Ray Grijalba is the writer and co-producer of the new groundbreaking film about Eucharistic Miracles, The New Manna. The film utilizes 3-D medical animation, which highlights the Real Presence of the Eucharist through scientific analysis of some of the Eucharistic Miracles, interviews with researchers, physicists, and theologians, and live-action Bible reenactments.
Ray, an engineer by training, got his start by creating “The Joy of the Faith” YouTube channel to keep the videos he made for his Bible studies. He seeks to bring souls closer to Jesus by producing relevant and thought-provoking content, including scientific analyses of the Shroud of Turin and Eucharistic Miracles.
His deep Catholic Faith and love of the Supernatural prompted Ray to put together a 10-minute video about Eucharistic Miracles, titled “Inspired by Carlos Acutis – Scientific Evidence of Eucharistic Miracles,” which he posted on 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 work on such films as The Avengers and the new Lion King, saw Ray’s YouTube video online and reached out to him 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 co-producer and Interviewer. The film, which is currently in post-production, includes interviews with many people, including the mother of Blessed Carlos Acutis, Antonia Salzano Acutis, and Dr. Carlos Parellada, as well as Scott Hahn, Fr. Donald Calloway, and many others.
Although there have been over 200 documented Eucharistic miracles over time, only a small percentage have been medically analyzed. Ray sought out the miracles with the best scientific evidence, and which of these miracles have people who are still alive and can speak to them.
