Stephen K. Ray's Blog, page 7

4 Danube: River Locks, Vienna Austria, Symphony

Started the morning going through the river locks which was quite fascinating. Janet and I got up at 5 AM and made a movie of it. So today you’ll have two movies instead of one. The first is a short video of our passage through the locks. The second movie is our adventures during the day.

We celebrate Mass at Votivkirche then toured Vienna — Old Town between the University and Opera House. Saw major monuments including Donners’ Fountain, Belvedere Palace Gardens, Hofburg Palace, Spanish Horses training place and St. Stephen’s Cathedral.

Optional transfer to ship for lunch or remain in Vienna for a free afternoon. After dinner on the ship we attended a Strauss and Mozart concert at one of the concert halls at Kursalon.

PASSING THRU THE RIVER LOCKS

VIDEO OF OUR DAY IN VIENNA

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Danube 3: Bratislava Slovakia

Celebrate ad orientem Mass at St. Martin’s Cathedral before our walking tour through quaint “medieval town” passing by Michael’s Gate, Academia Istropolitana, Main Square, Primatial Palace, Slovak National Theatre, and view of Bratislava Castle.

Lunch on own in the city or return to the ship. Afternoon and evening on port with free time. Exciting, fun and educational beer tasting at Dock 5. Free evening with dinner on the ship (or in town if desired).

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“IF” – An excellent short poem by Rudyard Kipling, and “you’ll be a man my son”

I suspect you’ve heard this short poem by Rudyard Kipling before, but it is good to sing-song your way through it again every once in a while.Once on a bus in Israel a man stood up on a long ride and recited it verbatim. Quite moved and impressed.**************************************************It is entitle IF  

If you can keep your head when all about you

Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,

If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,

But make allowance for their doubting too;

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,

Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,

Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,

And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;

If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim;

If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster

And treat those two impostors just the same;

If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken

Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,

Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,

And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings

And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,

And lose, and start again at your beginnings

And never breathe a word about your loss;

If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew

To serve your turn long after they are gone,

And so hold on when there is nothing in you

Except the Will which says to them: ‘Hold on!’

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,

Or walk with Kings—nor lose the common touch,

If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,

If all men count with you, but none too much;

If you can fill the unforgiving minute

With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,

Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,

And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son!

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2 Danube: Budapest, Szentendre, Fortress of Visegrad & Esztergom

Breakfast aboard the ship then celebrated Mass at Matthias Church. Explored the beautiful city of Budapest with a tour of the Buda Castle Hill, and the Fisherman’s Bastion and views of the Danube and Pest, crossed the bridge and passed by St. Stephen’s Basilica and Hungary’s ornate Parliament building. Strolled through Central Market Hall before lunch on the ship.

Visited the artists’ local village of Szentendre, home to many generations of Hungarian artists before the imposing ruined fortress of Visegrad. Visited Esztergom, the former residence of the Hungarian kings and seat of the Archbishop, and the domed basilica, built in the early 19th century

Returned to the ship in Esztergom for dinner.

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Danube1: Arrivals, Budapest, Boarding Amadeus!

Today it all begins! We begin to celebrate our 20th anniversary of leading pilgrimages!

We picked everyone up at the airport and drove to our Mass at the Nativity of the Virgin Mary in Máriaremete.

Everyone enjoyed lunch on their own at the many restaurants and cafés before boarding our ship at Dock 5. Our group fills the whole ship — we own it!

We enjoyed the rest of the afternoon to explore our ship settle in before our welcoming dinner with announcements and warm greetings! We are off!

The video below is mainly for the people in the cruise and their families. It was our first dinner on board, safety, drill, and the Hungarian dancers and musicians.

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7 Reasons to Study the Cultural Backgrounds of the Bible

7 Reasons to Study the Cultural Backgrounds of the Bible

1. Understand the audience: Grasping the original audience’s perspective helps us understand the setting to which the inspired authors communicated their message.

2. Understand how the text communicates: A text is ideas linked by threads of writing. Each phrase and each word communicates by the ideas and thoughts that they will trigger in the reader or hearer.

3. Biblical writers made assumptions: Biblical writers normally could take for granted that their audiences shared their language and culture; some matters, therefore, they assumed rather than stated. Think about what happens when later audiences from different cultures read the text without the same un-stated understandings as the original audience.

4. Understand the differences: We can see the differences between [ancient people] and us. To better understand how they would have interpreted what was being shared to them.

5. Understand what issues were being addressed: When we hear the message in its authentic, original cultural setting we can reapply it afresh for our own different setting most fully, because we understand what issues were really being addressed.

6. Prevent imposing your own culture: If we know nothing of the ancient world, we will be inclined to impose our own culture and worldview on the Biblical text. This will always be detrimental to our understanding.

7. Fill in the gaps: As each person hears or reads the text, the message takes for granted underlying gaps that need to be filled with meaning by the audience. It is theologically essential that we fill [the gaps] appropriately.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church summarizes this beautifully as follows:

109 In Sacred Scripture, God speaks to man in a human way. To interpret Scripture correctly, the reader must be attentive to what the human authors truly wanted to affirm and to what God wanted to reveal to us by their words.

110 In order to discover the sacred authors’ intention, the reader must take into account the conditions of their time and culture, the literary genres in use at that time, and the modes of feeling, speaking, and narrating then current. “For the fact is that truth is differently presented and expressed in the various types of historical writing, in prophetical and poetical texts, and in other forms of literary expression.”\

Catholic Church, Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2nd Ed. (Washington, DC: United States Catholic Conference, 2000), 32.

This article originally posted by Cierra Klatt on 09/06/2017 in Olive Tree Blog

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Excellent Riddle: Can You Discover What God Made?

This puzzle was written by a lady in California in 1890 in response to a gentlemen in Philadelphia, who said that he would pay $1,000 to anyone who could write a puzzle that he could not solve. He failed to do so, and paid the lady $1,000 (a great sum at that time).

The answer is one word, five letters long, and appears only four times in the King James Version of the Bible and twice in the Revised Standard Catholic Edition.

An eight-year-old boy figured out the puzzle. Can you? If you give up, need a hint, or guess the answer, write me at sray@me.com. A hint at the end of the riddle if you want to cheat. Happy hunting!

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

God made Adam out of the dust,
but thought it best to make me first.

So I was made before the man,
according to God’s Holy plan.

My whole body God made complete,
without arms, or hands, or feet.

My ways and acts did God control,
but in my body He placed no immortal soul.

A living being I became,
and Adam gave to me a name.

Then from his presence I withdrew,
for this man Adam I never knew.

All my Maker’s laws I do obey,
and from these laws I never stray.

Thousands of me go in fear,
but seldom on the earth appear.

Later, for a purpose God did see,
He placed a living soul in me.

But that soul of mine God had to claim,
and from me took it back again.

And when this soul from me had fled,
I was the same as when first made;

without arms, legs, feet, or soul,
I travel on from pole to pole.

My labors are from day to night,
and to men I once furnished light.

Thousands of people both young and old,
did by my death bright lights behold.

No right or wrong can I conceive;
the Bible and it’s teachings I can’t believe.

The fear of death doesn’t trouble me;
pure happiness I will never see.

And up in Heaven I can never go,
nor in the grave or hell below.

So get your Bible and read with care;
you’ll find my name recorded there.

***********************************
If you give up and want the answer, extract and write down every third letter to form the answer: wmwdhhzwautlcxe or see Matt 112:40 in the KJV, Revised Standard or the New American Bible.

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What Does it Mean to be a Good Catholic Grandparent? Interesting Interview

A while ago I was interviewed for an hour by Fr. Robert McTeigue SJ on his show “The Catholic Current” on “Station of the Cross Radio.

Our topic was about how to be a good and effective grandparent. What can we do to encourage and help our grandkids stay strong Catholics? What if things have failed and we need to start over? What are our obligations? What are fun things to do together?

https://www.catholicconvert.com/wp-content/uploads/TCC-011321.mp3

Here is a picture of Janet and I with our 20 grandkids (and two granddaughters-in-law and a another grandbaby on the way)  We love being grandparents

Proverbs 17:6:   “Grandchildren are the crown of the aged, and the glory of children is their fathers.”

2 Timothy 1:5:   “I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now, I am sure, dwells in you as well.”

 

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Updated Pilgrimage List for 2025-2026

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Drink to be Holy – A Little Humor and a Little Latin

The Latin below reads, “He who drinks sleeps; he who sleeps does not sin; he who does not sin is a saint; therefore, he who drinks is a saint. Pass the mugs!”

Was it St. Augustine who said, “He who jokes in Latin, jokes twice”?        (thanks Fr. Goyo).

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