The Infancy Narrative

The Genealogy of Jesus
Photograph by Loci B. Lenar

The Infancy Narrative - Flickr Photo Sharing!

Scripture - Matthew 1:1-17

The Genealogy of Jesus the Messiah

This is the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah the son of David, the son of Abraham:

Abraham was the father of Isaac,
Isaac the father of Jacob,
Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers,
Judah the father of Perez and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar,
Perez the father of Hezron,
Hezron the father of Ram,
Ram the father of Amminadab,
Amminadab the father of Nahshon,
Nahshon the father of Salmon,
Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab,
Boaz the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth,
Obed the father of Jesse,
and Jesse the father of King David.

David was the father of Solomon, whose mother had been Uriah’s wife,
Solomon the father of Rehoboam,
Rehoboam the father of Abijah,
Abijah the father of Asa,
Asa the father of Jehoshaphat,
Jehoshaphat the father of Jehoram,
Jehoram the father of Uzziah,
Uzziah the father of Jotham,
Jotham the father of Ahaz,
Ahaz the father of Hezekiah,
Hezekiah the father of Manasseh,
Manasseh the father of Amon,
Amon the father of Josiah,
and Josiah the father of Jeconiah and his brothers at the time of the exile to Babylon.

After the exile to Babylon:
Jeconiah was the father of Shealtiel,
Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel,
Zerubbabel the father of Abihud,
Abihud the father of Eliakim,
Eliakim the father of Azor,
Azor the father of Zadok,
Zadok the father of Akim,
Akim the father of Elihud,
Elihud the father of Eleazar,
Eleazar the father of Matthan,
Matthan the father of Jacob,
and Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, and Mary was the mother of Jesus who is called the Messiah.

Thus there were fourteen generations in all from Abraham to David, fourteen from David to the exile to Babylon, and fourteen from the exile to the Messiah.

The Holy Rosary and bible were combined and photographed together on 1/10/2009.

A cropped version of the photograph was originally posted on Flickr.com on 1/10/2009. To view photo, please visit the following link: The Genealogy of Jesus

Photograph Copyright 2009 Loci B. Lenar
Christian-Miracles.com

History of St. Aloysius

St. Aloysius and St. Charles Borromeo - Church Window
St. Jude Catholic Church, Hopatcong, NJ
Photograph by Loci B. Lenar

St. Aloysius Gonzaga - Priest - Saints and Angels - Catholic Online

The following history regarding St. Aloysius is found on Catholic Online:

St. Aloysius was born in Castiglione, Italy. The first words St. Aloysius spoke were the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary. He was destined for the military by his father (who was in service to Philip II), but by the age of 9 Aloysius had decided on a religious life, and made a vow of perpetual virginity. To safeguard himself from possible temptation, he would keep his eyes persistently downcast in the presence of women. St. Charles Borromeo gave him his first Holy Communion. A kidney disease prevented St. Aloysius from a full social life for a while, so he spent his time in prayer and reading the lives of the saints. Although he was appointed a page in Spain, St. Aloysius kept up his many devotions and austerities, and was quite resolved to become a Jesuit. His family eventually moved back to Italy, where he taught catechism to the poor. When he was 18, he joined the Jesuits, after finally breaking down his father, who had refused his entrance into the order. He served in a hospital during the plague of 1587 in Milan, and died from it at the age of 23, after receiving the last rites from St. Robert Bellarmine. The last word he spoke was the Holy Name of Jesus. St. Robert wrote the Life of St. Aloysius.

Prayer to St. Aloysius

Heavenly Jesus by Stephen B. Whatley

Heavenly Jesus
By Stephen B. Whatley

Heavenly Jesus - Advent 2010 by Stephen B. Whatley | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

Guest post by Stephen B. Whatley

In prayer, I felt I saw Christ, in the sky....on the second Sunday of Advent, December 5th, after attending Mass. Walking across Covent Garden, London - on my way to swim, which has become a regular prayerful exercise I stopped, looking up at the clear blue sky, and was praying.

As I gazed at a single white cloud, deep in prayer- I seemed to 'feel' Jesus, a sense of his head and shoulders- within the whiteness - and a gentle blue halo. Virtually abstract. As ever, the mind questions,interferes, however deep the faith (I often ask Jesus to hear my heart, not my mind...) and the cloud changed - but His image felt imbedded in my heart.

Exhausted from swimming - and the cold winter temperatures!  I felt unable to attempt any artistic interpretation once home; but on the Monday I felt seized with an urgency to transcribe on paper a sense of what I felt; resulting in the above drawing.

Jesus Christ is there for those who seek - and His love is eternal.

Happy Christmas - Peace and Blessings on His birthday and throughout 2011.



The Holy Nativity
Painted in 2008
By Stephen B. Whatley


Copyright 2010 Stephen B. Whatley

May the Miracle of Christmas be a Blessing of Love and Peace to All!

The Birth of Jesus - Church Window
Photo by Loci B. Lenar

Wish you a Merry Christmas!

The Birth of Jesus - Flickr - Photo Sharing!

Luke 2:1-20 - The Birth of Jesus

In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) And everyone went to their own town to register.

So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.

And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.  But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”

Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,

“Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”

When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”

So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.

***

The stained glass window detail of the birth of Jesus can be seen inside Our Lady of the Lake Church. The Catholic church is located in Sparta, NJ, USA.

Photograph by Loci B. Lenar
Christian-Miracles.com

Virgin Mary Apparitions put Wisconsin Town on Pilgrimage Map

Bishop David Ricken and the Shrine of Our Lady of Good Help

NYT: Virgin Mary apparitions put town on map - U.S. news - The New York Times - msnbc.com

The following excerpt is posted on msnbc.com :

By ERIK ECKHOLM - New York Times

CHAMPION, Wisconsin - In France, the shrine at Lourdes is surrounded by hundreds of hotels and has received as many as 45,000 pilgrims in a single day. Our Lady of Guadalupe, in Mexico, draws millions of fervent worshipers a year.

Now, a little chapel among the dairy farms here, called Our Lady of Good Help, has joined that august company in terms of religious status, if not global fame. This month, it became one of only about a dozen sites worldwide, and the first in the United States, where apparitions of the Virgin Mary have been officially validated by the Roman Catholic Church.

In 1859, the year after Mary is said to have appeared in Lourdes, a Belgian immigrant here named Adele Brise said she was visited three times by Mary, who hovered between two trees in a bright light, clothed in dazzling white with a yellow sash around her waist and a crown of stars above her flowing blond locks. As instructed, Ms. Brise devoted her life to teaching Catholic beliefs to children.

On Dec. 8, after a two-year investigation by theologians who found no evidence of fraud or heresy and a long history of shrine-related conversions, cures and other signs of divine intervention, Bishop David L. Ricken of Green Bay declared “with moral certainty” that Ms. Brise did indeed have encounters “of a supernatural character” that are “worthy of belief.”

Debbie Banda, 46, and her mother, Mary Young, 75, who live nearby, learned of the shrine and the bishop’s decision from the news, and came for the first time on Wednesday.

“It’s incredible — she’s here, you just feel it,” Ms. Banda said after praying in the crypt chapel, said to be on the spot of the apparitions. As they passed a statue of Mary in white, just as described by Ms. Brise, Ms. Banda was overcome with emotion, weeping and hugging her mother. The two of them went back to pray some more.

Read More: Our Lady of Good Help

The Johnsons: God's Amazing Grace

The Johnsons: God's Amazing Grace - Amazing Stories | CBN.com

The video and following excerpt is from CBN.com:

By Audra Smith

CBN.com – “We couldn’t have asked for a better Christmas gift. That was the greatest gift God could have ever given us.”

Dawn Johnson’s Christmas miracle really began with a promise she made as a 19-year-old girl. During a mission trip to Haiti, she visited a small, third world hospital.

She tells The 700 Club, "I remember going to this hospital with this gentleman, and I had asked that gentleman, 'What is in that room?' I remember him opening the door, and there were rows and rows of babies. I was horrified when he said, 'This is our dying room.'

"I locked eyes with one infant. I remember my eyes and my heart speaking back to that child, saying, 'One day, one day I promise I will make a difference for children like you.'"

As she grew older, Dawn never forgot her promise. She started her family with her husband Tom and had four biological children. They began to foster and eventually adopted Hailey in 1996. In 2004, they felt led to adopt again, this time a baby named Grace from Ethiopia.

"We knew immediately, just at how God has spoken, that this was the little girl we were supposed to have."

In May of 2005, Tom and Dawn traveled to Ethiopia to pick up their daughter.

"We walked into this room. It was lined up with these little cradles, and I remember passing one by one. Little Gracie’s eyes were wide open and instant connection. She looked at me and I looked at her, and it was such a beautiful connection because the last time I had stared into the eyes of an infant like that was in the devastation of Haiti. All of the sudden, this grin that took up her whole face exploded."

The next day, Dawn and Tom learned the hard truth about Gracie’s background.

"I remember the instructor sharing with us that our little girl had been found. She had been abandoned in a field underneath a little nook in a bush with a rope placed around her neck. She had been left naked, no food, no water, for two days. They couldn’t even get her birth date exactly on. They had to make a guess."

On May 23, 2005, Gracie came home to the States to her new brothers and sisters. But the Johnsons had more hard news waiting for them. When they took Gracie in for routine blood work, their doctor called with a sobering report.

Dr. Liebert says, "She did have an active Hep B infection that she probably ended up getting at the time of birth. For children that are chronic Hep B carriers, there is not a lot of treatment available and these children can go on to have cerosis when they are older. That can go on to have cancer."

Dawn says, "I didn’t know at that point how devastating Hep B can be, but I knew that she could be a very, very sick little girl. So after hearing the news, immediately we went in our bedroom and we prayed. We took our little girl and we prayed over her."

Just days later, the Johnsons felt God leading them to attend a healing crusade.

"At the healing crusade, I remember the pastor saying, 'People, pray, ask God anything and just believe. I remember placing her hand on her head, closing my eyes and just praying, 'Lord, just heal her. That is all I ask of You.' A beautiful vision came before me. I saw the side of Jesus had walked up in front of me and I just saw from His shoulder down. He was taking her disease, which He died on the cross to do. He was giving her His purity, His life, His healing through this circular blood flow. It was the most powerful thing I have ever witnessed, and I said, 'Father God, You are healing her. I claim this for her.'"

In December, the Johnsons took Gracie back in to have her blood retested.

"My cell phone rang, and it happened to be our doctor. He said, “Dawn, I have great news for you. I have a special gift for you.' It was just before Christmas, and Gracie’s blood came back clean and pure and Hep B negative."

Dr. Liebert confirms, "Her liver enzymes were back to normal. All evidence of the Hep B virus within her blood completely disappeared. She is the first one I’ve seen that has actual been able to completely clear the Hep B."

"What a beautiful time to give us for Christmas," Dawn says. "That Christmas was the most special Christmas we will ever celebrate. It is the gift that He gave us of her and her healing and all that she has been since!"

Today, Gracie is five years old and healthier than ever. She even has a little brother, Joseph, from the same orphanage in Ethiopia. Dawn says, "Everyday is such a miracle day. I am reminded everyday when I see her and the joy she has in her heart and in her spirit of God’s grace and love. He hears our cry and He wants to save us just as He saved that little girl. He is waiting for you."

Read More: God's Amazing Grace