LIGHTS, CAMERA, MIRACLE?

When is a photo just a photo and a reflection just a reflection -- and when are we afforded a glimpse, a hint, a sliver of light from the supernatural?

In this age of digital cameras (especially in phones), we are receiving many "miraculous" photos. Some seem the result of digital shutters (a black dot in a source of light, perhaps), and others a sullied lens.

And yet many seem poignant and come with what seems like a prompt, an encouragement, a message.

Might it be that the new technology is not so much allowing new artifacts but offering a wider glimpse of "reality" -- including the reality of the supernatural?

Is it a case that the more photos that are shot, the more comes through -- and that what we have grown used to thinking of as "just reflections" have often been little windows into an alternate dimension?

God speaks through nature and so one can then deduce that He speaks through reflections, refractions, molecular dust, light bleeds, erosion, and, well, anything He feels like speaking through.

If you had a uniquely powerful experience praying at a holy site and then a photo of your group at that site was unusual, is it so unreasonable to infer that the miraculous (however nunaced) did occur?

"This picture was taken after the Mass for the Holy Souls at St. Joseph's Church in Erie, Pennsylvania," writes a viewer named Anne [of the photo to the left]. "The altar turned into flames of gold after the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. The black image in front of the altar is either Father Wright or his assistant. He has started a Purgatorial Society and offers Masses for the Holy Souls every Monday night and it too is rapidly growing!"

Tough to discern. Some even seem unnerving. "We took this picture this past week when we were camping at Clear Lake, Manitoba," write Bill and Lisa Johnston [of the photo below, left]. "Everyone we show immediately sees a dove; the Holy Spirit?"

Are there other silhouettes and faces?

And how to decide what's real and what's a subconscious reaction?

Meanwhile, why is it that both holy and spooky faces sometimes appear in photos?

Are they simply "snapshots" of the spiritual reality -- good or bad -- at that moment? Is this a sky angel? Or deception?

Does the photo of this church depict the war between good and evil?

And what about this Cross reported in sky over Moscow? Just contrails?

It is the second interesting Cross over Russia in recent years.

Thoughts for the final week of summer muse.