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The ornaments to print out for the Jesse Tree
Understanding the  Jesse Tree

Saturday of the First Week of Advent
Jacob and the ladder
Gen 28:10-15 (NRSV)

Jacob left Beer-sheba and went toward Haran. He came to a certain place and stayed there for the night, because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones of the place, he put it under his head and lay down in that place. And he dreamed that there was a ladder set up on the earth, the top of it reaching to heaven; and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. And the Lord stood beside him and said, “I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to you and to your offspring; and your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south; and all the families of the earth shall be blessed in you and in your offspring. Know that I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”

Jacob had a dream, and in this dream, there was a ladder that extended from earth to heaven.  On this ladder, angels were going up and down.  This is a beautiful image of the connection between heaven and earth.  God reminds Jacob that He is with him no matter where he goes.  Moreover, He promises that He will not leave him until He has done all that He promised to do.  Angels are considered God’s messages and today we reflect that we are not deist who hold that God does not involve himself in our lives.  Instead, we believe God intervenes and is an intimate part of our lives.  Jacob’s ladder reveals that God does indeed interact with the world and with human beings most especially with the promise that he is with us and will not leave us.  The Incarnation of the Son of God, which we celebrate each Christmas, is a clearer statement of believe that God in eternity entered into time, into our existence and remains forever with us in the gift of the Holy Spirit, in the Eucharistic presence at Mass and Adoration and in hearts and souls of all believers.  One of the symbolic names of Jesus is Immanuel, which means, “God is with us.”  God sends angels, gives us guardian angels and offers St. Michael, the Archangel, for protection.  If these were not enough, He sends His only Son “down Jacob’s ladder” into the the world at Christmas to be with us.
 

Abraham's son Isaac grew into a man and had a son named Jacob. One night God spoke to Jacob in a dream and showed him a vision—a symbol about God's promise. He showed Jacob a ladder, or stairway, that led into heaven. There were angels going up and down it. In the dream He told Jacob about the promise that had been made to Abraham and Isaac and how by this promise all the earth would be blessed through their family. Jesus coming through the family of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, is truly a blessing for all people of the earth. Jesus would make a way for people to enter heaven.

Talk to your family about how God is not far away from us and He has not left us alone for God wants to be near to us.  Jacob's dream showed us that angels come from heaven and go back there and care about us.  We pray to God and He is near us. The ladder is the symbol that shows God can be near us here on earth.  Jesus came to be God who is with us.