In the year 1263 Fr Peter of Prague stopped at Bolsena to celebrate Mass while on his way to Rome. He is known to have been a good priest but not one without doubt in Christ’s true presence in the Eucharist.
After speaking the words of consecration, to his great surprise, blood began to seep from the consecrated host and trickle over his hands and onto the altar and the corporal. More…
By Fr Jason Smith, LC
What would a personal Pentecost look like?
At the beginning of the Second Vatican Council, as the Church reached out to an increasingly secular and rationalistic world, Pope John XXIII offered a providential and much needed prayer. He prayed for “a new Pentecost.” More…
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The Ascension by Benjamin West
By Fr Jason Smith, LC
The Liturgy on the feast of the Ascension presents us with the apostles staring awestruck at the sky as Jesus ascends out of sight; so much so, that we get the impression that they would have remained for days in this stupor, had not two messengers been sent to shake them up. More…
I find that when I am faithful to praying the Rosary many blessings come into my life.
I’m not the only one. More…
Fr Jason Smith LC
One Ash Wednesday, my dad announced to my brother and I that for Lent he would be fasting on bread and water on Wednesdays and Fridays. He wondered if we would like to join him.
Aaron and I looked at each other thinking he had flipped his lid. Aaron said he’d stick to giving up arguing; I said I’d continue to refrain from hitting Aaron until Easter. With all of our resolutions on the table we were ready to begin our Lenten regimen. More…
Fr Jason Smith
I went to Manhattan yesterday to get a wisdom tooth pulled. Thankfully the dentist was so adroit I was left with an hour or two of leisure to snap pictures of the city and Grand Central as I waited for the train.
As I snapped shots here and there I couldn’t help but observe the energy of the city. I kept thinking to myself, “No wonder it is so hard to stop and pray.” On the train ride home I put down the camera and picked up the pen to jot down a few notes–both to remind myself and to help others–on how to pray amid our busy life. More…
By Fr Jason Smith
A few weeks back I was hearing confessions in an old, cold, and rather uncomfortable confessional, the kind that our forefathers once used with a screen and two wooden doors, one on either side, so that the priest can slide them closed and the person on the right can’t hear what the person on the left is saying, or vice versa. More…
Fr Jason Smith
Words are not the only way we communicate, the body itself speaks a language.
A smile is, for example, one of the most obvious and effective means of non-verbal communication. It is so important Dale Carnegie notes that:
The expression worn on your face is far more important than the clothes worn on your back.
Eye contact is another powerful means of non-verbal communication. We use phrases that show this such as ‘He had that gleam in his eye’, ‘If looks could kill…’, ‘She gave an icy stare’, ‘He gave me the evil eye’, or my all time favorite, ‘He married her for her looks, but not the one’s she’s been giving him lately.’
By Fr Jason Smith
I have found no better representation of conversion and penance in art than The Penitent Magdalene, by George de la Tour. Though simple, it expresses the essential elements behind every conversion, and we can find in it powerful lessons to apply to our own life. Let’s take a closer look.
The Penitent Magdalen, George de la Tour
Why does God allow us to be tempted? Precisely because we grow so much when we are. We grow in faith. We grow in fortitude. We grow in humility. We learn to trust less in ourselves and more on God. Our prayer deepens. We turn more fervently to the Sacraments. Slowly, surely, we become more mature spiritually as God’s grace engages our freedom.
Biltrix 