Take a pilgrimage with Steve and Janet Ray!
My Free St. Paul Timeline and Info on our St. Paul Cruise
Since many people are unfamiliar with the life and timeline of St. Paul and his epistles, I am posting my St. Paul Timeline so everyone can get the big picture. Feel free to print and use for personal use.
When I was teaching my series on the Acts of the Apostles (see the audio CDs here), I decided to create this Timeline for my own use, to help me keep track of his life, his journeys, and writings all in order.
Additionally, if you’d like to learn more about Paul, you can purchase my detailed documentary, filmed on location in six countries, entitled “Paul, Contending for the Faith.” It comes with a comprehensive study guide. I also have several talks on St. Paul, which you can see here.
“The Longest Day” in Prep for our own landing on Beaches of Normandy!
This week Janet and I are leaving for Paris France. Our group will follow us a few days later where we will be touring the Saints and Shrines of France. We will also be visiting Normandy where D-Day took place 81 years ago on June 6, 1944.
I will be posting daily YouTube videos so you can join us virtually
Today we are watching that spectacular movie entitled “The Longest Day” which chronicles this spectacular battle of the Allied Forces against the Nazis.
Amazing that we will be there in person again on the very beaches where our men fought and died before we go to the cemetery to honor them. Makes me proud to be an American!
One scene that was especially moving was when the priest lost his Mass Kit in the river after he parachuted in. He kept diving into the river and would not leave until he found his kit it under the water.
If you haven’t seen this movie and appreciated what our country did in those dark days, I highly recommend you watch the movie. You can rent it at Amazon movies or iTunes for $3.99. I think every big star in Hollywood at the time is in this movie.
Two Fun Things from this Sunday’s OT Mass Reading
Two fun things in Sunday’s Old Testament readings, 1) Naaman’s skin is restored like that of a little child; and 2) he takes a load of dirt back to Syria.
A reading from 2 Kings 5:14-17:
“Naaman went down and plunged into the Jordan seven times at the word of Elisha, the man of God. His flesh became again like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean of his leprosy.
Naaman returned with his whole retinue to the man of God. On his arrival he stood before Elisha and said, “Now I know that there is no God in all the earth, except in Israel. Please accept a gift from your servant.”
Elisha replied, “As the Lord lives whom I serve, I will not take it”; and despite Naaman’s urging, he still refused.
Naaman said: “If you will not accept, please let me, your servant, have two mule-loads of earth, for I will no longer offer holocaust or sacrifice to any other god except to the Lord.”
The word of the Lord.
This dipping in the Jordan River is a prefiguring of water baptism—dipping in the Jordan for cleansing. And what do we hear about water baptism from Jesus? After he had gone into the Jordan River—into the water when the Spirit came down, he talked to Nicodemus about being born again.
It is the way we become born again—water and Spirit—and when we’re born again, we’re like a newborn child. That’s why Naaman’s dipping in the Jordan River is a prefiguring of water baptism. That’s why it’s interesting. Naaman’s flesh became like that of a newborn baby, as it symbolizes the new birth we receive through water baptism, which will come with the New Covenant.
John 3:3–5: “Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.“
And the dirt? Here we see the biblical view of holy ground. Naaman will take two mule’s load of land; rather dirt, from Israel back home to Syria. He asked for permission to take two mule loads of dirt home with him.
From this point on, Naaman will spread that dirt out on teh ground where he worships, and he will stand on the holy ground of the Lord to worship. YHWH is the only God of all the earth and on his earth Naaman will worship.
One of the interesting first mentions of “holy ground”. Also it can be seen as a precursor to holy relics.
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