Note from Maureen Flynn:
It is clear Ray Grijalba has been given a special mission from Heaven to spread the word about Eucharistic miracles. Like Blessed Carlo Acutis, he’ll be able to reach so many young people with this film, which is very much needed today.
Ray Grijalba will be a featured speaker at the 31st Annual International Week of Prayer and Fasting(IWOPF) Eucharistic Prayer Vigil, which will be held at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, DC on Saturday, October 28, 2023. He will speak along with Dr. Carlos Parellada, a surgeon involved in the study of the Tixtla (Mexico) Eucharistic Miracle, who is featured in his film. Our theme this year is Miracles of the Eucharist.
We had the pleasure to speak with Ray a few months ago. We asked him to share with us a little bit about his background, and what led him to this beautiful project – producing a film on Eucharistic miracles.
Ray Grijalba is a 30-year-old “regular guy,” married with three young children, working full-time as a materials engineer, with a YouTube Channel on the side. Ray’s deep Catholic faith and love of the supernatural spurred his interest in Eucharistic miracles, prompting him to put together a 10-minute video about Eucharistic Miracles, titled “Inspired by Carlo Acutis – Scientific Evidence of Eucharistic Miracles,” which he posted on “The Joy of the Faith,” his YouTube channel.
That video garnered not only 600,000 views, but also the attention of Hollywood. Director Angelo Libutti, a member of an Oscar Award-winning team for their work on such films as The Avengers and the new Lion King, reached out to Ray on Instagram asking if he’d like to work on a project together. Ray agreed, and wrote the script for the movie, as well as fulfilling the roles of both producer and interviewer. Ray interviewed many people for the film, which is currently in post-production, including Antonia Salzano Acutis, the mother of Blessed Carlo Acutis and Dr. Carlos Parellada, who investigated the Tixtla Eucharistic Miracle.
The film will provide subtitles in over 14 languages to ensure souls across the globe can learn more. Word is spreading about this movie, which explores several Eucharistic Miracles in depth. It includes both live action Bible reenactments, and the miracles of the Eucharist, shown as never before through 3D medical animation. This film features the scientific research of renowned doctors, researchers, and theologians that point to overwhelming evidence of the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist.
Through this movie, Ray hopes to continue the work of Blessed Carlo Acutis, who, during his life, tried to make known all the Eucharistic miracles of the world. This film’s message is especially needed by the world today since about 29% of Americans describe themselves as atheist, agnostic, or nothing in particular, and this is the fastest growing ‘denomination’ over the last decade. Several research studies have also reported that only one-third of Catholics believe the bread and wine become the Body and Blood of Jesus. This is a movie whose time has come.
Ray’s Early Years – From Lukewarm to On Fire
Ray understands what it’s like to be lukewarm. Growing up in a parish that could best be described as merely “culturally Catholic,” it wasn’t until Ray was in college that he discovered the writings and recordings of Venerable Fulton Sheen, which lit a fire to his faith.
Ray: “I thought; ‘Wow, he preaches as if it actually matters!’ So, I started reading and listening to him, and going to Eucharistic Adoration and Latin Mass. It really just opened my eyes to the truth of what the Eucharist is, and how we’re in this great battle for salvation. It’s really been an eye-opener.
“In college, I studied materials engineering, and we had a really great Newman Center and awesome FOCUS missionaries, who always encouraged students to do Bible studies. I wasn’t really into that yet, because at the time I was more introverted with my faith, very focused on what other people thought of me; I wanted to be ‘cool’ and fit in and all that. I never wanted to say the wrong thing or ‘step out of line.’ That was my perspective going into college. But then things changed drastically.
“In the spring of 2015, my last semester in my senior year in college, I started a Bible study on the Rosary; specifically, where it is in Scripture. We met every week on Monday nights, starting out with just three guys: my brother, myself, and one other guy, [and] ended up with around 15 guys. Then we started to go to Mass every day at 7am, and then we’d say the Rosary and have breakfast together. It was amazing to see these guys’ faith just come alive with the Rosary. My brother, who also started out kind of lukewarm, thought at first that I was crazy going to daily Mass. And then he started joining us! It was such a great bonding experience, and awesome to see our relationship as brothers grow so much deeper in the spiritual realm. I mean, we’d always played football and done the typical ‘brother stuff,’ but to go deep in the faith is something I don’t think a lot of siblings have in common. As an older brother, you always want to be a good example—to see that growth in him was amazing.”
Eucharistic Connection between Ray and His Wife, Ann Marie
Upon graduation, Ray got a job at Lockheed Martin, and credits his grandpa, GP, with being his “mentor” and his “wing man,” helping him not only with his job interview skills, but also in finding the woman he would marry. Ray loves to recount the story of how he and his wife Ann Marie met.
Ray: “My grandparents lived in Florida, in The Villages, and my grandpa, GP, has always been kind of the matchmaker type. My grandmother was terminally ill and couldn’t attend Mass. Ann Marie’s grandparents also lived in The Villages, and we now marvel at the fact that even though there are five ZIP codes in The Villages, it was my future wife’s grandparents who were assigned to come visit my grandparents’ house as extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion.
“One Sunday, their daughter (my future mother-in-law) came down from New Jersey to visit her parents, and make the rounds with them to the different houses where they would bring Jesus. Not a lot of people talked to my grandma at that point because they thought she was in a vegetative state. My future mother-in-law is super loving, and she did talk to her. My grandpa was amazed by that, so he said to her, ‘Do you have any daughters? Because if they’re anything like you, my grandson’s got to meet them!’
“My future mother-in-law said, ‘Yes, I have one daughter,’ and while exchanging photos, she shared a family photo. My grandpa, who likes blondes, pointed to my wife’s picture and said, ‘That one.’
“So, he called me, saying, “Ray, I got this great girl for you!” He was always my wing man!”
Through a series of heavenly coincidences, Ray and Ann Marie were able to navigate all obstacles, not just geographic distance, to finally meet and begin dating. They married in 2015, and are now the parents of three beautiful children.
How Does a Materials Engineer Begin a YouTube Channel on Faith?
It turns out, Ray’s earlier success with his college Bible study spurred him to lead more Bible studies in his new locations. After a few job transfers within his company, he ended up back in Lexington, the same location where he had held his first Bible study.
With the number of his Bible studies growing, and his increased career and family responsibilities, Ray explained what happened next.
Ray: “My wife said, ‘Ray, you need to make videos on this because you’re going to forget the content.’ And, I was starting to forget it, so I started the YouTube channel, which was just going to be apologetics initially.
“But then I started looking around on Eucharistic miracles because I was doing a Bible study on John 6 and the Eucharist, so I tied this chapter into Eucharistic miracles. But I couldn’t find much out there from a scientific perspective. You could see the synopsis, but I wanted to read it myself and actually verify it myself versus listening to what a summary said. I actually wanted to look at the data.
“In April of 2020, I started to look into Blessed Carlo Acutis’ website, and found the names of these doctors who’d analyzed the miracles. I just emailed them and said, ‘Hey, I have a YouTube channel. I’d love to do an interview on Eucharistic miracles. I see that you investigated them.’
“Out of the 20 or so emails that I sent, two doctors responded. So, I was able to interview them over Zoom and put together a video on Eucharistic miracles. It was really great because one of the DVDs that I bought for my research was called Segni (Signs), an Italian documentary on Eucharistic miracles. I had to order it five times, because four times it got lost in the mail.”
Ray mentioned that he almost gave up on ordering it, but that he “would not have met Dr. Serafini, who’s written one of the best books on Eucharistic Miracles: A Cardiologist Examines Jesus: The Stunning Science Behind Eucharistic Miracles.” And likely, Ray would not have been able to help Dr. Serafini get his book published in English.
Ray: “This was what I’d been looking for, a medical analysis of Eucharistic miracles that actually went into scientific detail. Dr. Serafini was so helpful in writing the Eucharistic miracles script for the YouTube video, advising me if something was not correct, or ‘this is the accurate version,’ because unfortunately, when it comes to Eucharistic miracles, some details may be overstated or not true.
“One example was the story that the World Health Organization had analyzed these miracles and found that they couldn’t disprove them, but that never actually happened. Dr. Serafini went into the vault and read that report in the original Italian, because he’s Italian.
The Turning Point
Ray: “I made this YouTube video on Eucharistic Miracles. It really caught on, and it has over 660,000 views on YouTube right now. It’s really amazing, and God is just so good, how God has used that to reach people; it’s been very helpful for people.
That’s what led to meeting Angelo Libutti, who lives in Hollywood, and is the director of the movie. Angelo saw Ray’s YouTube video and reached out.
Movie director Angelo Libutti, left, filming with Norbertine Father Jacob Hsieh, middle, and Ray Grijalba, right.
Ray: “He messaged me on Instagram and said, ‘Hey, Ray, I’m a director out in California. Would love to talk about doing a project together.’ At first, I was thinking, ‘Is this a scam or something?’ So, we set up a Zoom call and he mentioned some of the movies that he worked on, like The Avengers and thenew Lion King. I was amazed that he worked on these and many others. He is just a great Catholic; he shared that he is originally from San Giovanni Rotondo, and, in fact, his godfather, a layman, was Padre Pio’s personal assistant for 25 years! He would work on his wounds, and Padre Pio would go over to Angelo’s parents’ house for dinner. This was just incredible, because I love Padre Pio! So, we had this whole connection, which was amazing.
We made a crowd funding video and have been going since then. It’s been really awesome to see his perspective because I was not thinking about doing any live action element of it. He was, and that’s progressed along as time has gone on. I’ve learned that making movies is very complicated.”
The rest of this article can be found in our new Summer 2023 magazine. Become a member today to receive this issue!
