Patty Mitchell, a member of St. Mark Church in Monticello, remembers when the new church was built and dedicated in 2008 just like it was yesterday. 

She also remembers how the parish had wanted stained-glass windows even then, 17 years ago. 

“Our initial plan with construction was to do stained glass windows from the get-go. But it just wasn’t in the budget after we finally got the church built,” she said. 

Fifteen years later, Mitchell found herself on the parish council in 2023. The parish council knew that the parish had taken the time to build up its finances in the past 15 years and was looking for improvements to make around the building and grounds.  

“We had been taking different surveys with our parishioners because we built a columbarium, and we got that completed, and we were like, ‘OK, what’s next?’” Mitchell said. 

The survey listed several improvement possibilities. 

“We were letting the congregation tell us. Do you want stained glass? Do you want a new kitchen? … So we gave parishioners three or four options, and stained-glass windows won.”

The parish council began the process of hiring stained glass experts at Soos Stained Glass in North Little Rock to help them pick designs, styles and saints to include. 

“We started probably in October or November of 2024. And then they started installing them (in March)… When you walk in the church … the whole left side, all the windows behind the altar, and the very top (circular window) is done on the right side. … They’re gorgeous.”

On each side of the altar are six large windows. Higher up on the right and left walls are two circular windows, featuring a dove and chalice with the Eucharist. Under one of the circular windows are two large windows, each split into halves, flanked by two slightly smaller windows, also split into halves.

Parishioners are hoping the work will be complete in time for Easter. 

The new windows depict the life of Jesus and saints, including the Holy Family, St. Matthew, St. Mark, St. Mary Magdalene, St. Teresa of Calcutta, St. Thérèse of Lisieux, St. Michael, St. Mary of the Assumption, St. Benedict, St. Pedro Calungsod, Our Lady of Guadalupe, St. Paul, St. Joseph, St. Christopher, St. Edward, St. Francis and St. Catherine of Siena. 

Mitchell said saints with different ethnicities and backgrounds were chosen by the parish council so that everyone at the parish would have a saint that resonated strongly with them or with their culture. 

“We have a diverse congregation. We’ve got a large group of Filipinos, Black Catholics, Hispanic Catholics — we’ve got a lot of different ethnicities in our congregation,” she said. 

Parishioners helped lower the costs by donating to dedicate the windows behind the altar to loved ones, donating around $37,000. Mitchell said the initial quote was around $150,000, but the cost has been closer to $85,000 as the designs were not as complex as originally anticipated. 

For Mitchell, Catholic churches are synonymous with stained-glass windows. She said she was stunned when she saw the windows behind the altar for the first time.

“I walked in one Thursday to put numbers up on the board for choir for Sunday,” she said. “And my jaw dropped, and I almost started crying. I walked up there, and I found my mom and dad’s window (that Mitchell dedicated to them with the image of St. Francis of Assisi).”

For Mitchell and many other parishioners, the stained-glass windows are a more authentic touch.

“I don’t know anything about stained glass, but the detail to me is just stunning. It is amazing,” she said. “I grew up at St. Joseph’s in Pine Bluff. I mean, I grew up with stained glass windows. So that’s how I always pictured a Catholic church to be. Now, we finally have them.”

Pastor Father Mark Abban, who also leads St. Mary Church in McGehee and Holy Child of Jesus Church in Dumas, said the windows have put the parish in a more prayerful mood. 

“If you go to any Catholic Church, you realize we have stained glass … no distractions. If you are looking at the pictures and the images, they speak volumes. …”

But from his place on the altar in front of the congregation, Father Abban could tell that because of the parish’s location on a busy road, sometimes the previously see-through windows allowed parishioners’ minds — and gazes — to wander during the Mass. 

“The church is so close to the road. We have a street. So with the transparent glass, when we are celebrating Mass, I could see parishioners looking outside,” he said. “If there is an emergency, you can hear the sirens and all of that. So people get distracted; they like to look through the windows and all kinds of things. … We need to center our attention — everything — on the celebration of the Mass.” 

Now, parishioners are already discussing how to incorporate the windows into parish events and liturgical celebrations. 

“We’re even thinking ahead to Christmas. Can we do lights shining in there instead? We’ve always put poinsettias around the windows and things like that, but if we could get little spotlights on each stained-glass window, something like that. We’re already planning, trying to think what we’ll do for Easter, for Christmas, that’ll be a little bit different,” Mitchell said.

Even just in the weeks since the stained glass installation began, Father Abban has noticed the difference — a difference that he says makes the 17-year wait worthwhile. 

“If we consider our spiritual life, then it’s worth it,” he said. “We have to invest into something like that to help us enjoy our celebration, to be part of it, not only just being present, but participating in the celebration. 

“… (Parishioners could) see the importance and benefit of what we were doing. … It helps them to appreciate what it is all about other than looking at it from just the design of it being beautiful. Not only is it beautiful, but we have spiritual benefits from it, and that is the goal.”

The Vatican issued this letter from Pope Francis to the American bishops Feb. 11.

I am writing today to address a few words to you in these delicate moments that you are living as pastors of the People of God who walk together in the United States of America.

1. The journey from slavery to freedom that the People of Israel traveled, as narrated in the Book of Exodus, invites us to look at the reality of our time, so clearly marked by the phenomenon of migration, as a decisive moment in history to reaffirm not only our faith in a God who is always close, incarnate, migrant and refugee, but also the infinite and transcendent dignity of every human person.

2. These words with which I begin are not an artificial construct. Even a cursory examination of the Church’s social doctrine emphatically shows that Jesus Christ is the true Emmanuel (cf. Matthew 1:23); he did not live apart from the difficult experience of being expelled from his own land because of an imminent risk to his life, and from the experience of having to take refuge in a society and a culture foreign to his own. The Son of God, in becoming man, also chose to live the drama of immigration. I like to recall, among other things, the words with which Pope Pius XII began his Apostolic Constitution on the Care of Migrants, which is considered the “Magna Carta” of the Church’s thinking on migration:

“The family of Nazareth in exile, Jesus, Mary and Joseph, emigrants in Egypt and refugees there to escape the wrath of an ungodly king, are the model, the example and the consolation of emigrants and pilgrims of every age and country, of all refugees of every condition who, beset by persecution or necessity, are forced to leave their homeland, beloved family and dear friends for foreign lands.”

3. Likewise, Jesus Christ, loving everyone with a universal love, educates us in the permanent recognition of the dignity of every human being, without exception. In fact, when we speak of “infinite and transcendent dignity,” we wish to emphasize that the most decisive value possessed by the human person surpasses and sustains every other juridical consideration that can be made to regulate life in society. Thus, all the Christian faithful and people of good will are called upon to consider the legitimacy of norms and public policies in the light of the dignity of the person and his or her fundamental rights, not vice versa.

4. I have followed closely the major crisis that is taking place in the United States with the initiation of a program of mass deportations. The rightly formed conscience cannot fail to make a critical judgment and express its disagreement with any measure that tacitly or explicitly identifies the illegal status of some migrants with criminality. At the same time, one must recognize the right of a nation to defend itself and keep communities safe from those who have committed violent or serious crimes while in the country or prior to arrival. That said, the act of deporting people who in many cases have left their own land for reasons of extreme poverty, insecurity, exploitation, persecution or serious deterioration of the environment, damages the dignity of many men and women, and of entire families, and places them in a state of particular vulnerability and defenselessness.

5. This is not a minor issue: an authentic rule of law is verified precisely in the dignified treatment that all people deserve, especially the poorest and most marginalized. The true common good is promoted when society and government, with creativity and strict respect for the rights of all — as I have affirmed on numerous occasions — welcomes, protects, promotes and integrates the most fragile, unprotected and vulnerable. This does not impede the development of a policy that regulates orderly and legal migration. However, this development cannot come about through the privilege of some and the sacrifice of others. What is built on the basis of force, and not on the truth about the equal dignity of every human being, begins badly and will end badly.

6. Christians know very well that it is only by affirming the infinite dignity of all that our own identity as persons and as communities reaches its maturity. Christian love is not a concentric expansion of interests that little by little extend to other persons and groups. In other words: the human person is not a mere individual, relatively expansive, with some philanthropic feelings! The human person is a subject with dignity who, through the constitutive relationship with all, especially with the poorest, can gradually mature in his identity and vocation. The true ordo amoris that must be promoted is that which we discover by meditating constantly on the parable of the “Good Samaritan” (cf. Luke10:25-37), that is, by meditating on the love that builds a fraternity open to all, without exception.

7. But worrying about personal, community or national identity, apart from these considerations, easily introduces an ideological criterion that distorts social life and imposes the will of the strongest as the criterion of truth.

8. I recognize your valuable efforts, dear brother bishops of the United States, as you work closely with migrants and refugees, proclaiming Jesus Christ and promoting fundamental human rights. God will richly reward all that you do for the protection and defense of those who are considered less valuable, less important or less human!

9. I exhort all the faithful of the Catholic Church, and all men and women of good will, not to give in to narratives that discriminate against and cause unnecessary suffering to our migrant and refugee brothers and sisters. With charity and clarity, we are all called to live in solidarity and fraternity, to build bridges that bring us ever closer together, to avoid walls of ignominy and to learn to give our lives as Jesus Christ gave his for the salvation of all.

10. Let us ask Our Lady of Guadalupe to protect individuals and families who live in fear or pain due to migration and/or deportation. May the “Virgen Morena,” who knew how to reconcile peoples when they were at enmity, grant us all to meet again as brothers and sisters, within her embrace, and thus take a step forward in the construction of a society that is more fraternal, inclusive and respectful of the dignity of all.

Parishioners at St. Vincent de Paul Church in Rogers honored Our Lady of Guadalupe with Masses, dancing and breakfast Nov. 11-12. The festivities began Nov. 11 with a flower sale and ended in the evening with a procession, rosary and dance performances until Las Mananitas was sung at 11:55 p.m.

On Dec. 12 midnight Mass was celebrated followed by the traditional pan dulce (sweet bread) and hot chocolate to honor the Virgin Mary.

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In the days leading up to her feast, Arkansans across the state lovingly displayed their devotion to Our Lady of Guadalupe. 

At least three churches — St. Stephen in Bentonville, St. John Church in Russellville and St. Mary in North Little Rock — held novenas leading up to Our Lady’s celebration Dec. 12. In addition, there were several processions, including parishioners traveling from St. Edward Church in Little Rock to St. Mary Church in North Little Rock and from Christ the King Church to Immaculate Conception Church to St. Boniface Church, all in Fort Smith. 

From Russellville, Warren, El Dorado, Danville and Lake Village, parishes held special Masses and celebrations with the singing of las mañanitas, a traditional Mexican birthday song sung in her honor.

“The devotion to Our Lady of Guadalupe is more than 500 years old,” Father Alejandro Puello, pastor of St. Anne Church in North Little Rock, said. “It precedes the establishment of the United States and Mexico as countries.”

Father Puello said for years his parish has celebrated the feast with a two-mile procession and rosary, exposition of the Blessed Sacrament in a 40-pound monstrance and display of Our Lady’s image on Sunday with singing and Mass on her feast the following morning.

“She appeared to an indigenous convert, and the people feel like they were specifically chosen by God to receive the blessing of her apparition,” Father Puello said. “Many people of Mexican descent consider themselves sons and daughters of the virgin first and Mexicans second because of this.” 

“Spiritually, the celebration of Our Lady of Guadalupe brings us closer to her son. Her role as a mother, as a faithful disciple, is an example of humility and obedience and encourages us to follow her example,” said Father Daniel Ramos, administrator of St. John Church and St. Leo the Great University Parish, both in Russellville. “She teaches us that in her there is no social status, ethnicities, languages, differences or stereotypes. She appeared to a humble man, San Juan Diego, to show that in the most insignificant one God is pleased.

“As a priest of the Diocese of Little Rock, where we have a huge percentage of Latino community, it is imperative to understand traditions and celebrate them for the spiritual growth of our communities. It is who we are, our identity before God and before others, our peace and consolation being so far away from home.”

Father Eddie D'Almeida, pastor of Holy Redeemer Church in El Dorado and St. Luke Church in Warren, said the churches have sponsored an all-night, 90-mile relay run from Magnolia to Warren and 50-mile bicycle ride from El Dorado to Warren in honor of Our Lady of Guadalupe. Additionally, St. Luke hosted a mile-long procession, including parade floats and mariachi bands, in Warren on the morning of Saturday, Dec. 10. After the procession, the parish celebrated Mass followed by a feast in the new parish hall with about 300 people in attendance. On Sunday, Dec. 11, 30 people completed a 15-mile pilgrimage walk from Hermitage to Warren before Sunday Mass at 5 p.m.

Holy Redeemer in El Dorado held celebrations the afternoon of Dec. 10, with a mile-long procession with mariachis and parade floats, followed by Mass and a dinner party in the parish hall with 400 people. On her feast day, parishioners gathered at the church at 6 a.m. to sing las mañanitas followed by a traditional Mexican breakfast of sweet tamales – made with strawberries and pineapple, sweet breads, hot chocolate and coffee.

“This feast is a multi-day celebration with significant commitments and considerable planning,” Father D'Almeida said. “It takes several months of preparations and many, many hands in order for the entire celebration to occur. All of it comes from a great love for Our Mother, the patroness of the Americas.”

Father Mario Jacobo, pastor of St. Boniface Church in Fort Smith, said his parish joined Christ the King and Immaculate Conception for a procession between the three churches followed by a reception with tamales, Mexican sweet bread and champurrado, a Mexican-style hot chocolate. 

“We had a beautiful celebration for Our Lady of Guadalupe,” Father Jacobo said. “The three churches joined together to have a procession to give witness to our faith.”

Father Jacobo said the feast is important for the devout as well as those who have fallen away from the Church.

“It is the only day of the year that many Catholics come home,” he said. “They come to see their mother, a mother who they know walks with them, a mother that embraces them, a mother who waits for her children to come home. It is a time of healing and thanksgiving.”

In parishes with a significant population of Mexican immigrants, Dec. 12 will be celebrated as a major feast. 

In addition to Mass, there may be food, processions and other devotional practices. In most of those parishes, it will be like so many other events this fall — the first time it has returned to something like normal since “Covidic Time” came in 2020. 

Someone who is not of Mexican descent might, at first, see this celebration of this feast and the devotion to Our Lady of Guadalupe as something specific to that country. After all, many elements of Mexican culture are often incorporated into the various celebrations of Our Lady of Guadalupe. It’s also likely that many Catholics in the United States grew up never knowing about Our Lady of Guadalupe until learning of celebrations in their parishes organized and attended largely by the Spanish-speaking members of the parish. 

Once we learn about the story behind Our Lady of Guadalupe, we can see value in that story for all Catholics, no matter their country of origin. The Blessed Mother appeared to an indigenous peasant, Juan Diego, between Dec. 9 and 12, 1531. Diego was one of the few indigenous persons to have accepted Christianity by this point, despite the efforts of various Franciscan missionaries over the preceding 30-plus years. 

Our Lady told Juan Diego to approach the local bishop about building a church on the site of the apparition. At first, the bishop did not believe Diego, but on a later visit after a subsequent apparition, Diego opened his tilma (cloak) and revealed Castilian roses he had picked. Such roses shouldn't have been able to grow in Mexico, especially not in December, and they left an image of Our Lady on his clothing. 

It would be a mistake to see Dec. 12 as simply a “Mexican day” or as “Our Lady of Mexico” for at least three reasons. 

N First, St. John Paul II gave Our Lady of Guadalupe the title “patroness of the Americas” in 1999. His goal here was to recognize the Guadalupe apparition as important for all of North and South America, as that apparition spurred serious evangelization efforts in the Western Hemisphere. In her appearances to Juan Diego, Our Lady appeared dark-skinned, much like Diego, and wearing clothing typical of the local place and time. This image helped others to view the Catholic faith as not simply a European reality but as something accessible to the native peoples of the “New World” as well. 

N Second, Our Lady of Guadalupe is also recognized in the Church as the patroness of the unborn. This is because she appeared pregnant in the apparitions. Being just a few weeks before the Christmas celebration of the birth of Jesus, Our Lady appeared with a black belt, which symbolized for the native peoples a woman carrying a child. 

N Finally, all of us can see great value in the celebration of Our Lady of Guadalupe because of her role in evangelization. Prior to the apparitions, few native people of the Americas were willing to embrace the Catholic faith, but in the years following the apparitions, millions were baptized. 

Each of us lives now with a baptismal calling to make Jesus known to others, to recognize the goodness of the faith God has given us and thus to want to spread it also. This task is not easy, but thankfully God gives us grace and support of saints, such as Our Lady of Guadalupe, to aid us in this endeavor. 

Father Jason Tyler is pastor of St. Joseph Church in Fayetteville and Sts. Peter and Paul Church in Lincoln. He is the diocesan bioethicist. 

One of the most intriguing and controversial miracles is the gift of the stigmata or crucifixion wounds of Christ on the hands, feet, side, and, in some cases, the head.

“The stigmata manifests itself through some miraculous non-life-threatening, bleeding wounds that should not be able to continue,” said Father Joseph de Orbegozo, rector of the Cathedral of St. Andrew in Little Rock and an instructor at the Diocese of Little Rock’s House of Formation. “There are different ways in which miracles manifest and how Christ appears to different people. There seems to be a pattern of those who have received it who pray before the cross of Christ.” 

The Catholic Encyclopedia at newadvent.org offers several examples of the faithful receiving the stigmata, which comes from pity for Christ in his passion and shared participation in his sufferings.

St. Francis of Assisi was the first person to receive the stigmata. While praying in front of a crucifix during the feast of the Exaltation of the Cross in 1224, St. Francis had a vision of a crucified seraph, a six-winged angel. After the vision, he developed visible wounds in his hands, feet and side and lived with them until he died in 1226. Francis is often depicted in art with nail holes in his hands.

St. Catherine of Siena (1347-1380) received the stigmata on the fourth Sunday of Lent in 1375 while praying before the cross. At first, her marks were visible. However, she prayed the wounds would be invisible to others, yet she would still bear their pain until her death. She was canonized in 1461 and declared a doctor of the Church in 1970. She is often depicted in art with a crown of thorns.

St. Pio of Pietrelcina (1887-1968), also known as Padre Pio, received signs of the stigmata on Sept. 20, 1918, while he was praying before a crucifix after Mass, according to the National Centre for Padre Pio. The Franciscan monk’s wounds were visible and bled for the remainder of his life. His story spread around the world, creating interest and controversy. In the 1920s, the Vatican forbade him from saying Mass in public to counter his popularity. Doctors found the wounds of Padre Pio to be supernatural. He was canonized in 2002.

Skeptics have doubted the veracity of many who claim to have received the stigmata, and some who claimed to have been given the stigmata confessed to inflicting their own injuries, according to a 1999 article, “The Mystery of the Five Wounds,” by Smithsonian Magazine.

“There's so much controversy around them because there's always the question of if the person is doing it to themselves, maybe causing self-harm for publicity,” Father de Orbegozo said.

Some of the Church’s most popular, post-Scriptural miracles involve apparitions, defined by the Catechism of the Catholic Church as “an appearance to people on earth of a heavenly being — Christ, Mary, an angel or a saint.”

“Apparitions affect huge populations of people for generations, still with the purpose of revealing God to us and increasing our faith,” said Jeff Hines, director of the Diocese of Little Rock’s Faith Formation Office. “Popular devotions that have grown up around these miracles bring many to faith in Jesus who would not otherwise have been drawn to him. Today, when people are drawn to the devotion for Our Lady of Guadalupe and Our Lady of Lourdes and others, they are drawn to Christ, who has the power to transform their lives. The images from these apparitions, often found in unlikely places outside of churches, are a lifeline of faith for many who reach out to God in their time of need.”

The Catholic Encyclopedia at newadvent.org offers several examples of the faithful seeing apparitions.

One of the Church’s most moving apparitions happened to one of its favorite saints. In 1205, St. Francis of Assisi was praying in the church of San Damiano when he reported seeing the image of Jesus on the crucifix come alive and say to him, “Francis, Francis, go and repair my Church which, as you can see, is falling into ruins.”

He drew a following of men and women and founded the Franciscans for men; the Poor Clares, with St. Clare of Assisi, for women; and Third Order Franciscans, a confraternity composed of laity. When Pope Fancis was elected, he took the name of the man from Assisi as a guide for his papacy.

St. Teresa of Avila reported seeing Jesus in bodily form for two years, beginning in 1559. Her writings about her experiences became popular during the  Counter-Reformation. She founded the Order of the Discalced Carmelites with St. John of the Cross in 1562. In 1970 she was declared a Doctor of the Church for her writing and teachings on prayer. 

St. Faustina Kowalska began having visions and conversations with Jesus which she wrote about in her diary. On Sunday, Feb. 22, 1931, Jesus appeared to her wearing a white alb with red and blue rays emanating from his heart. The experiences resulted in a devotion to Jesus’ Divine Mercy. Divine Mercy Sunday is now officially celebrated on the Second Sunday of Easter.

Visions of St. Mary have also had an indelible impact on the Church. 

After the discovery of the Americas, St. Juan Diego saw Mary early in the morning on Dec. 9, 1531. She asked that a church be built at the site, but the local bishop did not believe his story. Three days later, he saw her again. She told him to collect roses in his cloak and bring them to the bishop. When he did, an image of Mary miraculously appeared, confirming his story and causing many to convert to the faith. Today, the cloak is on display at the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City. 

From Feb. 11 to July 16, 1858, Mary appeared to St. Bernadette Soubirous in Lourdes, France, and instructed the 14-year-old to pray for the conversion of sinners, revealed herself as the Immaculate Conception and instructed her to dig a hole where a spring would erupt. The water that flowed was given to the sick to drink and resulted in hundreds of miracle cures. Today, nearly six million people make the pilgrimage to Lourdes annually to visit the shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes and partake in the healing waters.

During World War I, Mary visited three children in Fátima, Portugal, where she asked them to devote themselves to the Holy Trinity and pray the rosary daily to bring peace to the world through her Immaculate Heart. On Oct. 13, 1917, after word of her visits spread, approximately 70,000 people witnessed “the Miracle of the Sun,” in which the star emitted multicolored light in the sky.

Currently, Mary is said to have appeared to six people in Medjugorje, Bosnia-Herzegovina, since June 24, 1981. She has made five main requests — to pray the entire rosary daily, to fast on Wednesdays and Fridays, to attend Mass as often as possible, to go to confession at least monthly and to read the Bible daily. Pilgrims have experienced conversions, visions, rosaries turning to a gold color and astronomical phenomena like the Miracle of the Sun.

The reported visions in Medjugorje are not without controversy. The Church has not verified the apparitions, and some have expressed concerns about their authenticity, including the local bishop. In 2010, Pope Benedict XVI set up a commission to study the authenticity of the apparitions. In 2017, Pope Francis said that the matter should be studied in more depth.

While apparitions have drawn millions of people closer to the Church over the centuries, Father Andrew Hart, JCL, adjutant judicial vicar for the Diocese of Little Rock Tribunal and theological consultant to Arkansas Catholic, said they are considered private revelations, which are not fundamental to the faith, and it is acceptable if people have doubts about them.

“Things that might have been revealed to different saints through history, after the death of the last apostle, those can be helpful for us and remind us of the central mysteries of our faith, but they're not communicating anything new that's essential to us for our salvation,” he said. “So even generally accepted apparitions like Our Lady of Lourdes or Our Lady of Guadalupe or Our Lady of Fatima or Jesus appearing to Faustina with Divine Mercy, technically speaking, no Catholic has to believe them in the same way that we must believe in the Incarnation or the Trinity or the Eucharist. Private revelations can help us, but they shouldn’t take the place of our belief in the central mysteries of our salvation revealed by God.”

Even from before his birth, and until the time of his Ascension into heaven, Jesus performed miracles to show mankind his divinity. Miraculous healings, exorcisms and even raising the dead revealed the saving love of God and offered a glimpse of the kingdom to come. 

“The whole purpose of miracles in the New Testament is to show Jesus’ authority,” said Father Joseph de Orbegozo, rector of the Cathedral of St. Andrew in Little Rock and an instructor at the Diocese of Little Rock’s House of Formation. “His miracles do this by creating parallels from the lives of the prophets as well as parallels from God's power to Jesus.”

Father de Orbegozo pointed out similarities between Elijah raising the son of a widow in 1 Kings 17:17-24 and Jesus similarly raising the son of a widow in Luke 7:11-17. 

“When you see that, the connection immediately forms,” he said. “Jesus has the power of the highest prophets.”

He additionally pointed to the story of Jesus healing the paralytic in front of the Pharisees (Luke 5:17-26). 

“When Jesus cured the man, he said, ‘your sins are forgiven.’ They asked, ‘Who has the right to do that but God?’ What was more shocking for them is the fact that Jesus forgave his sins. That is the greater miracle. It points out rather clearly that Jesus is no ordinary human being. Only God can heal in that way.” 

Even preceding his birth, miracles were associated with Jesus. Mary was immaculately conceived without original sin so that she could be the perfect vessel to bring Christ into the world. When he was born, angels visited the shepherds and the three kings followed a star to Bethlehem to pay him homage. 

Father Jerome Kodell, OSB, former abbot of Subiaco Abbey, said the three gifts have biblical symbolism and could be considered a minor miracle because they foreshadowed who the child is.  

“The gold signifies Jesus’ kingship; frankincense, which was burned as an offering to God, stands for his divinity; and myrrh, an anointing oil and herb used in embalming, foreshadows his redeeming death,” Father Kodell said.

When Jesus opened his ministry by being baptized, a miracle occurred. According to Matthew 3:16-17, “the heavens were opened (for him), and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove (and) coming upon him. And a voice came from the heavens, saying, ‘This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.’” 

Jesus’ first recorded miracle in the Gospels was turning water into wine. Over the next three years of his ministry, he healed the infirm, drove out evil spirits, raised the dead, fed 5,000 people with just five loaves of bread and two fishes and walked on water, just to name a few of the miracles he performed. 

Jesus again revealed his divinty during the Transfiguration. When he took Peter, James and John to a mountaintop to pray, “his face shone like the sun and his clothes became white as light (Matthew 17:2).” Moses and Elijah, representing the Old Testament law and the prophets, respectively, then appeared on either side of Jesus and a voice from above said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.”

“What is so incredible about the Transfiguration is the many different ways in which Jesus is showing himself as Lord,” Father de Orbegozo said. “He is showing himself as the one who not only supersedes everything that has come before but is at the center of everything going forward. You get to see this really beautiful showing of who Jesus is and who Jesus will be to the world.”

Following his passion, Jesus was bodily resurrected (Luke 24:1-8) and raised to heaven (Luke 24:50-53) with the promise he would come again to restore life to those who believe in him.

In addition to revealing his divine nature through miracles, Jesus also performed them to convey a new covenant of God’s love, said Jeff Hines, director of the Diocese of Little Rock’s Faith Formation Office.

“Jesus did miracles when he walked the earth to show his love and to teach us about God,” Hines said. “He fed the 5,000 because they were hungry but also to show them that he is the true bread of life. 

“He also did miracles to bring about a response of faith and in response to faith that is already there. The woman who touched his garment and was healed already had faith. Jesus said, ‘Your faith has saved you,’ yet he called attention to her in order to increase the faith of those who saw and heard and of us who read the Gospel story today.”

While some have tried over the millennia to dismiss or downplay the importance of Jesus’ miracles, Father Andrew Hart, JCL, adjutant judicial vicar for the Diocese of Little Rock Tribunal and theological consultant to Arkansas Catholic, said they are part of the “deposit of faith” or the Catholic body of revealed truth in the Scriptures and sacred tradition.

“We have to believe in those,” he said. "Jesus himself told us, in John's Gospel, that we must believe in him, and that if we have trouble believing, we can look to the works that he did, the miracles, as a proof that he is who he says he is — 'Emmanuel,' God with us."

Read more about miracles in this accompanying article, Miracles are signs of God’s presence, wisdom and love, Apparitions: Visions of spirits bring private revelations and Three saints who have received the holy gift of the stigmata; these articles on Eucharistic miracles, Learning about Eucharistic miracles can enrich faith life and Lord’s presence: Like feeling the warmth of the sun and this 2019 article, Is it a miracle? Diocese gathers facts in alleged healing, about Christine McGee, a then 19-year-old college student from Little Rock, who was allegedly healed through the intercession of Venerable Henriette Delille.

A wayward person unexpectedly finding success, a team pulling off an improbable victory, a financial windfall coming through in a most dire time, each are often described as miracles, but they’re not exactly examples on which one could build their faith.

Most of the world’s major religions  —  including Christianity, Judaism, Islam and Hinduism  —  believe in miracles, and Catholics believe they happen worldwide every hour, every day at Mass.

Father Jerome Kodell, OSB, former abbot of Subiaco Abbey, referenced the Catechism of the Catholic Church to define a miracle as “a sign or wonder, such as a healing or the control of nature, which can only be attributed to divine power."

“Miracles have a purpose. (They are) signs of God's presence that are a reminder and an encouragement to stay on the path (of faith),” he said.

From the creation of the universe to the Jews’ exodus from Egypt and Jesus’ virgin birth and resurrection from the dead, the Catholic faith is built on God’s revelation through miracles. 

“Miracles are important in Scripture because they are signs of God's wisdom and power,” said Father Joseph de Orbegozo, rector of the Cathedral of St. Andrew in Little Rock and an instructor at the Diocese of Little Rock’s House of Formation. “A lot of times people will say they are signs specifically of God’s power. They are. They’re also signs of the way in which God is Lord of the world, the one who knows the world best. It’s creator. So, they are also a sign of God's wisdom.”

Types of miracles

Father Andrew Hart, JCL, adjutant judicial vicar for the Diocese of Little Rock Tribunal and theological consultant to Arkansas Catholic, said Scripture includes several types of miracles, including control over nature, faith healings, exorcisms and resurrections. Non-biblical miracles include faith healings, the appearance of apparitions, the stigmata and the incorruptibility of the body after death.

Father Hart said miracles are possible because “God is the author of nature and can make exceptions to the laws of nature

While large and seemingly impossible miracles are often remembered and highlighted, not all miracles are large, showy examples of faith. Jeff Hines, director of the Diocese of Little Rock’s Faith Formation Office, said, miracles can be small, normal events of the day that reveal God's presence and action in our lives.

“God, through the Holy Spirit, works miracles today in response to our faith and to increase our faith at the same time,” Hines said. “It can be as small as the presence of a special person at a time that you really needed them, or a resolution to a problem that you could not have planned yourself or a specific response to a prayer offered at a time of need. All of them are opportunities to recognize God's presence, and so they are miracles that both respond to faith and increase our faith. 

“Our awareness of God's presence in everyday events increases our faith, especially when there is no other explanation than God's active presence,” he said. “This is how miracles are important to faith formation, especially the small everyday miracles that are visible when we see with the eyes of faith.”

Miracles everyday

Catholics believe they experience miracles at every Mass celebrated around the world. The miracle of transubstantiation asserts that the total substance of bread and wine are changed into the substance of the body and blood of Christ at the moment of the priest’s consecration. 

While the appearances of the original elements remain, the faithful believe the bread and wine are miraculously transformed into the Real Presence of Christ. This is “the source and summit of Christian life,” according to the Catechism of the Catholic Church. 

“The celebration of the Eucharist is miraculous in so many different ways,” Father de Orbegozo said. “Jesus becomes really and truly present — body, blood, soul and divinity. But flowing from that miracle are other miracles, like the communion of saints. The reality of the communion of saints is that we are mystically gathered together with those who came before us and with those who will come after us. The reality of the forgiveness of sins that occurs at every Mass is miraculous. No one has the ability to do that but God. The way that the Holy Spirit speaks in a living way to the whole of the people of God through Scripture, the homily and the words of the Mass is also miraculous, but the eucharist is the centerpiece of what is miraculous.”   

Fact or fiction?

While the Church promotes miracles as God’s revelation, it has a strenuous process for declaring their validity. According to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, previously the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, oversees the process to review and approve or deny claims of miracles. 

In order for someone to earn the title “blessed” they need to be a martyr or have one miracle attributed to their intercession. To become a saint, they need another qualifying miracle. If approval is granted, the pope decides whether or not to proceed with beatification or canonization.

“So much depends on the conjecture of the people examining them, and that’s what leads to doubt,” Father de Orbegozo said. “The reason that Catholics should take miracles seriously, and I mean both examining them for themselves and with the help of others, on authority, is that it allows us to both really engage in reason, a gift that God has given us, and faith and trust, other gifts that God has given us.

“I would say that’s one thing that is really fascinating about miracles in the Church. I really encourage people to look at the Vatican website where you can find the regulations and the medical council that serves the Congregation of Causes,” he said. “You can get a sense that they use a lot of different experts, including doctors. They have regulations for those experts. They can’t be in contact  —  in any way, shape or form  —  with any of the people who are working for the cause of the saint. That’s significant because it lends credence to an objective outlook.”

Read more about miracles in this accompanying article, Jesus’ miracles affirm his divinity, teach and show his love, Apparitions: Spirits in a material world and Three saints who have received gift of stigmata; these articles on Eucharistic miracles, Learning about Eucharistic miracles can enrich faith life and Lord’s presence: Like feeling the warmth of the sun and this 2019 article, Is it a miracle? Diocese gathers facts in alleged healing, about Christine McGee, a then 19-year-old college student from Little Rock, who was allegedly healed through the intercession of Venerable Henriette Delille.

Even more stealthy than the Grinch sneaking in to steal Christmas, the COVID-19 pandemic is silently changing the way Advent and Christmas will be celebrated in parishes and schools this year. 

Many have canceled events altogether, from choir concerts to food drives. But Jesus’ birth can be a lesson in simplicity and a willingness to change plans. 

Throw in masks and social distancing with some virtual plays, prepackaged cookies and a scaled-back spiritual revival, the faithful are doing what they can to prepare for and celebrate the Savior’s birth.

Toys and Nativity plays

St. John School in Hot Springs has put on a St. Nicholas Toy Drive “forever,” said Marianne Layne, the school’s director of advancement. For about seven years, each child has brought a toy to donate to the Cooper-Anthony Mercy Child Advocacy Center in Hot Springs, which serves child abuse victims. As a Mercy-founded school with three sisters still on staff, it’s a way to give back to kids in need. Children normally process to the altar with their toys, and seventh- and eighth-grade students deliver the toys and tour the center. This year, Layne said donated toys will be kept in the classrooms, and school administrators will deliver the roughly 100 toys. 

“They use these toys to give those children to Christmas. We can’t not do it,” Layne said. 

Another long-standing tradition of about 20 years at Our Lady of Fatima School in Benton is students acting out the Nativity story. Principal Jan Cash asked the students what they could do to still hold the play, and they decided to take it outdoors.

Weather permitting, about 50 students will dress up, narrate, and sing outside the gym Dec. 15 as parents park or drive by, hearing the play on the radio through an FM transmitter. 

“There’s a pitched roof on the front. We’re going to try to make that into the stable area and hang a 5-foot star,” Cash said. “… We want to make them as comfortable as we can, to make their school situation as un-stressful as we can” amid all the changes this year, she said. 

For the littlest children, St. Joseph School in Conway and Christ the King School in Little Rock are going virtual. 

Amy Evans, St. Joseph Preschool director, said 51 4- and 3-year-olds will act out “The Friendly Beast,” a poem that tells the story of Jesus’ birth through the eyes of animals at the Nativity. While the children typically perform it in church for their families, this year each class will take on a different role — from cows to shepherds — and their performances will be recorded and edited together to give to parents. 

“It’s tradition. We didn’t want to cancel this year,” Evans said, but the silver lining is the video is “something parents will have for years to come.” 

The first-grade class — 56 children in all — at Christ the King is moving forward with a 25-year tradition of the Christmas pageant on Christmas Eve. First-grade teacher Melissa Plafcan said the students retell the Nativity story, complete with costumes and songs. They perform for the school as well, during the Children’s Mass. 

This year, the parts have been split between the three classes, so practices can happen in the classroom and the singing parts were reassigned as solos or duos. They will meet socially distanced in the sanctuary, and performances will be recorded and made into a movie to premiere for families and students Dec. 17-18. 

“My first-grade team and I kind of had the attitude we are going to figure out a way to do this,” Plafcan said, explaining each grade has a special event annually and this is it for first graders. For kindergarteners, it’s the Kindergarten Circus, which this class missed out on in the spring. 

“To be honest, you’d be shocked as to how well these kids have adapted to the different changes” of the pandemic, Plafcan said. “They’re great about wearing their mask and staying apart. And never really question it … it shows how flexible kids can be.” 

Cookies and revival 

For 15 years, St. Peter the Fisherman Church in Mountain Home has held a Cookie Walk to raise money for the St. Vincent de Paul Society. It typically raises about $3,000 for the society that will assist anyone in the county with rent, utilities or food. 

This year on Dec. 5, instead of giving each participant a glove to pick out a variety of cookies from various trays with their selection weighed at the end, trays of pre-packaged cookies will be sold. Tables will be spread out in the parish hall to accommodate social distancing, and masks will be required. Temperatures will be taken at the door, and each person will get two gloves. 

Committee member MaryAnn Sladek makes several dozen cookies for the walk each year as well as 30 loaves of nut bread.

“I think it gets people more in the Christmas mood, and it’s a good way for people to get together,” she said, though she is baking in her home this year instead of at the parish hall. 

Theresa Boekholder, who founded the Cookie Walk, said, “People depend on it. We’ve been doing it for so long, and we decided with a little extra work, we can make it work.” 

Sister Mary Rose Tin Vu, FMSR, director of religious education at St. Patrick Church in North Little Rock and the Cathedral of St. Andrew in Little Rock, said PRE and CYM students are excited to participate in a Dec. 24 Christmas program, a tradition the past three years. The students and teachers take different roles, from prophets to kings, in anticipation of the Savior’s birth. The students also dress as Advent candles, singing a prayerful song of Advent, followed by the Nativity story, Sister Rose said. 

This year, there are fewer students — about 35 — and each segment will be performed in smaller groups, if it is safe to do so at that time.  

“Some parts I have all the kids stand together and sing so this year we’re not going to do that. We’ll use more with the audio (recordings),” she said. “So we’re not going to be doing a lot of singing,” adding activities like this are more vital this year given the emotional toll taken by the pandemic. “I have kids that have depression and now I see them (getting) a little bit better. They get to kind of be able to talk to their friends and get support from us.” 

For about three years, Father Leon Ngandu, SVD, pastor of St. Bartholomew Church in Little Rock and St. Augustine Church in North Little Rock, has held an Advent Revival for parishioners with singing, preaching and a penance service. This year’s revival will kick off at each parish’s Sunday Mass Dec. 13 and then at St. Bartholomew on Dec. 14 and Dec. 15 at St. Augustine. Father Ngandu said the singing will be by individuals or couples rather than choirs, and he’ll shorten his preaching time and focus more on confessions, with the revival theme, “I shall get up and go back to my Father.” 

“The people are going through a lot, especially during this time of pandemic, so if we do not help ourselves with the spiritual resources, it’s very difficult for our spiritual life, our spiritual growth,” he said. “We are going through a difficult crisis. We do our best by respecting the COVID restrictions but also provide spiritual food to our people. It’s helped us to overcome or to survive during this time of crisis.” 

If this year has proven anything, it’s that plans can change or be canceled quickly. Mariella Araujo, Hispanic Ministry director at Immaculate Conception in Fort Smith is hopeful but also realistic about the likelihood of the city approving the annual Our Lady of Guadalupe procession. 

Normally held on the closest Sunday to the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe — this year, the 12th is on a Saturday — celebrations began with 5 a.m. Mass, breakfast in the parish hall and an 8 a.m. procession with the Our Lady statue, traditional dancers and about 300 people. The three-and-a-half hour long procession ends with a program at the church. 

This year, the only planned event is the procession, following mask and distance protocols, with a maximum of 100 people. But the city has yet to approve it.

“I would love for it to happen because I think we need prayers more than ever,” Araujo said. “Our walking is our way of praying, it’s our way of asking God to ask for forgiveness, to help us out, to finish this pandemic.”