By Fr Jason Smith, LC

Yesterday, I shared this list of things about myself as part of a requirement for the Beautiful Blogger Award. For my Saturday readers, I am sharing them here again, just in case you missed it.

1. My younger brother is also a priest. He resides and works in Florence, Italy. How he got that assignment and I didn’t I have no idea. I’m not jealous, I’m really not.

2. I was born on the same day that Hank Aaron broke Babe Ruth’s home run record. I like to think I popped out at precisely the same time the ball crossed the fence. I’ve been an avid baseball fan ever since, especially for the Minnesota Twins, win or lose, mostly lose.

3. I’m very good at games of little consequence such as ping pong, corn toss, air hockey, and disc golf; I’m really good at wiffle ball, and can throw some pretty nasty pitches that can strike out pretty much anyone:

4. I don’t have much skill at anything but I’m really lucky and so I’m successful at about 95% of the things I do. One year it was getting out of hand and so I gave up winning for Lent–not competition, just winning.

5. I once got an F+ in Math. I could be the only person in the history of humanity to ever get an F+ in anything. I am very proud of that.

6. I once stole the Pope’s ring before the Easter Vigil. He washed his hands and the ring happened to have gotten stuck in the towel and he wasn’t aware and neither was I. I stuck the towel behind Michelangelo’s Pieta. Suddenly Pope Benedict realized he no longer had on the Papal ring! I gave him the towel back and there it was. Rumors still circulate around Rome about that but now you, o Biltrix reader, know the true story.

7. Once, while serving Mass in front of a packed congregation, my leg fell asleep. When it came time to stand up (I was kneeling) I toppled over in what must have looked like some strange sort-of liturgical dance. Nothing that has ever happened to me since has embarrassed me. People may gasp and scream but it’s really not that bad and ultimately they think it’s funny.