The Easter Lily

 The Easter Lily. For many, the beautiful trumpet-shaped white flowers symbolize purity, virtue, innocence, hope and life. The spiritual essence of Easter.

Stained Glass Window

St. Sebastian Catholic Church

Saint Sebastian

I took this awhile back. I was just playing around with it on my iPad so it may not appeal to all. This will be my first post in August and my first from my iPad. Yep I even created this post on the little burger. Pretty cool !!!!!!

Easter Morn

I know Easter has come and gone but it took me some time before I could get the look that I wanted from this image. It all came together today after several failed attempts.

Stained Glass Window

Saint Sebastian Catholic Church

Saint Sebastian (Stain Glass Window)

Diocletian reproached Sebastian for his supposed betrayal, and he commanded him to be led to the field and there to be bound to a stake to be shot at. "And the archers shot at him till he was as full of arrows as an urchin," leaving him there for dead. Miraculously, the arrows did not kill him. The widow of Castulus, Irene of Rome, went to retrieve his body to bury it, and found he was still alive. She brought him back to her house and nursed him back to health. The other residents of the house doubted he was a Christian. One of those was a girl who was blind. Sebastian asked her "Do you wish to be with God?", and made the sign of the Cross on her head. "Yes", she replied, and immediately regained her sight. Sebastian then stood on a step and harangued Diocletian as he passed by; the emperor had him beaten to death and his body thrown in a privy. But in an apparition Sebastian told a Christian widow where they might find his body undefiled and bury it "at the catacombs by the apostles."

Text from wikipedia - find the rest of the article here St. Sebastian

Angel of God

"Angel of God, my guardian dear To whom God's love commits me here;
Ever this day be at my side,
To light and guard, to rule and guide."
-Traditional Catholic Prayer

Stained Glass Window (St. Sebastian Catholic Church)

Isaiah 12:2

Stained Glass Window (St. Sebastian Catholic Church)

The Act of Contrition

"O my God, I am heartily sorry for having offended Thee, and I detest all my sins, because I dread the loss of Heaven, and the pains of Hell; but most of all because I love Thee, my God, Who art all good and deserving of all my love. I firmly resolve, with the help of Thy grace, to confess my sins, to do penance, and to amend my life. Amen."

St. Sebastian Catholic Church

Jesus is the Light of the World

Jesus Is The Light Of The World

St. Sebastian Catholic Church

John 10:11

"I am the good shepherd, the good shepherd gives His life for the sheep." (John 10:11)


I just love the earth-tones in this stained glass window of Jesus as the Good Shepherd.

Picture taken at St. Sebastian Catholic Church

Mourning Him Who Mourned For Me

Let me mingle tears with you,
Mourning him who mourned for me,
All the days that I may live.

Picture taken St. Sebastian Catholic Church

Sakramente

Saint Sebastian Catholic Church, Saint Sebastian Ohio

Baptism of the Lord

Statue of Jesus being baptized by John. This is on top of the baptismal font.

A lot of the Catholic Churches have this type of baptismal. This is the best picture of one that I have taken so far. I took advantage of the gray background and bounced my flash off the wall.

Saint Sebastian Catholic Church, Saint Sebastian Ohio.

Sacred Heart of Jesus (Stained Glass)

Stained glass medallion of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

It has been a while since I was in this Church. I got a few good shots. I've been putting my Canon 50-250mm IS lens to the test. So far I have not been disappointed.

Saint Sebastian Catholic Church - Saint Sebastian Ohio

The Family In God's Plan

From the Catechism of the Catholic Church

The Christian family is a communion of persons, a sign and image of the communion of the Father and the Son in the Holy Spirit. In the procreation and education of children it reflects the Father's work of creation. It is called to partake of the prayer and sacrifice of Christ. Daily prayer and the reading of the Word of God strengthen it in charity. The Christian family has an evangelizing and missionary task.

Text taken from Theology of the Body

One of the reasons I started this blog was to further my understanding of the Catholic faith. I have recently been looking at and having to focus on the dynamics of our family. So what better time than to check out what the Catholic Catechism had to say about the Christian Family.

Picture of the Holy Family taken at St. Sebastian in St. Sebastian Ohio. This is a repost of this picture but I found the window like so many that I find in need of some restoration. So I gave it a little help. Left click the picture for a Great View.

St. Sebastian Part 2

More pictures from my trip to Saint Sebastian. Just a few closeups of the main altar and some more beautiful stained glass windows.





There is no shortage of stained glass windows in this church besides numerous saints lining the walls there our several traditional windows.




Matthew 16:18-19 (New International Version)
And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven."

At the back of the church are two large composite stained glass windows. These windows compose of a large angel at the bottom with a medallion of the church at the top. One is in memory of the church when it burned down in 1903 and the other the consecration of the new church.










I'll close with this wonderful Lamb of God window.

Man Card Blues

Church had just ended. We were busy changing Joy Church back into a Community Center when I got my bad news for the day. I had a flat tire on my van. One person offered their gloves and a spare, another a floor jack they had in their car, another a ride. I dismissed them all. After all I had AAA. And to be honest the real reason was I wasn't so sure I could get the tire off. How embarrassing that would be. Sure enough I could not get the lug-nuts to budge.

I hold the jacks and lug wrenches they supply with vehicles today in the lowest of regards and today seem to support my disdain but that really didn't help me much. I called my wife to inform her of my situation and to ask her to bring my X shaped lug wrench. During the conversation my Cell phoned died. I wasn't sure how much of the conversation she got. Shortly a tow-truck appeared and soon my wife. She got the "Couldn't get the tire off" part but not the bring my lug wrench. (Cell Phones are also not high on my list).

The tow-truck guy takes my lug wrench and starts on the tire. At first I started to feeling better as he grunted and pulled with no luck. Then the squeal of metal on metal giving sunk my heart and my pride. With a lot of grunting and muttering he finally got them all free but one. With one Herculean pull he breaks my lug wrench with the stubborn lug-nut refusing to budge. My man card is temporally restored. He goes to his truck and gets his own cross lug wrench and after much effort finally frees the nut and the tire.

After it was all said and done it didn't cost a cent other than the $85 to replace the tire. But I missed a chance for a blessing and to share in the love of God. All because of my foolish pride. The pulpit and the bible tells us "A Prideful Nature is a Spiritual Stumbling Block".



When pride comes, then comes dishonor, but with the humble is wisdom. Proverbs 11:2 NASB



Oh-Well there's always next time.



Pictures taken at St. Sebastian Church.

St. Sebastian

Today I got to visit a wonderful little church just outside of Chickasaw; Saint Sebastian. It was refreshing because I did not have to rush through the shoot. In fact I spent over 2 hours taking pictures.



This statue of Saint Sebastian sits just off the right between the main and right altars. You can see St. Anthony in the background. You cannot see it in the picture but at his feet on the other side of the candle is the hilt of a broken sword.



I really liked the way this picture of the left altar featuring the Virgin Mary came out. St. Rita of Cassius is on the left and St. Theresa (The Little Flower of Jesus) is on the right.



This is a closeup of the Virgin Mary stepping on a serpent.



The right altar featured Joseph with baby Jesus, with St. Anthony on the left and St. Francis of Assisi (The Patron Saint of Animals) pictured here on the right. St Francis is sometimes found with a skull at his feet.



The main altar featured Jesus on the left and Mary on the right.



Flanked by angels.



The High Altar had a relief of the Last Supper that I thought was pretty unique. It actually had disciples on both sides of the table.



The church had plenty of stained glass windows and large statues of the Stations of the Cross.



This one came out pretty cool in Black and White!



This is just one of many of the stained glass windows you will find in this church.



Above the main altar is a stained glass window of St. Sebastian.



The following is an excerpt from the Wikipidia concerning St. Sebastian:
Diocletian reproached Sebastian for his supposed betrayal, and "he commanded him to be led to the field and there to be bounden to a stake for to be shot at. And the archers shot at him till he was as full of arrows as an pincushion, leaving him there for dead. Miraculously, the arrows did not kill him.

This was a great shoot and I could post another dozen pictures but I will call it for tonight. I may create another post in the near future.