Thursday, December 25, 2014

Jesse Tree: The Word Made Flesh

Apse Mosaic, San Clemente, Rome. 1130.
John 1:1–18
O magnum mysterium, et admirabile sacramentum, ut animalia viderent Dominum natum, jacentem in praesepio! Beata Virgo, cujus viscera meruerunt portare Dominum Christum. Alleluia. O great mystery, and wonderful sacrament, that animals should see the new-born Lord, lying in a manger! Blessed is the Virgin whose womb was worthy to bear Christ the Lord. Alleluia!
Music: O Magnum Mysterium, Victoria.

Wednesday, December 24, 2014

Jesse Tree: The Nativity

Bicci di Lorenzo (1373–1452), Nativity.
Music: O Come, All Ye Faithful

Tuesday, December 23, 2014

Jesse Tree: The Visitation

Jacques Daret. The Visitation, from Altarpiece of the Virgin. 1434-1435.
Music: O Emmanuel

Monday, December 22, 2014

Sunday, December 21, 2014

Saturday, December 20, 2014

Friday, December 19, 2014

Wednesday, December 17, 2014

Jesse Tree: The Call of Isaiah

Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, The Prophet Isaiah. 1729.

Music: God, We Praise You, God, We Bless You

Tuesday, December 16, 2014

Monday, December 15, 2014

Sunday, December 14, 2014

Jesse Tree: David

Erasmus Quellin, Saul and David. 1635.

Music: Once in Royal David's City

Saturday, December 13, 2014

Friday, December 12, 2014

Thursday, December 11, 2014

Jesse Tree: The Fall of Jericho

Jean Fouquet, The Taking of Jericho
c. 1452-1460.

Music: When the King Shall Come Again

Wednesday, December 10, 2014

Tuesday, December 9, 2014

Monday, December 8, 2014

Jesse Tree: Joseph in Egypt

Master of the Castello Nativity, Sts Justus and Clement Multiplying the Grain of Volterra. c.1450.

Music: Comfort, Comfort, O My People

Jesse Tree: The Burning Bush

Dieric Bouts the Elder, Moses and the Burning Bush. 1465-70.


Saturday, December 6, 2014

Jesse Tree: Jacob's Ladder

Unknown Gothic Glass Painter, Jacob with the Tree of Jesse(Freiburg Cathedral). c.1218.

“How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.”

Music: Terribilis Est Locus Iste

Friday, December 5, 2014

Jesse Tree: The Sacrifice of Isaac

Titian, The Sacrifice of Isaac. 1542.

Hostias et preces tibi, Domine,
laudis offerimus.
Tu sucipe pro animabus illis,
quaram hodie memoriam facimus.
Fac eas, Domine,
de morte transire ad vitam,
Quam olim Abrahae promisisti
et semini ejus. 
Sacrifices and prayers of praise, Lord,
we offer to You.
Receive them in behalf of those souls
we commemorate today.
And let them, Lord,
pass from death to life,
which was promised to Abraham
and his descendants.
-Requiem Mass Offertory

Music: Magnificat, Cristóbal de Morales (1500-1553).


Jesse Tree Printable Ornaments here.

Thursday, December 4, 2014

Jesse Tree: The Covenant


Genesis 12:1-7, 15:1-6

He brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven and count the stars, if you are able to count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your descendants be.” And he believed the Lord; and the Lord reckoned it to him as righteousness.

Music: Conditor Alme Siderum (Chant, 7th cent.)

Wednesday, December 3, 2014

Jesse Tree: The Flood

Jacopo Bassano, The Animals Entering Noah' Ark. 1570s.

"... the church is Noah's ark, moving through the stormy waters of sin, the place of safety into which sinners have been called. So the church is shelter from the storm, a boat tossing on the waves of a dysfunctional world. If we follow the church fathers in their development of this image, we will understand that this defensiveness, this over-and-against quality, serves finally a positive purpose. According to the narrative in the book of Genesis, once the flood waters receded, Noah eagerly and immediately let out the life that he had so carefully preserved. That microcosm of God's good order was not meant to hunker down permanently aboard the ark, but rather to flood out into the world and remake it." 
- Fr. Robert Barron, "Catholicism"

Tune: SPIRES

2015 Patron Saints



Happy New Liturgical Year!  As has been our custom, the Church Ladies have compiled a list of patron saints for 2015, based on the Holy Father's Year of Consecrated Life.  You'll see some well known saints, but also saints from around the world and across history.  To use with your family or church group, simply print the image above and cut into slips for selection.  We wish you the best for the upcoming year, and regret that due to other obligations on our time, we can no longer draw saints for individuals.

On the first of January a new calendar year begins. On the first Sunday of Advent the new year of the Church begins. Therefore, the Saturday preceding the first Advent Sunday has something of the character of a New Year's Eve. One of the old customs is to choose a patron saint for the new year of the Church... We always choose them according to a special theme. One year, for instance, we had all the different Church Fathers; another year we chose only martyrs; then again, only saints of the new world....During the war we chose one saint of every country at war. 
  
After our first gathering around the Advent light, and the singing of the first Advent hymn, an air of expectancy spreads over the family group; now comes the moment when the mother goes around with a bowl in which are the little cards with the names of the new saints. Everybody draws a card... This saint will be invoked every morning after morning prayer. Everyone is supposed to look up and study the life story of his new friend, and some time during the coming year he will tell the family all about it...But the custom has become very dear to us, and every year it seems as if the family circle were enlarged by all those new brothers and sisters entering in and becoming known and loved by all.
 








Tuesday, December 2, 2014

Jesse Tree: The Fall of Man


Genesis 2:4–3:24

"O certe necessárium Adæ peccátum,
quod Christi morte delétum est!
O felix culpa,
quæ talem ac tantum méruit habére Redemptórem!"

"O truly necessary sin of Adam,
destroyed completely by the Death of Christ!

that earned for us so great, so glorious a Redeemer!"
-The Exsultet

Music: Adam Lay Ybounden

Monday, December 1, 2014

Jesse Tree: Creation

Giovanni di Paolo, The Creation of the World and the Expulsion from Paradise. 1445.
Genesis 1:1-2:3

Music: All Creatures of Our God and King