CROSSING THE TIBER
• The story of his conversion
UPON THIS ROCK
• On the Papacy
SAINT JOHN’S GOSPEL
• A guide to understand the Fourth Gospel.
Right now he is filming a 10 video series, entitled: "FOOTPRINTS OF GOD." The first two videos are already available:
• Peter, Keeper of the Keys and
• Mary, Mother of God
Steve put this on the INTERNET, a record of his personal experience, his personal feelings:
"We stepped into the church. It was old and a bit dark. Mass had just begun, and we sat toward the front. We did not know what to expect here in Istanbul, Turkey. I guess we expected it to be a somber Mass – but quiet and somber it was not. I thought I heard angels joyously singing behind me. The voices were rich, melodic and beautiful.
"What I discovered, as I spun around to look, did not surprise me, because I had seen and heard the same thing in other churches around the world. It was not a choir of angels with feathered wings and halos, but a group of delightful Filipino Catholics with smiles of joy on their faces as they worshiped God and sang his praises.
"I had seen this many times before – in Rome, in Israel, in the United States, and in other countries. Filipinos have special traits and they are beautifully expressed. I gazed at the happy throng, giving thanks to God.
"What are the special traits which characterize these happy people? I will share a few that I have noticed – personal observations – as I have traveled around the world, including visits to the Philippines.
"First, there is a sense of community, of family. These Filipino Christians did not sit apart from each other, in different isles. They sat together, closely. They didn’t just sing quietly, mumbling, or simply mouthing the words. No! They raised their voices in harmony, together, as though they enjoyed the sense of unity and of communion among them. They are family – even if they are not related.
"Second, they have an inner peace and joy, which is rare in the world today. When most of the world’s citizens are worried and fretful, I have found Filipinos to have joy and peace – a deep sense of God’s love that overshadows them.
"They have problems, too. Many in the Philippines have less material good than others in the world. Yet there is still a sense of happy trust in God, and love of neighbor.
"Third, there is a love of God and for his Son Jesus that is almost synonymous with the word Filipino. There is also something that Filipinos are famous for, around the world – their love for the Blessed Mother.
"Among the many Filipinos I have met, the affectionate title for Mary that I always hear from their lips is "Mama Mary". For these gentle folks Mary is not just a theological idea, and historical person, or a statue in a church – Mary is the mother of their Lord and their own mother as well, their ‘mama’.
"The Philippines is a Catholic nation – the only such nation in Asia – and this wonderful country exports missionaries around the world. They are not hired to be missionaries, not official workers of the church.
"No, they are workers and educators, doctors, nurses and housekeepers that go to other lands and travel to the far reaches of the earth. And everywhere they go they take the joyous gospel of Jesus with them. They make a somber Mass joyful when they burst into song. They convict the pagan of sin as they always keep the love of Jesus and the Eucharist central in their lives.
"My hope and prayer, while I am here in the Philippines, sharing my conversion story from Baptist Protestant to Roman Catholic, is that the Filipino people will continue to keep these precious qualities. I pray that they will continue loving their families, loving the Catholic Church, reading the Bible, loving Jesus, his Mother and the Eucharist.
"As many other religious and sects try to persuade them to leave the Church, may God give them the wisdom to defend the Catholic faith.
"As the world tempts them to sin and seek only money and fame and power, may God grant them the serenity always to remember that obedience to Christ and love for God are far more important than all the riches the world can offer.
"May the wonderful Filipino people continue to be a light of the Gospel to the whole world!"
With all our faults and failures, our weaknesses, our mistakes, our sins – the Filipino still love his family more than anything else in this world. Steve Ray and Jose Rizal had exactly the same thought. Rizal could not have put it more beautifully. He said:
"My people have always been poor.
For centuries our only real possessions
have been the land, the sea, the sun,
the rain. But, having nothing, we
discovered that our real treasures was
……each other."
And even the sinner in the Philippines has the deep conviction – or at least the desperate hope – that, somehow, Mary will save him in the end.
And these two things – the family and the rosary – come alive in the Filipino home, even if that home is a squatter‘s shack or a tiny little hovel under a bridge. Everywhere, the place where the Filipinos live is "the Church of the Home".
It crystallizes in the Family Rosary. That is why Father Patrick Peyton was so happy here. No matter how much trouble we have, we are convinced that "the family that prays together will stay together!"
Steve Ray and Horacio de la Costa saw exactly the same things, in the heart of the Filipino. Father de la Costa ssaid: "This pauper among the nations hides two jewels in her rags – our faith, and our music". And from this springs….joy! The rich and the powerful frown. The Filipino……smiles!