The Minnesota Priest who had a powerful personal spiritual experience (not Eucharistic miracle) at the Consecration. Watch the video; so beautiful

 

Minnesota priest describes weeping at altar amid powerful Eucharistic experience

written by Dave Hrbacek 

September 16, 2026

Father Brent Bowman, a priest of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, says that during Mass he celebrated Sept. 14, 2026, at Chesterton Academy in Hopkins, he had an experience during the Eucharistic prayer that left him weeping for more than a minute. Father Bowman, pictured in a 2025 file photo, is the chaplain at the school and issued a statement Sept. 16 about what he experienced. (OSV News photo/Dave Hrbacek, The Catholic Spirit)

ST. PAUL, Minn. (OSV News) — During Mass Sept. 14 at a Catholic parish in suburban Minneapolis, Father Brent Bowman, a priest of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, had an experience during the Eucharistic prayer that left him weeping for more than a minute.

His emotional reaction at St. Gabriel the Archangel Catholic Church in Hopkins was captured on a livestream video of the Mass, which has since circulated widely online.

“During the consecration prayer over the wine at the altar, as I spoke the words, I was given what I believe to be internal knowledge of the power of these words being spoken and the reality of their effect to the point that I had difficult(y) speaking,” Father Bowman wrote in a statement posted Sept. 16 to the archdiocese’s website to clarify what can be seen in the video. 

“With each word, I became more physically overwhelmed as seen in the video,” he continued. “At the same time, I was given sensory knowledge of the weight of God’s power coming down upon the altar, and I felt the heaviness of Jesus’s substantial presence in the chalice in my hands.”

Not Eucharistic miracle, but ‘private spiritual experience’ 

Father Bowman, who was ordained in 2024, said that what he experienced while celebrating the Mass is not what the Church would consider a Eucharistic miracle, adding that “never did I see real blood or human flesh with my eyes.” He called it a “private spiritual experience” that was manifested publicly to the Mass goers, which included students, teachers and staff of Chesterton Academy in Hopkins, where he is school chaplain.

As he uttered the words “Do this in memory of me” while raising the chalice, he felt it become so heavy that he was not able to hold it up. With trembling hands, he set the chalice down on the altar, then bowed before it and continued to weep for more than a minute.

As this unfolded before a congregation that remained silent, he began to have an interior experience of the real presence of Jesus in the precious blood.

“I believe I was given grace to understand more deeply the bitter sweetness of Our Lord’s Passion and how much blood Christ shed for the immense weight of all our sins,” Father Bowman wrote. “I believe I experienced this weight in the chalice. This spiritual experience emotionally and physically overwhelmed me.”

‘Signs of God’s abundant love’

Eventually, he was able to continue with the Eucharistic prayer and elevate the chalice. As word spread about his experience and more people began watching the video, he received lots of attention that led to his wanting to clarify the experience.

“Private spiritual encounters with God like these are completely unmerited gifts and signs of God’s abundant love for all his people,” wrote Father Bowman. “They are not necessarily signs of any person’s holiness.”

On Sept. 16, Father Bowman wrote the statement that he believes people should read to properly understand his experience. In an interview after the statement was released, he talked about the importance of “letting this official statement speak for itself.”

“There have been a lot of rumors, a lot of misinformation, a lot of presumption,” he said. “I don’t want to confuse people.”

‘Every Mass is a Eucharistic miracle’ 

He also is uncomfortable with the “unwanted attention” that can come from an experience like this.

“I don’t do anything on social media,” he said. “So, there’s something kind of odd about this whole thing.”

Father Bowman noted that he has not watched the video, but he realizes that many others have, which is why he felt he needed to write a statement. He hopes people will know and understand just how powerful the Mass is and enter into it more fully.

“Every Mass is a Eucharistic miracle,” he said. “That needs to be said. It should be said. If we’re only paying attention to the mysteries and leaning in, might we come to understand the deeper reality of his Real Presence.”

He wants his short but powerful experience to be a teachable moment. “I pray this brief testimony moves all our hearts to contemplate more deeply the mysteries of the real presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist and the Precious Blood,” he wrote in his statement.

The experience occurred on the Church’s feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross. 

Dave Hrbacek is senior content specialist for The Catholic Spirit, newspaper of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. This story was originally published by The Catholic Spirit and is distributed through a partnership with OSV News.

Pope Leo XIV celebrated Mass at Genazzano Monday evening on the eve of Mary's birthday

 

Pope celebrates Our Lady of Good Counsel with an appeal to cultivate peace

Pope Leo XIV returns to the Shrine of Our Lady of Good Counsel in Genazzano on Monday evening, to celebrate Mass on the eve of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary and invite Christians to contemplate Mary's quiet presence and become servants of peace.

By Vatican News

“Let us allow peace to grow within us,” the Pope said during his homily as he presided over Mass at the Augustinian shrine dedicated to Our Lady of Good Counsel, “It will blossom in the world.”

Returning to the sanctuary in Genazzano, southeast of Rome, Pope Leo recalled that he had felt “a deep desire” to come there just days after his election to the papacy in May 2025. Mary, he said at the time, had accompanied him throughout his life “with her maternal presence, with her wisdom, and with the example of her love for her Son, the Son who is always at the center of my faith.”

Now, celebrating the Vigil of Mary's birth, he said he was once again entrusting to Mary “what is still born in this poor and magnificent humanity: fragile like a shoot, but a sign of God's faithfulness.”

Mary and the power of a quiet presence 

The Pope's homily focused on the apparent paradox of Mary's place in salvation history: a woman whose life changed the course of history, yet whose presence in the Gospel is marked by simplicity and silence.

Read also

10/05/2025

Pope visits Marian sanctuary outside Rome

Reflecting on the writings of St Thomas of Villanova, the Augustinian friar and bishop, Pope Leo asked why the Evangelists provide so little detail about Mary's birth, childhood and daily life, despite her unique place in the story of salvation.

St Thomas himself wondered why the Evangelists had written at length about John the Baptist and the Apostles but had said so little about Mary. Pope Leo quoted his question: “Why, I ask, have you deprived us of such great joy by your silence?”

Yet, the Pope said that silence offers an important lesson for believers.

“We are, in fact, ‘fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God’,” he said, adding that Mary teaches an intelligence that “converses with God,” asks questions and treasures events by connecting them in her heart.

In Matthew's account, Mary does not speak in the passage proclaimed at the Mass. Yet her presence, together with the presence of Christ within her, is enough to change the course of events.

“The simple presence of Mary – and of the Son within her – moves the whole of history,” Pope Leo said.

Her presence changes Joseph's expectations, decisions and actions, he continued. “In Mary, salvation finds a home: God with us!”

God's way is 'simpler and quieter'

The Pope then reflected on the mystery celebrated in the feast of Mary's birth.

“It is impossible to become accustomed to it!” he said. A child is born who will become “the Mother of her Creator, the Mother of God who saves.”

And yet, he observed, Mary is born simply as a child, “like the daughters and granddaughters whom we hold in our arms.”

“We have noble and lofty titles for her, of Lady and Queen,” he said, “but God's way has been and remains simpler and quieter, yet no less powerful and transformative.”

The same path is revealed in Christ, he continued, noting that “In Jesus Christ, God chose the most humble historical circumstances and the humblest of creatures to manifest the originality of his Kingdom, in which arrogance has no place and omnipotence is creation, service and care for life.”

Not fantasy, but prophecy

Pope Leo then returned to St Thomas of Villanova's invitation to contemplate Mary inwardly, even though Scripture does not provide a detailed portrait of her life.

St Thomas wrote that the Holy Spirit did not describe Mary in Scripture but instead “waited for you to paint her inwardly,” the Pope recalled.

“In contemplative prayer, what the world does not tell us, but already exists, takes shape; what is still invisible, but already possesses a new kind of strength,” he explained, adding that, “This is not fantasy, but prophecy.”

Such prophetic vision, he added, is needed “in times of destruction and uncertainty,” so that Christians can recognize God's work and serve it.

“Let peace grow within us”

From Mary's hidden strength, Pope Leo turned to the need for peace. Recalling the prophet Micah's vision of Bethlehem as the birthplace of a king of peace, he highlighted the biblical promise, noting that the prayer of the day's liturgy asks that the celebration of Mary's birth increase peace within believers.

“Yes, we want to imagine peace – to broaden the boundaries of our understanding and paint it in our souls – in order to recognize that it already exists, to welcome it and to serve it,” he said.

Peace, he continued, is “the gift of God, the breath of the Risen One, the work of the Holy Spirit.”

“Let us allow peace to grow within us,” he said. “It will blossom in the world. And the Mother of Good Counsel will accompany us in this mission.”

A place close to Pope Leo's heart

Pope Leo has a longstanding connection with the shrine in Genazzano, which he first visited as a young student in Rome in the early 1980s and where he returned over the years as Prior General of the Augustinian Order, Bishop of Chiclayo and later Cardinal. His Augustinian Province of Chicago is itself dedicated to Our Lady of Good Counsel.

His first visit to the shrine as Pope came just two days after his election, on 10 May 2025. Before appearing on the central loggia of St Peter's Basilica on the day of his election, he had also prayed before an image of Our Lady of Good Counsel in the Pauline Chapel of the Apostolic Palace.

The shrine itself has been entrusted to the Augustinians since the 14th century. According to tradition, on 25 April 1467, an image of the Virgin Mary appeared on a wall of the church while it was still under construction. Two Albanian pilgrims later recognized it as the image venerated in Shkodër, Albania, which had disappeared from its original location.

The image has attracted generations of pilgrims and several Popes, including Urban VIII, Pius IX, John XXIII and John Paul II. Following that tradition, a new painting depicting Pope Leo praying before Our Lady of Good Counsel was unveiled at the shrine during his September 7 visit.

Pope Leo XIV schedules Mass for the Care of Creation on September 1st at Castel Gandolfo

 

Archive photo: Pope Leo celebrating Mass for the Care of Creation, 7 September 2025  (@Vatican Media)

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• Pope Leo XIV
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Pope to Celebrate Mass for the Care of Creation at Castel Gandolfo

In the Pontifical Gardens of Castel Gandolfo, Pope Leo will celebrate Mass for the World Day of Prayer for Creation.

Vatican News

Pope Leo will preside over Mass for the Care of Creation at the Laudato Sì Village on September 1st, it has been announced. 

The Mass, which will be celebrated in the Laudato Si’ Garden within the Pontifical Gardens of Castel Gandolfo, was announced today in a joint statement by the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development and the Laudato Si’ Centre for Higher Education.

Read also

20/08/2026

Pope Leo XIV: 'The wounds of war extend beyond the battlefield'

The Mass marks the annual World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation and the opening of the Season of Creation—an ecumenical journey of prayer and commitment to safeguarding our common home. The period concludes on October 4, the feast of St. Francis of Assisi and the 800th anniversary of his passing.

During this season, the Church and other Christian communities are invited to renew their commitment to creation through prayer, conversion, and concrete acts of stewardship.

On September 1, the Pope will celebrate a special "Mass for the Care of Creation," which was developed by the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, the Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, and the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity.

Cardinal Czerny: "Every gift generates a responsibility"

"Celebrating the Eucharist around an altar immersed in a garden," said Cardinal Michael Czerny, Prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, "helps us remember that all creation is a gift, and every gift generates a responsibility."

"Faith teaches us to recognize our common home not primarily as a resource to be used, but as a gift to be welcomed with gratitude and cared for with love," the cardinal continued. "In the Mass, our thanksgiving to God also becomes a commitment: caring for creation means caring for life, for people—especially the most vulnerable—and for future generations."

Cardinal Baggio: Loving your neighbour means safeguarding creation

"For the Church," emphasized Cardinal Fabio Baggio, Director General of the Laudato Si’ Centre for Higher Education, "safeguarding Creation and promoting human dignity are two sides of a single mission, strongly rooted in the Christian faith. We believe God created the world and the human family out of love, and precisely out of love, He entrusted us with the care of our brothers and sisters and the custody of Creation."

"Safeguarding our common home," the Cardinal added, "means loving our neighbor, particularly those who suffer most from the consequences of environmental degradation, poverty, the climate crisis, and conflicts. Faith reminds us that we cannot love God without caring for what He has created and those He has entrusted to us.

Pope Leo XIV celebrates Mass at last stop in Rimini

 

Pope Leo presides over Holy Mass in Rimini

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• Pope Leo XIV
• mass
• homily
• Italy
• pastoral visit

Pope at Mass in Rimini: ‘At every level, authority is service'

During the Mass concluding his one-day pastoral visit to San Marino and Rimini, Pope Leo XIV reminds the faithful that St. Peter’s faith is the foundation of our call to our call to service, following in the footsteps of Jesus, the Messiah, who became incarnate to serve humanity.

By Christopher Wells

Pope Leo XIV celebrated Mass for the Twenty-first Sunday of Ordinary Time at the Italian port of Rimini on Saturday evening, concluding a one-day pastoral visit that began in the Republic of San Marino and included an encounter with the participants in the “Meeting for Friendship Among Peoples.”

The Holy Father began his homily by recalling St. Peter’s profession of faith in Jesus as the Christ, the Messiah, recounted in the day’s Gospel.

“We are here,” Pope Leo said, “because we believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the eternal Son of the Father, consecrated and sent into the world ‘to serve and to give His life as a ransom for many.”

In Peter’s words, he continued, “we recognize the truth that fills us with joy and hope, and we find the path that leads to life: the path of God who places Himself at the service of humanity.”

The Pope incenses the image of the patroness of Rimini (@Vatican Media)

Pope Leo explained that this is how we should understand Jesus’ handing of the keys of the Kingdom, a gesture that shows us that in the Church, authority is service.

Not only bishops and priests, but every baptized person, he said, is called to embrace, reunite, welcome, liberate, forgive, and emancipate “anyone imprisoned by sin and its consequences.

Turning to the Old Testament reading, which saw the unjust steward removed from his position in favour of the righteous Eliakim, Pope Leo drew the lesson: “everything we have and are is a gift from God to us, so that, in His hands, we can be instruments of salvation for one another in justice.”

Pope Leo went on to explain the “inscrutability” of God’s plans for us—expressed by St Paul in the Second Reading—saying that those plans are not complex because of the reasoning behind them, but because of “the disarming immensity of His love, which surpasses all our capacity and expectations.”

This divine loved, which we are called to imitate, is mirrored in the honesty, generosity, and, benevolence of the people of the Romagna region, the Holy Father sad, as he encouraged them to continue to ensure that the area is welcoming, “not only for its refreshment and entertainment, but also for its spirituality.”

In the context of the summer vacation that is drawing to a close, Pope Leo warned the faithful not to allow a period of rest to lead to “dispersion and ruin,” but rather to take the opportunity to find rest in a genuine encounter with God and other people in the depths of our souls.

He said the Christian community is called to foster this experience, as individuals and institutions, through hospitality, recollection, and the willingness “to help and to offer charity.” This applies not only to our engagement with those seeking rest and refreshment, but also with those “wounded in body and spirit, who seek refuge, food, and assistance far from their homeland.”

Quoting the local Bishop, Pope Leo XIV invited the faithful gathered for the Holy Mass to take up the attitudes of prayer, unity, listening, courage, simplicity, gratitude, before thanking them for their welcome and commending them to the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary and their patron saints.

Pope Leo XIV at Mass for the Assumption at St. Thomas of Villanova Church in Castel Gandolfo 08.15.2026

 

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• Pope Leo XIV
• mass
• virgin mary

Pope: 'The purity of Mary's soul leads us toward glory of Heaven'

During Mass in Castel Gandolfo for the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Pope Leo XIV marvels how the Blessed Virgin Mary, through God's grace, leads us toward Heaven, insisting that love is "humanity’s most beautiful adornment," stressing that it "transfigures, transforms, ennobles and lifts us up, making us light, free and close to God, even amid life’s ups and downs."

By Deborah Castellano Lubov 

"For it is the purity of the soul that, in Mary — as in us — by the grace of God, illuminates and transfigures the whole person, leading us to the glory of Heaven."

Pope Leo XIV gave this reminder during Mass for the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary at the Pontifical Parish of Saint Thomas of Villanova in Castel Gandolfo on 15 August 2026.

READ POPE LEO XIV'S FULL HOMILY

The Holy Father began his homily by saying that it is with great joy that he celebrates the Solemnity of the Assumption with their parish community once again this year.

Blessed Mother assumed body and soul into heavenly glory

This Solemnity, the Pope recalled that the Magisterium of the Church teaches us that Mary, “having completed the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into heavenly glory, and points out to us, in this Mystery, the fulfillment of the most perfect grace that God bestowed upon her at her Immaculate Conception.”

For this reason, Pope Leo noted, many works of art are inspired by the scene described in the passage from the Book of Revelation that they heard in the First Reading: “A woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet,” signifying that in Mary’s heart, heaven and earth, time and eternity, meet.

Accordingly, he explained, these works depict her as a beautiful young woman physically rising from the earth toward the heavens at the end of her earthly life.

On the surface, the Pope acknowledged, this image seems to contrast with our experience of what the passing of the years does to us.

"As we age," the Pope said, "our bodies do not become more agile, but heavier; our skin does not become fresher but shows the signs of old age; our hair does not gain color and luster, but turns gray and then white. So, what do we have in common with the beautiful young woman depicted on the altarpieces of our churches?"

Papal Mass for the Solemnity of the Assumption (@Vatican Media)

Purity of the soul

To understand this, the Pope explained, we must unite the two signs of the incorrupt body of the Mother of God and her immaculate heart.

"For it is the purity of the soul that, in Mary — as in us — by the grace of God," he reiterated, "illuminates and transfigures the whole person, leading us to the glory of Heaven."

"The glorification of Mary, body and soul," Pope Leo underscored, "teaches us that our true beauty does not lie in hiding the signs of aging, but in revealing the signs of love that never end, and are even impressed on our flesh."

With this in mind, the Holy Father urged the faithful to reexamine many of the aesthetic standards, predominantly hedonistic and consumerist in nature, that the world imposes on us.

"These standards," he warned, "risk trapping us in burdensome expectations, causing us to waste precious energy on what does not really matter and does not last forever."

Small glimpses of Heaven

The Holy Father acknowledged how easy it is to see where true beauty lies and where, on the other hand, there is still a need for conversion, forgiveness and healing.

"If we truly wish to discover and nurture the divine beauty that surrounds us and for which we were made, and to share it with those around us, we must learn to see it in the wrinkles of an elderly person as in the tender face of a child, in the maturity of an adult as in the liveliness of a young person, in work clothes and tools as well as in festive decorations."

Moreover, Pope Leo noted, "we must listen to the unique love stories that each of these realities tells us, recognizing in them small glimpses of heaven."

"Love," the Pope therefore insisted, "is humanity’s most beautiful adornment," stressing that it "transfigures, transforms, ennobles and lifts us up, making us light, free and close to God, even amid life’s ups and downs."

Reflecting on the mystery of the Assumption of the Virgin, Pope Leo recalled that Saint Paul VI said that to understand its meaning, “we must transform the terms we use in earthly and temporal language into superlative and absolute ones […] to imagine the eternal on a small scale.”

The Pope also recalled how Pope Francis reflected on the encounter between the infinite and the finite in the Mother of God, writing: “Mary was able to turn a stable into a home for Jesus, with poor swaddling clothes and an abundance of love.”

Her innocent heart

Pope Leo explained that the miracle Mary, the maiden of Nazareth, experienced in "her innocent heart, which led her to the glory of Heaven, is a meeting of extremes," as she herself testifies in the inspired words of the Magnificat.

"In this canticle, through the humble expressions of her faith," Pope Leo marveled, "the Mother of God speaks to us in simple terms of the magnificent mysteries she experienced, such as God becoming man in her to save humanity, and the Eternal One revealing Himself within time to reopen the path to eternity for us."

At the same time, Pope Leo recalled, in her position as a “humble servant,” Pope Saint Paul VI said that Mary shows us the “humble dimension” in which we too can encounter the Lord.

The Holy Father said that we need not look far to find the sublimity of the Mystery we celebrate but can encounter it wherever there is true charity.

"For example," the Pope explained, we encounter it "in the eyes of a father and mother returning home after a long day, tired but happy to be with their children" and "in the faces of grandfathers and grandmothers who, despite the aches and pains of old age, are filled with unexpected energy as they care for their grandchildren."

He said that we can also see it in the commitment of young people who strive to grow in morality and sincerity, ready even to go against the grain of “what everyone else does.”

Finally, Pope Leo continued, it can be seen in the daily work of so many men and women who, with faith and dedication, help bring a little bit of Heaven to earth and the earth closer to Heaven.

Beautiful face of Our Lady of the Assumption transcends any possible representation, and is familiar

"Dear friends, the beautiful face of Our Lady of the Assumption is unique; it transcends any possible representation, and yet, at the same time, is familiar to us.

"Even at this very moment," Pope Leo pointed out, "we can see her face in the people who are close to us, such as the brothers and sisters with whom, in faith, we share the daily offering of our lives."

He noted that in her holy human nature, by the grace of God, "we also see our nature," and said that we, therefore, are also "called to live the same grace-filled life that she lived and to share in her glory."

The Pope recalled how St. Augustine, speaking of Christ’s Resurrection, urged the Christians of his time to make it the compass and focal point of their lives, when he said: “Christ rose from the dead so that He might never die again […]. Change course, follow the light! Begin to rise from the very place from which he rose”

With this in mind, Pope Leo told the faithful to accept the saint's invitation and follow the light of the Risen Lord, "changing course if necessary."

Finally, Pope Leo concluding his homily by inviting the faithful to join him "in looking to Mary, whom God has crowned with glory in body and soul, and whom He has given to us as Mother, guide, companion on our journey, and protector on the path to Heaven."

Pope Leo's Mass for the Solemnity of the Assumption (@Vatican Media)