Tuesday, December 11, 2012

Jesse Tree

J.M.J.
 

Every year I say I will make THIS Advent really count.  I have such grand plans and high hopes that this will finally be the year I get Advent 'right'.  Well, it has come as no surprise that I have already fallen off the Advent bandwagon yet again.  We are not doing nearly what we had planned, but at least this year we have a Jesse Tree!

We tried to do Jesse Trees in the past, but the cartoonish pictures, quite frankly, annoyed me.  And being one who tends to encourage beauty over the simplistic, I decided to make my own ornaments.

I wanted to use fine works of art to depict each theme, as these pictures stimulate a child's imagination and get them curious about the Good God who created them.  And while I wanted them to be embellished with touches of glitter and ribbon, my time and materials dictated differently.  But now that I see the results, I couldn't be more pleased! 

I simply did Google Image searches on each theme (guard your eyes -sometimes some inappropriate images may show up in your search!) and then printed them out and mounted them on 4.5 x 6.5 colored cardstock.  The cardstock collection I bought has a subtle pearlized sparkle to it, and I anchored the pictures in place using cheap crafters tape in various colors.  I wrote down teh information about each ornament on teh back and laminated them. 

Since it is already the 11th day, I will just spend some time catching everyone up on the ornaments we used thus far - porbably posting up to 3 a day until we are in synch with the calendar. 

(I am using the Jesse Tree outline provided by the Fisheaters website, which can be found HERE
and the bible verses are from the online Douay-Rheims which can be found HERE)

This year we are focusing on the History of the World.  Next year we will make new ornaments stressing Prophecy and Typology. 

Day #1  CREATION 


Genesis 1:1-31, 2:1-4
 
God createth Heaven and Earth, and all things therein, in six days.

[1] In the beginning God created heaven, and earth. [2] And the earth was void and empty, and darkness was upon the face of the deep; and the spirit of God moved over the waters. [3] And God said: Be light made. And light was made. [4] And God saw the light that it was good; and he divided the light from the darkness. [5] And he called the light Day, and the darkness Night; and there was evening and morning one day. [6] And God said: Let there be a firmament made amidst the waters: and let it divide the waters from the waters. [7] And God made a firmament, and divided the waters that were under the firmament, from those that were above the firmament, and it was so. [8] And God called the firmament, Heaven; and the evening and morning were the second day. [9] God also said: Let the waters that are under the heaven, be gathered together into one place: and let the dry land appear. And it was so done. [10] And God called the dry land, Earth; and the gathering together of the waters, he called Seas. And God saw that it was good.
[6] A firmament: By this name is here understood the whole space between the earth, and the highest stars. The lower part of which divideth the waters that are upon the earth, from those that are above in the clouds. [11] And he said: Let the earth bring forth the green herb, and such as may seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after its kind, which may have seed in itself upon the earth. And it was so done. [12] And the earth brought forth the green herb, and such as yieldeth seed according to its kind, and the tree that beareth fruit, having seed each one according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. [13] And the evening and the morning were the third day. [14] And God said: Let there be lights made in the firmament of heaven, to divide the day and the night, and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days and years: [15] To shine in the firmament of heaven, and to give light upon the earth. And it was so done. [16] And God made two great lights: a greater light to rule the day; and a lesser light to rule the night: and the stars. [17] And he set them in the firmament of heaven to shine upon the earth. [18] And to rule the day and the night, and to divide the light and the darkness. And God saw that it was good. [19] And the evening and morning were the fourth day. [20] God also said: Let the waters bring forth the creeping creature having life, and the fowl that may fly over the earth under the firmament of heaven.
[16] Two great lights: God created on the first day, light, which being moved from east to west, by its rising and setting, made morning and evening. But on the fourth day he ordered and distributed this light, and made the sun, moon, and stars. The moon, though much less than the stars, is here called a great light, from its giving a far greater light to the earth than any of them. [21] And God created the great whales, and every living and moving creature, which the waters brought forth, according to their kinds, and every winged fowl according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. [22] And he blessed them, saying: Increase and multiply, and fill the waters of the sea: and let the birds be multiplied upon the earth. [23] And the evening and morning were the fifth day. [24] And God said: Let the earth bring forth the living creature in its kind, cattle and creeping things, and beasts of the earth, according to their kinds. And it was so done. [25] And God made the beasts of the earth according to their kinds, and cattle, and every thing that creepeth on the earth after its kind. And God saw that it was good. [26] And he said: Let us make man to our image and likeness: and let him have dominion over the fishes of the sea, and the fowls of the air, and the beasts, and the whole earth, and every creeping creature that moveth upon the earth. [27] And God created man to his own image: to the image of God he created him: male and female he created them. [28] And God blessed them, saying: Increase and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it, and rule over the fishes of the sea, and the fowls of the air, and all living creatures that move upon the earth. [29] And God said: Behold I have given you every herb bearing seed upon the earth, and all trees that have in themselves seed of their own kind, to be your meat: [30] And to all beasts of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to all that move upon the earth, and wherein there is life, that they may have to feed upon. And it was so done.
[26] Let us make man to our image: This image of God in man, is not in the body, but in the soul; which is a spiritual substance, endued with understanding and free will. God speaketh here in the plural number, to insinuate the plurality of persons in the Deity.

[28] Increase and multiply: This is not a precept, as some Protestant controvertists would have it, but a blessing, rendering them fruitful; for God had said the same words to the fishes, and birds, (ver. 22) who were incapable of receiving a precept. [31] And God saw all the things that he had made, and they were very good. And the evening and morning were the sixth day. [Genesis 1:1-31] [Latin]


God resteth on the seventh day and blesseth it. The earthly paradise, in which God placeth man. He commandeth him not to eat of the tree of knowledge. And formeth a woman of his rib.
 
[1] So the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the furniture of them. [2] And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made: and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had done. [3] And he blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made. [4] These are the generations of the heaven and the earth, when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made the heaven and the earth: [Genesis 2:1-4] [Latin

 
**[2] He rested: That is, he ceased to make or create any new kinds of things. Though, as our Lord tells us, John 5. 17,"He still worketh", viz., by conserving and governing all things, and creating souls.

An Anxious Waiting

J.M.J.

Advent is here - an anxious waiting for Our Savior to be born anew in our hearts.  As we continue to prepare ourselves for his coming, I invite you to follow me online - not only through the remaining days of Advent, but through all my peaks and valleys as I begin my journey in earnest to one day meet My lord in Heaven.

I was born Catholic but the faith never found its way to my heart.  As soon as I was old enough to be on my own, I shook off the shakles of my faith, free at last to spend Sundays as I wanted and to live my life without guilt!

What a tragedy those years turned out to be.

After more than a decade of decadance, the threat of divorce finally brought me to my knees and I turned, for the first time in my entire life, my eyes and ears towards God.  I began to watch for Him, and to listen - but I still did not love.

During this time, my husband was learning about the Catholic faith and embracing it wholeheartedly.  I followed him, reluctantly, back home, but it was not until several months after his reception of the sacraments that I finally turned my heart to Our Lord as well.

Since that day, I have been on quite a spiritual rollercoaster.  Conversion has not been a painless process for me, and I still struggle daily with my faults.  But Our Lord and Our Lady have kept me close and while I have by no means reached the heights of sanctity, I can say (with great reluctance and fear) that by the grace of God I can at least recognize the dangers around me and truly try to remain in a state of grace.  Most times.  Not that I still don't find myself knee deep in mud puddles - but at least I am more aware of the spiritual dangers that pull me in.

Conversion is slow, indeed. 

The purpose of my blog is not to preach and not to portray my home as Martha Stewart perfect, or my family as fabulous as the Duggars.  My purpose is simply to chronicle my successes and failures in my attempts to respond to God's great grace in my life and perhaps inspire a few readers to reach beyond what they think they are capable, to take a risk and trust in Our Lord, that He will provide for His followers in all things, in His time, and in His own way.  And no matter what form His provisions come to us, it is always for our greatest good. 

This Advent season, for me, will not just be about preparing for the upcoming holiday.  It will be to prepare myself for His coming into my heart.

 
Domine Deus virtutem, converte nos, et ostende faciem tuam et salvi erimus.
 
Come, Lord Jesus, come!