Stephen K. Ray's Blog, page 44

3 Rosary Sites Today: Transfiguration, Cana and Annunciation in Nazareth

Our first full day in the Holy Land. An early morning start, but everyone thanks us later

Up the Mount of Transfiguration to discuss the typology of Mount Sinai and Mount Tabor and everyone loves the parallels. Then to Cana to renew wedding vows and discuss St. John chapter 2, which is also full of amazing biblical parallels.

Then a good Nazareth-style lunch before heading to the Church of Annunciation for the 3rd Mystery of the Rosary today. This one is the 1st Joyful Mystery which we pray at the very place where those words were spoken.

We visit the church where the holy family lived for 30 years, and then we head back to our hotel in Tiberias for everyone to enjoy the beauty of the grounds, a great dinner, and time on the shore of Galilee.

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Donate to help local Catholics in Jerusalem – Help me, Help them!

Friends: I am determined to help our Catholic Christian friends in Jerusalem. There are several families Janet and I know personally and they need help.

The Roman Catholic family at the right is Jeries Majlaton, his wife and three great kids–one of the families we help. Janet and I are long-term friends. Jeries works for the Franciscans inside the Holy Sepulchre and his kids attend the local Catholic school.  There are others too that are currently unemployed or underemployed and we will distribute the money as needed.

When our groups are in Israel we take up collections for these multiple families but we also ask friends here to donate. PLEASE HELP!

People send me checks to pass the cash on to the Christian families when we are there 7 times a year. If you can help send me a check made out to “Steve Ray” 3588 Plymouth Road, #277, Ann Arbor MI 48105-2603.  I will deposit the check in my account and give them 100% of the cash.

Or you can send it as a donation to my payal account and I will make sure they get EVERY penny that you send (except PayPal’s 1-2%). Hopefully we can help our brothers and sisters in Christ already suffering and help them stay in the Holy Land.

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Exciting to welcome our groups to the Holy Land. Our 2nd group this month

It’s always fun and exciting to pick up a new group at the Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv. It means we have eight exciting days to show these good folks all of our favorite places in the world —the way Catholics should see them.

Fr. James Conlon is again our priest and Amer and his son Patrick are our two guides. we are ettled in at the beautiful U Boutique Hotel in Tiberias, which is a big upgrade from what we’ve used in the past. Lovely hotel with a gorgeous view of the sea.

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Dialog: Saved by Faith Alone or Faith & Works

I am responding to a polite gentleman named David who posted a comment on my blog. He was responding as a kind Protestant who was reacting to my article “Response to a Southern Baptist.” He is kind and well-spoken and I wish we could sit and have a cup of coffee together to discuss this more personally. I have responded only briefly and with a few random thoughts while on the run. I would suggest he and others read a new book by Steve Wood entitled, Grace & Justification: An Evangelical’s Guide to Catholic Beliefs.

David’s words are italicized and in blue;  my words are in regular text and in black:

Steve’s opening thoughts in preparation to respond:

I would like to make two opening comments which are touched on only briefly below. First, the argument about “faith vs. works” has been twisted by Luther and subsequent Protestants into a Protestant vs. Catholic debate. However, Paul never intended that in his letters. There was no Protestant vs. Catholic debate — it was rather a Jew vs. Gentile. Works of the law were not required of Gentiles to become followers of the Jewish Messiah. Only faith like that of Abraham was required.

Second, Catholics are often accused of believing works is what saves us. This is not the case. It is the grace of God through the sacrificial death and resurrection of Jesus that saves us, though we believe we must cooperate with the Holy Spirit to bring that justification-sanctification to its heavenly fulfillment. Jesus does not say those with faith alone will be resurrected and saved, rather he says, John 5:28–29 “Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.” I am always amazed how the words of Jesus are set aside in preference to a poor interpretation of the words of St Paul.

David starts:
I believe that Evangelicals rightly emphasize that we are saved by grace through faith alone. We are saved by trusting in what Jesus did on the cross and not by earning our salvation by doing a list of required good works. This is taught throughout the New Testament and is especially clear in Ephesians 2:8-9. “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith— and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.” This clearly says that we are saved by faith in God’s grace, not by our works. We don’t earn our salvation. Grace is a free gift; but we must receive it by faith. Faith is a combination of believing and trusting in what Jesus did.

Click here for the full discussion.

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Walking thru Jerusalem on Yom Kippur 2023 – with Instruction

Today it’s a bit like Twilight Zone in Jerusalem. All the streets are barricaded, all the shops are closed, and the city of Jerusalem is fasting and making repentance on the day of Yom Kippur.

Of course, the Christians and the Muslims do not participate, but since the Jews are in control of vast areas of Israel, it is pretty much shut down for the high and holy Day of Atonement.

In the video Janet and I walk through the Old City of Jerusalem to the Western Wall, and I explain what Yom Kippur is and how it relates to us as Christians. We end up at the Holy Sepulchre with the fulfillment of Yom Kippur through the high priesthood of Jesus Christ. I hope you enjoy it.

Our first group has flown home and tomorrow. Our second group arrives.

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“Straight Talk to Teens” a new Steve Ray talk available on MP3

Teens don’t want platitudes or to be talked down to. They want a challenge, they want the truth! In this talk, I address a large group of teens and you could hear a pin drop.

 

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My Short fast-paced Talk on Pastore Pio for his Feast Day

I gave the short talk, standing on a wall at Padre Pio’s shrine in San Giovanni Rotondo Italy for our group a few years ago. It was kind of impromptu and came out pretty well. Enjoy!

We are doing our very popular “Saints and Shrines of Italy“ pilgrimage again twice in 2025 for the Jubilee year. Keep your eye on my website at www.footprintsofgod.com and we hope you can join us.

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Supporting Bishop Strickland, with whatever comes down and whatever he decides

From –T.S. Flanders at One Peter 5One Peter 5

“In a new statement from Bishop Strickland, His Excellency says the following:

I have said publicly that I cannot resign as Bishop of Tyler because that would be me abandoning the flock that I was given charge of by Pope Benedict XVI. I have also said that I will respect the authority of Pope Francis if he removes me from office as Bishop of Tyler. I love Jesus Christ and the Catholic Church which He established. My only desire is to speak His Truth and live God’s Will to the best of my ability.

This would appear to indicate that His Excellency intends to submit to an unjust, tyrannical order for his resignation from the Dictator Pope. It may also mean that he will refuse a request for his resignation, forcing the Vatican regime to order his removal publicly.

If this is the case, it is important for the faithful to support His Excellency in whatever he decides, if and when the unjust order comes down.

If he submits, he imitates Christ and many saints who have humbly submitted to unjust treatment, and can any one doubt that the good bishop will merit many graces for the faithful in this suffering?

If he refuses to submit, he would manfully resist the Vatican regime of iconoclasm and the faithful would rally around him.

Whatever he does, we need to be ready as the faithful to support him. Because no one can doubt he is a good bishop doing what he can do with God’s help.

Interestingly, the Texan bishop also said this:

As you probably know there was an Apostolic Visitation of the diocese conducted the week of June 19-24. Bishop Kicanas, retired from Tuscan, Arizona and Bishop Sullivan, from Camden, New Jersey spent the week interviewing various people about the condition of the diocese and concluded by interviewing me.

I have not heard from any Church official from Rome since the visitation concluded on June 24. I was not given a reason for the visitation, and I have not received any report since.

Last week an article was published on a website called, “The Pillar”, and the article alleged that a meeting was held with Pope Francis where some of the members of the Congregation for Bishops recommended that I be encouraged to resign as Bishop of Tyler. Let me be clear that I have received no communication from Rome regarding this. At this point it is simply and article discussing supposed leaked information from the Vatican (emphasis added).

So +Strickland has already submitted to an unjust procedure by the Vatican regime, who invaded his jurisdiction without any reason whatsoever. This is an act of disgrace by the bishop of Rome to his brother bishop in Texas.

Yet it is par for the course for the Dictator Pope.

We are at war with the Third Pornocracy. This is why we have to support Bishop Strickland, whatever he does.”

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Short and Funny Explanation of the Atheist’s “In the Beginning”

 

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How you can tell if Steve and Janet Ray are at Mass

Since we have two groups riding camels this month in Jericho, I thought I would post this funny picture.

Check your church parking lot.  See a camel?  Steve and Janet may be there for Mass

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