Mary Holding Jesus

Pieta Statue

St. Wendelin

Saint Wendelin Ohio

He Has Risen, He Has Risen Indeed

Resurrected Christ

St. Henry Catholic Church

Saint Henry Ohio

Golgotha

 

Station of the Cross

Shrine of the Holy Relics

Maria Stein Ohio

Pretty As A Post Card

Saint Wendelin Catholic Church 

St. Wendelin Ohio

This is my favorite from the Black and White Post Card Series I did in 2012. Sadly I never got back to that project.

A Healing Prayer

A Healing Prayer

At Cana, the Mother of Jesus said to the servers,

"Do whatever he tells you." John 2:5

Jesus, heal our lives,

our broken spirits,

our hearts and minds,

our body and soul.

Jesus hear our prayer;

You know our weakness,

our struggle and pain,

for You too have suffered.

Jesus Listen in love

as you once did at Cana

to your Mother Mary,

and respond in mercy.

Amen

The Virgin In Prayer Candle Lit Portrait
Saint Michael Catholic Church
Fort Loramie Ohio

The Last Supper

An oldie but a goodie. This is one of my favorite pictures from this church.

Brass Altar Relief 

St. John the Baptist Maria Stein Ohio

David's Psalms of Repentance (Psalms 51 and 32)

One of my pics was used for an online bible study. How cool is that. And they even gave me credit for the pic. Click on the link to check out the bible study.

David's Psalms of Repentance (Psalms 51 and 32)

Christ Mosaic

Christ Carrying Cross Mosaic

St. Augustine Catholic Church

Minster Ohio

The Guardian Angel Prayer

 Angel of God, my guardian dear, to whom God’s love commits me here, ever this day [or night] be at my side, to light and guard, to rule and guide. Amen.

St. John Catholic Church

Fryburg Ohio

Thanksgiving Day Prayer

Heavenly Father, on Thanksgiving Day
We bow our hearts to You and pray.
We give You thanks for all You've done
Especially for the gift of Jesus, Your Son.
For beauty in nature, Your glory we see
For joy and health, friends and family,
For daily provision, Your mercy and care
These are the blessings You graciously share.
So today we offer this response of praise
With a promise to follow You all of our days.
- Mary Fairchild

Re-Edit/Re-Post

Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Mary, Great with Child

When I consider women, meek or proud,
how God regarded her, her low estate,
young Mary, great with child! Her Child is great!
She swaddled Christ in clothing like His shroud,
and she hath seen Christ on the Cross and cloud,
and Christ hath led her through the narrow gate,
where she drank of His blood. His flesh, she ate.

"My Savior is my Son," this saint avowed.
Eve, mother of all living, hath her rest
in Thee, O Son of Sarah, God's own Son,
whom Rahab would have suckled at her breast
and Ruth of Moab would love like her own.
Thee Hannah would surrender: Thee, her best!
Yet Mary birthed Thee, Jesus Christ, alone.

Copyright 2009 by Michael Rew

This is a Re-Edit and Post 
Original Post 2/20/09

John 1:5 - Poster Series

The Top Ten Pictures For 2009

The year 2009 saw a lot of post, which made it very difficult to narrow it down to just 10. In my original post I split it up into 4 post of 3 months each. So here is the best of the best for 2009.

1. Relic Shrine - Shrine of the Holy Relics. Not only is this one of my favorite pics but also one of my favorite outings. The sisters let me pay a special visit to the Relic Chapel at Night. It was Awesome.

2. Station of the Cross - Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary. I just love the Stations of the Cross in the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary Church. I started doing close-ups to capture the detail. I was very happy with the way this one came out.

3. Stained Glass Window Collage - Holy Family Church. All I can say is WOW when I got a look of the stained glass windows of the Holy Family Church in Frenchtown. I made this collage and then donated a dozen prints for The Radio Maria Fundraiser.

 

4. Pieta Statue - St. Remy Church. Lots of the churches have Pieta statues and I almost always take a picture of them. This Window lit one I found a St. Remy is one of the best shots I have taken so far.

5. St. Remy Statue and Stained Glass - St. Remy Church. I am always on the look for that special shot and was pretty happy when I saw that I could silhouette the bust of the St. Remy Statue with the Stained Glass Window in the background.

6. Statue of Mary - St. Remy Church. St. Remy is a beautiful church and has recently been remodeled. This was taken before the remodel and when the altar of Mary had been decorated for the month of May the month of Mary.

7. Jesus with children Statue - Maria Stein Spiritual Center. I had visited The Shrine of the Holy Relics many times before I ventured over to the Maria Stein Spiritual Center right next door. It is home of the 50 Foot Cross and this beautiful statue.

8. Resurrected Jesus Wood Statue - St. Henry. St. Henry is one of the only completely modernized churches. As if that wasn't enough to make it stand out - how about a wood carved modern statue of the Risen Christ where you would normally find a crucifix. That alone is enough to make it in the top ten.

9. Crucifix - Sacred Heart of Jesus. The Sacred Heart of Jesus Church has one of the largest and most detailed Crucifix of all the churches. Standing underneath and looking up you can't help but get a since of wonder standing at the foot of the cross.

10. Holy Water Bucket - St. Augustine. I just found this to a very interesting subject and composition. It took some work in PhotoShop to get my reflection out of the bucket.

The Top Ten Pictures For 2008

1. Saint John the Baptist - I just love this picture with the cemetery in the foreground. I gave the Church a framed copy and the last I check it was hanging at the back of the sanctuary.



2. Cemetery Crucifix - Sacred Heart of Jesus. This is one of my first night shots. I had to spend quite a bit of time in PhotoShop to get rid of the harsh shadows caused by the lights that light the memorial at night.



3. Fifty Foot Cross and Storm - Maria Stein Spiritual Center. This has got to be one of my all time favorite pics. It's one of those being in the right place at the right time moments that I was lucky to capture with my camera.



4. Cemetery Crucifix and Sunset - Shrine of the Holy Relics. This is one of my first Sunset shots with the churches. I really like taking pictures in the early evening and dusk.



5. Celtic Cross Spire - Sacred Heart of Jesus. The Sacred Heart of Jesus Church has the only Celtic Cross tipped Spire of all the churches in the area.  It's uniqueness and the picture friendly clouds make this one of my favorites.




6. Domed Spires - Immaculate Conception. Wow you can't help but notices the beautiful cross tipped domes of the Immaculate Conception Church in Celina. I was pretty happy to capture these with a sky of clouds for a background.




7. Cemetery Memorial Cross Topper - Sacred Heart of Jesus. I took this in that short period of time after sunset called twilight. It is one of my favorite cemetery pics.



8. Statue at Sunset - Shrine of the Holy Relics. I was pretty excited when I saw this composition unfold with the setting sun.




9. Choir Balcony - Saint Michael. While visiting the Saint Michael in Fort Loramie the choir showed up and turned on the lights giving me this great shot of the organ from below.




10. Eucharist Crosses and Candle - Saint Michael. This is one of my favorites compositions that I found at Saint Michael in Fort Loramie.  I saw the hanging crosses and the lit red candles and knew there was a great picture to be had here.

The Land of the Cross Tipped Churches

2008

Cross Tipped Churches - Poem

Cross Tipped Churches

Look upon the cross that,
withstands the wind.
Which will open up our hearts
and wipe away sin.


Where faith is a flower
and memories are forever.
Lend an ear dear father,
for our strength is prayer.


Cross tipped churches rise above
the sun soaked fields of grain.
like lighthouses leading us through
harbors of dark rocky waves of pain.

Candles of light that shine bright.
Where altars are aglow-
under stain glass windows
that tell tales from long ago.


A breeze whispers through the tall grass,
and gray stones that represent the forgotten past.
Look upon the cross that withstands the wind.


Written by David Martin Oct. 27th 2008
 

St. Michael Stained Glass Windows (Ft. Loramie)

Just a quick post of some of the stained glass windows from the Saint Michael Catholic Church in Fort Loramie Ohio.



Every time I take pictures of stained glass windows I keep forgetting to get at least one picture of the entire window. I myself just like the closer views for the detail, but I think it would be nice if you could see what the window looked like whole. So I am going to start using this combo of the wide shot pictured above and the closeup you see below.

Stained Glass Windows 

Saint Michael Catholic Church  

Ft. Loramie Ohio

To Jesus and the Cross

To Jesus and the Cross

The love of God fell to the ground and died,

but from that brokenness, new love has grown

because that seed could not abide alone,

and now so many in Christ's life abide

that many more unreached can now decide

if we go where the Gospel is unknown

and show them how our love is not our own,

but is our Savior's, for we are His Bride.

Our love shall fall into the ground and die

when we believe on Jesus, count the cost,

and be to every ear and every eye

a witness of the Gospel to the lost

so when they see our love and ask us why,

we can lead them to Jesus and the Cross.

Sonnet / Poem by

 ~ Michael Rew

Cemetery Crucifix 

St's Peter and Paul Church

Newport  Ohio

Lovest Thou Me? I Hear My Saviour Say

Lovest thou Me? I hear my Saviour Say

"Lovest thou Me?" I hear my Saviour say;
Would that my heart had power to answer "Yea,"
Thou knowest all things, Lord, in heaven above,
And earth beneath; Thou knowest that I love."

But 'tis not so; in word, in deed, in thought,
I do not, cannot love Thee as I ought;
Thy love must give that power, Thy love alone;
There's nothing worthy of Thee but Thine own.

Lord, with the love wherewith Thou lovest me,
Reflected on Thyself, I would love Thee;
Thence on my brethren shed, might it be seen
By all around, that I with Thee had been.

Author James Montgomery

50 Foot Cross and Reflection Pool

Maria Stein Spiritual Center

Original Post 1/22/09

Three Crosses

One of the reasons I revisit churches to take pictures is to discover what I missed. Either I didn't see it or as in this case, didn't quite get the shot I wanted. A similar picture was in the first post, but this is the picture I was looking for.



This picture also looks awesome in black and white.  

Crosses and Candles

 Saint Michael Catholic Church 

Fort Loramie Ohio

Red Poinsettias and Mary and Joseph Altars

I found both Mary and Joseph side altars decorated for the holidays.

Mary and Joseph Altar
Red Poinsettias

Christmas

Saint Michael Catholic Church

Ft. Loramie Ohio