Jim Mayzik SJ Blog

I was at Eisenberg’s the other day.  You know Eisenberg’s Sandwich Shop, on 5th Ave and 22nd street, which claims to be open since 1929?  Their motto is "Raising New York's Cholesterol since 1929".

If you hate heights... or if you don't!!

Yesterday a woman came up to me at the end of Mass and gave me three one dollar bills.  When I responded with a quizzical look on my face, she told me it was a donation for the Holy Water bottles that we have up here on the altar.  I told her she could just throw the money into the basket with the bottles, and she said that she wouldn’t risk leaving the money there. “Even in a church?!” I exclaimed with feigned shock.  “Listen, Father, I’ve worked in churches for 10 years, and I’m no fool!”. 

Ever since he was a kid, David Aguilar was obsessed with Lego. He spent his childhood building cars, planes, helicopters, and eventually, his own prosthetic. Born with a deformed arm, the self-named “Hand Solo” decided to take his Lego-building skills to the next level. At age 18, he perfected his designs with the MK2, a prosthetic arm with the ability to bend and pick up objects with a pincer-like grip. Now, he’s the coolest kid on the block.

Sometimes I come into this church late at night. It is dark, very dark. I feel with my feet for the steps of the sanctuary, with my hands for the nearest pew in which to sit. Out there, behind the glass stained blue and red: the sounds of cars rushing by, a siren, an occasional laugh.

We have to practice.  Hosannah!  Hip hip hooray!  Way to go!   Two, four, six, eight--who do we appreciate?   Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!  O.K., good.  That’s perfect for the beginning of the week. 

A heartwarming message from 15 people with Down syndrome to a future mom.

Some years ago I was in a desert in Southern California, literally wandering around in the desert after my mother’s passing.  I had gone to the desert to come to terms with the monumental reality of losing a parent.

I was in a store on Essex Street on the lower east side where they sell T-shirts wholesale.  If you buy a dozen, they’re only $4 each, and I asked the guy behind the counter, an orthodox Jewish guy, what were the best ones. He brought me a shirt and I started to look at it, and he said, ‘don’t look---touch, feel it.  You gotta feel it to know what it is,” he said.  And so I didn’t look, I touched, felt it, and it was nice and thick and it felt, ummm, good.  “I see, said the blind man,” I said, and looked up at the guy.

Trapped on a mountain in a terrible snowstorm in the dead of night, one of the climbers reports his tentmate missing. Now they have to embark on a dangerous search.

Sometimes the cashier throws a rubber bar up the moving conveyor belt at the checkout counter to where you are tentatively standing.

Imagine a glass of water.  You don't have to imagine it, here's a glass of water right here in my hand. 

Welcome to Wegman’s Wild World of Weimaraners, where dogs bake cakes and lounge like royalty. Known to the world as the “dog photographer,” William Wegman has spent the past 45 years dressing and posing his canine muses in elaborate ensembles, finding whimsy in the absurd. His work is at measures droll and enchanting, evoking awe in audiences around the world. And, his pups have had their share of the limelight, making appearances on everything from “Saturday Night Live” and “Sesame Street,” to movies and galleries worldwide.

I was up on the roof of the Church of the Epiphany, looking for a pile of unused bricks that had been up there since who knows when. Like lots of things in the church, they were long forgotten relics of an earlier, more exciting time. 

A young hero has to embark on an epic quest to save a princess from an evil villain, all within an absurd short amount of time.

Every morning as I sit down at my computer to write a homily or check my email or read today’s news, I have a cup of Bigelow’s ultra spice Chai tea, my little caffeine wake-me-up to get me going for the day. 

PRAYING WITH THE IMAGINATION, A Four Week Program, following the Spiritual Exercises of St Ignatius of Loyola, and using Bibliodrama

Christopher Walken has branched out from his very successful acting career to pursue his true passion, creating artisanal coffee beverages and pastries, but be warned his concoctions have more than just meets the eye.

So there is this kid in front of me, all 17 skinny years of him, his curly hair all askew as he sat there on his hospital bed eating half of a cold English muffin. He’s describing to me how he had leapt out of the car when the father of his friend pulled over, trying to assess if they should do something for that ragamuffin woman walking by the side of the road.

I don’t know if you heard about the miracle that just happened. Did you hear about the miracle that just happened? I don’t mean the super blue blood moon from the lunar eclipse on Wednesday.