ST. BERNARD'S CHURCH
...symbols of faith

THE WINDOWS

The stained glass windows on the south front of our church represent some of the more than 100 parables and figures of speech that Jesus used in his preaching. The center window is the keynote. It shows Jesus teaching his disciples, whom he says must receive his gospel like little children.
(Mark 10:13-17)

EAST WINDOW - Reconciliation

Father, I have sinned against God and against you: I no longer deserve to be called your son...This son of mine was dead and has come back to life.  He is lost and is found.
Luke 15:11-32

A Samaritan who was journeying along came on him and was moved to pity at the sight.
Luke 10:25-37

Bottom, left to right: 

Take out the first fish you catch. Open its mouth and you will discover a coin worth twice the temple tax...Give to Caesar what is Caesar's, but give to God what is God's.
Matt 17:24-27, 22:21

The reign of God is like a dragnet thrown into the lake, which collected all kinds of things.
Matt 13:47-50

If anyone thirsts, let him come to me...From within (me) rivers of living water shall flow.
John 7:37-38

Tell John what you see: the blind recover their sight, cripples walk...
Matt 11:4-6

Leave your gift at the altar, go first to be reconciled with your brother, and then come and offer your gift.
Matt 5:23-24

He would be better off thrown into the sea with a millstone around his neck than giving scandal to one of these little ones.
Luke 17:2

If one of you decides to build a tower, will he not first sit down and calculate the outlay?...In the same way, none of you can be my disciple if he does not renounce all his possessions.
Luke 14:27-33

EAST CENTER BAY - Judgment

 I am the good shepherd.
John 10:14

Who among you, if he has a hundred sheep and loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wasteland and follow the lost one until he finds it?
Luke 15:4-7

I am the sheepgate...Whoever enters through me will be safe. He will go in and out and find pasture.
John 10:7-10

He will separate them as a shepherd separates sheep from goats. The sheep he will place on his right hand, the goats on his left.
Matt 25:31-46

Be on your guard against false prophets who come to you in sheeps's clothing but underneath are wolves on the prowl.
Matt 8:15

Bottom:

The Son of Man in his day will be like the lightning that flashes from one end of the sky to the other.
Luke 17-24

You have been weighed on the scales and found wanting.
Daniel 5:27

The day will come when one stone will not be left on another, but it will all be torn down.
Luke 17:5-6

I am the vine, you are the branches. He who lives in me and I in him, will produce abundantly.
John 15:5-6

Learn a lesson from the fig tree. Once...it begins to sprout leaves, you know that summer is near. In the same way...you will know that (I) am near, even at the door.
Mark 13:28-29

Whoever puts his hand to the plow but keeps looking back is unfit for the kingdom of God.
Luke 9:62

CENTER BAY - Jesus the Teacher

 Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them. It is to just such as these that the kingdom of God belongs...whoever does not accept the reign of God like a little child shall not take part in it.
Mark 10:13-16

The reign of God is like a mustard seed...when full-grown it is the largest of plants...The birds of the sky come and build their nests in its branches.
Matt 13:31-32

Bottom:

The mustard seed...is the smallest seed of all...
Matt 13:31

No one sews a piece of unshrunken cloth on an old cloak; the very thing he has used to cover the hole will pull, and the rip will only get worse.
Matt 9:16

The bread and wine, the alpha and omega - Christ, the Beginning and the End, gives himself for us.

Consider the ravens: they do not sow, they do not reap...yet God feeds them...Or take the lilies: they do not spin, they do not weave;  but ...Solomon in all his splendor was not arrayed like any one of them.
Luke 12:24-31

Are not five sparrows sold for a few pennies?  Yet not one of them is neglected by God...You are worth more than a flock of sparrows.
Luke 12:6

O Jerusalem, Jerusalem...How often have I yearned to gather your children, as a mother bird gathers her young under her wing, but you refused me.
Matt 23:37

Anyone who hears my words and puts them into practice is like the wise man who built his house on rock.
Matt 7:24-27

WEST CENTER BAY - Faith and Good Works

A farmer went out sowing. Part of what he sowed landed on a footpath, where birds came and ate it up.
Matt 13:4-10, 18-23

A man...sowed good seed in his field...His enemy came and sowed weeds...Let them grow together until harvest...The harvest is the end of world, while the harvesters are the angels. Just as weeds are collected and burned, so will it be at the end of the world.
Matt 13:24-30-37-43

Bottom - Take my yoke upon your shoulders and learn from me...Your souls will find rest,  for my yoke is easy and my burden light.
Matt 11:29-30

A good tree does not produce decayed fruit any more than a decayed tree produces good fruit...A good man produces goodness from the good in his heart.
Luke 7:43-45

Unless the grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat.  But if it dies, it produces much fruit.
John 12:24

The reign of God is like yeast which a woman took and kneaded into three measures of flour. Eventually, the whole mass of dough began to rise.
Matt 13:33

WEST BAY - Light

Top:

The reign of God can be likened to ten bridesmaids who took their torches and went out to welcome the groom. Five of them were foolish, while the other five were sensible.
Matt 25:1-13

The seven flames in the background symbolize the gifts of the Holy Spirit: wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety, and fear of the Lord.

Bottom - A man...called in his servants and handed his funds over to them...To one he disbursed ten thousand silver pieces, to a second, five thousand, and to a third, a thousand.
Matt 25:14-29

What woman, if she has ten silver pieces and loses one, does not light a lamp and sweep the house...until she has retrieved what she has lost?
Luke 15:8-10

Do not lay for yourselves an earthly treasure ...Store up heavenly treasure, which neither moths nor rust corrode nor thieves break in and steal. Remember, where your treasure is, there your heart is also.
Matt 6:19-21

If I washed your feet--I who am teacher and Lord--then you must wash each other's feet.  What I just did was to give you an example: as I have done, so you must do.
John 13:14-15

You are the light of the world...Your light must shine before men so that they may see goodness in your acts and give praise to your heavenly Father.
Matt 5:14-16

How can you say to your brother, 'Let me take that speck out of your eye', while all the time the plank remains in your own?
Matt 7:4-6

The reign of God may be likened to a king who gave a wedding banquet for his son.
Matt 22:2-14

As it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be in the days of the Son of Man. They ate and drank...right up to the day Noah entered the ark--and when the flood came, it destroyed them all.
Luke 17:26-27

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