WELCOME
This website is meant to be a way for me to communicate with my friends in various worlds. It's a work in progress. I have created some pages to share my photography and video projects, my homilies, a blog for some essays, and my Mass schedule for Sundays. There is also a page and a link to a film project I'm hoping to realize, called The Cinapologue Project. You can get in touch with me via email on this site or directly at jmayzik@gmail.com. The contents of these pages reflect my own personal perspective, thoughts, and spiritual reflections, as well as those of others who are invited to the conversation. They do not specifically represent or speak for the Society of Jesus (of which I am a member) of or the Roman Catholic Church.
The website address is the answer to a question people often ask of me: "How are you?". I'm much better now that you're here!
Let me share a couple of things about me on this home page.
I'm a filmmaker and educator, and I'm also a Jesuit priest. I work with some awesome Fairfield alumni filmmakers in Companion Pictures (www.companionpictures.com). I like to create things, like: the GUTS bus system at Georgetown University (my first job!), an academic program in film and television and a residential college program at Fairfield University, and a whole lot of films (shorts, documentaries, narrative features). The creative moment is, in my opinion, holy. It is the moment when we are happiest, the most complete, and closest to the Source of all things.
You are what you love, right? So maybe a good way to introduce myself is to list some of my loves:
I love my family, my friends, New York City, movies, toothpicks, music of all kinds, Maya Angelou, celebrating Mass, photography, poetry, Loren Eiseley, architecture, Dave Eggers, the design of cars, short stories, cherries, A Thousand Clowns, teaching, novels that reveal the unnoticed little truths, Anne Sexton, The New York Times, my goldfish, the George Washington Bridge, Teilhard de Chardin, traveling, The Tree of Life, St Ignatius and his Society of Jesus, Billy Collins, wild rides in an amusement park, the New York Times, ice cream, dogs, skinny ties, and the man who opened his tortured arms to embrace the world's suffering, pain and sin. I love sharing the simple moments with people, like having a meal in the diner with a friend. I try as best as I can to be helpful to others, and I believe that we are all meant to serve one another, and the God who made us all.
I have a lot of faults and I'm working on them, and I seek inspiration from people in my life, many of whom are my heroes. And I am deeply committed to finding and revealing God everywhere and in everyone.
I am living in the greatest city I know of--New York, baby---and I'm trying to serve the good people of Epiphany parish in Manhattan as a priest, a faith companion, and an acknowledged sinner. It's an honor and privilege to be with my brothers and sisters in the wonderful parish of Epiphany.
St Ignatius of Loyola, Founder of the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits). Take Lord, receive all my liberty, my understanding, my entire will. Give me only your grace, and your love.
Here are some sites that you might want to visit:
The home page for the Jesuits in the USA: http://www.jesuits.org/
A wonderful spiritual website: http://www.meditationsofacommuter.com/
A blog written by other Jesuits: https://thejesuitpost.org/
Companion Pictures website: www.companionpictures.com
