Stephen K. Ray's Blog, page 491
February 20, 2011
Day 3: Beatitudes, Caesarea Philippi, Golan Heights & a Fine Dinner
Today we have two videos: ONE VIDEO of our day visiting holy, biblical and historical sites, and the SECOND VIDEO of our marvelous dinner at Aberge Shulamit in Rosh Pina.
We had Mass at the Mount of Beatitudes. Fr. Tom gave a wonderful homily (again) and it was a delight hearing the proclamation of the Gospel from the top of the Mount of Beatitudes overlooking the Sea of Galilee where Jesus taught the Sermon on the Mount.
It began to rain but we worked around it. We drove to Caesarea Philippi (named Banias today). This is where Jesus renamed Peter "Rock", giving him a new dignity and designation and establishing an office. I gave my talk on the buses "Peter: the Rock, the Keys & the Chair."
We then scrambled up the rock and took a lot of pictures and answered a lot of questions. Then to lunch at the Druze Restaurant (see the video). We then drove through the Golan Heights and returned to the hotel — due to the rain — and Fr. Shane gave his daily "Reflections on the Sites Visited." People had time for a nap, a walk, or just to sit by the Sea of Galilee and read the Gospels.
Then we went to an elegant dinner which you will see below in the second video. I tried to make sure that all the pilgrims made it into this video for family and friends back home. The restaurant is Aberge Shulamit in Rosh Pina Israel north of the Sea of Galilee. A great time was had by all and a good Comedy Club on the bus on the return trip!
Goofey Homily on Multiplication of Loaves?
UPDATE: Based on the comments below and the on my Facebook account (facebook.com/JerusalemJones) a lot of people heard this goofey homily — are are doing something about it!.
If you heard a goofy homily this weekend about the multiplication of loaves and fish — a trendy priest or deacon saying it was no miracle, Jesus just taught selfish people to share the food they had with them — click here.
Check out Jimmy Akin's brilliant new blog on this.
My book Crossing the Tiber deals with this and the Eucharist in detail. Click here.
Four Last Things in a Terrifying Story
Watch my YouTube Video: Going to Hell
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The Last Nightmare
A Short and Terrifying Story by Steve Ray
[image error]Everything went blank for a moment, but that moment seemed like eternity. He felt a motion, not with wind and breeze, but a motion none the less. He was traveling, moving, floating, transcending-he wasn't really sure. The sudden blackness gave him time to regain his thoughts, just enough time to recapture the last moments.
Though his first thoughts were garbled and dreamlike, they slowly began taking shape, like a tree seen through a thick fog, slowly it all came back to him out of the swirling, traveling, blank void. Utter confusion was giving way to bits of clarity.
They had rushed him to the hospital. He remembered the sirens and the cold hands of the paramedics. Cold hands all over his body, probing and poking. Yes, there had been screams, he remembered now—and the sound of sobbing.
Then the horrendous sound resurfaced, a sound that could be felt. It was a sound that had subsumed his whole being, wrapping itself around him, ripping through him. Then the sound of crunching metal, broken glass, and twisted carnage. What must have lasted only seconds seemed to him a long and troubling nightmare—then the dark, foggy void.
For the rest of the story, click here.
For other stories and articles, click here.
February 19, 2011
Pictures from Nazareth over 100 Years Ago (see the Virgin Mary)
Today we are in Nazareth, celebrating Mass at the Grotto of the Annunciation.
These pictures are over a hundred years old from Nazareth. Not much changed between then and the first century.
When you look at these old pictures and hundreds more I have in a book I purchased in Nazareth (written in Arabic), you can imagine Mary as she walked the dusty streets of Nazareth.
Who is this father, mother and child? Can you "see" Mary at the well of Nazareth where all the women came to collect water?
February 18, 2011
Pilgrimage Day One: Arrival and Galilee
When we arrived the internet was down at the hotel and it was the beginning of the Sabbath so we had to wait until Sunday before the internet was fixed. I am so grateful for my iPhone that works through the 3G network so I was still able to make and upload the videos.
I started the day by running from Jerusalem to Abu Ghosh. We then packed and took a drive to the airport to meet our two buses and our local guide Amer. Both flights came in without incident– not even any lost luggage. We drove to Galilee had a nice Mass on the shore of the Sea of Galilee with the moon rising and then dinner and bed.
Islam's Public Enemy #1: A Coptic Monk
Meet Coptic priest Zakaria Botros from Egypt. Little known in the West but making waves with Muslims in the Middle East. He fights fire with fire. He sits with the Christian Scriptures and the Koran in front of him.
He is an expert at Classical Arabic and all the literature of Islam. He challenges the Muslim to respond and refute him.
To read the article about this courageous Christian, click here. To see him on video, go to www.youtube.com and search for Zakaria Botros. To read his Nine Demands of Islam, click here.
February 17, 2011
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