divine sacrifice which is celebrated in the Mass, the same Christ who offered himself once in a bloody manner on the altar of the cross is contained and offered in an unbloody manner. . . this sacrifice is truly propitiatory’.”

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Baptist at the door, “Are you born again?” Prepare yourself to answer them!

Grilled salmon sizzled on his plate as Andy and his family sat down for dinner. No sooner had they crossed themselves to bless the food than the doorbell rang. Andrew dragged himself to answer the door while his family began eating.

Two smiling faces peered in the door. “Good evening, we hope we’re not interrupting your dinner.” Rolling his eyes, Andy responded, “Can I help you?”

The first smiling face said, “We are from the local Baptist church and stopped by to see if you are born again.”

Andy had been a Catholic all his life and remembered hearing that phrase somewhere in his past, but at this moment he hesitated. “Well, ahh, I’m a Catholic.”

The second smiling face displayed a hint of glee, “Can we come in and share the Gospel with you?” Andy blurted out, “Actually, we are in the middle of dinner – maybe another time.” “OK”, said the delighted Baptists, “how about next Tuesday evening?”

Andy sighed and agreed. Sitting down to cold salmon, he realized he had his work cut out for him. After dinner, he retreated to his den, grabbed his Bible and Catechism and got to work.

Take a few minutes and study along with Andy as he prepares for the Tuesday visit and the inevitable debate on the much-abused phrase “born again”. Andy started by reading the third chapter of St. John’s gospel. Open your Bible and read along with Andy. Andy began his mission with a barrage of questions.

Is the phrase “born again” in the Bible (Jn 3:3)? Does the Catechism mention this “new birth” (CCC 720, 591)? To understand, Andy thought about Nicodemus. What do Nicodemus and his legalistic system represent (Ro 7:5-6; CCC 1963)? Can the Jewish Law bring new birth and salvation? Is being born of the seed of Abraham sufficient for salvation (Mt 3:8-9; Jn 8:33-47)? What is Jesus bringing to Mankind (Heb 9:15; 12:24; Lk 22:20; CCC 292)?

For the whole article and lesson, click here. Prepare yourself and your children for the inevitable question.

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Divine Mercy Sunday in Divine Mercy Chapel in Poland! Join us in April 2025

We couldn’t believe that we got tickets for the actual Divine Mercy Mass at the Chapel with the Sisters on Divine Mercy Sunday 2025. This is an incredible opportunity.

Click here for the interactive map, itinerary, and brochure. The dates for this “Modern Saints of Poland Pilgrimage” are April 23-May 2, 2025.

We will especially follow Maximillian Kolbe, Maria Faustina and Pope John Paul II. We will also visit the death cell of Fr. Kolbe in Auschwitz.

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A New Manifesto! “The Joy and Wonder of Catholic Education” by my friend Bishop James Conley STL

This new document by the faithful and astute Bishop James Conley STL of Lincoln Nebraska. This document was intended for his diocese but has exploded across the country. It is important for Catholics interested in Catholic education to enrich our children. It is not a short read, but it is well worth it. 

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Questions I Answered on Catholic Radio “Walking with Mary and her Suffering”

Always fun answering questions and the lively discussion that ensues. Today the topic before questions came in was “The Twelve Unknown Sorrows of Mary”.

But then the questions came which covered a lot of issues on Mary. My interview is in the first segment.

https://catholicconvert.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/ca240923a.mp3

Questions Covered:

25:15 – Is the song, Mary Did You Know, biblically accurate?35:25 – What does it mean to be consecrated to Mary? How do you do it and why is it important?43:44 – what are the Greek words when talking about Mary having other children?48:52 – Are we human race a type of Mary that’s looking for Jesus?

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