Gaze Upon Jesus: Experiencing Christ's Childhood through the Eyes of Women

by Kelly M. Wahlquist (editor), Teresa Tomeo (Foreword), Alyssa Bormes (Contributor)

What if you had walked beside the Virgin Mary from the Annunciation to the point at which she and Joseph found Jesus in the temple? How might seeing Christ as a child impact you and your faith?

Women In the New Evangelization offers its second, six-week scripture study, this time following the infancy and early years of Christ as seen through the eyes of Mary and other familiar and imagined women in the gospels.

Founder Kelly Wahlquist and ten other members of WINE uniquely blend scripture reflections, imaginative encounters, and visio divina “sacred seeing” with practical spirituality and discussion questions that will help you take a prayerful and creative journey through Advent and the Christmas season.

Not much is known about the childhood of Jesus, but the Gospels highlight six key moments in his early

the angel Gabriel proclaiming Jesus’ birth to Mary at the Annunciationa pregnant Mary visiting her cousin Elizabeththe birth of Jesus in Bethlehemthe presentation of Jesus in the templethe flight of Mary, Joseph, and Jesus to Egyptdiscovering the twelve-year-old Jesus in the templeWeek by week, you will dig deep into each of the scriptural vignettes of Jesus’ early life and grow in your faith as you learn about virtues such as humility, patience, charity, reverence, prudence, and courage.

Each chapter uses an image that allows you to practice visio divina, the ancient practice of praying with sacred art. The images are included in an eight-page, full-color insert.

Gaze Upon Jesus will appeal to women who want to deepen their relationship with Jesus during Advent. Contributors to this inspiring scripture study Alyssa Bormes, Sarah Christmyer, Mary Healy, Maria Morera Johnson, Stephanie Landsem, Elizabeth Lev, Joan Lewis, Deborah Savage, Kelly Wahlquist, Katie Warner, and Carol Younger. Popular Catholic media personality Teresa Tomeo, also a member of WINE, wrote the foreword for the book.

As an individual or group study, Gaze Upon Jesus is a memorable way to encounter the God who sent his Son to show us his loving Father’s heart.

Genres: Catholic, Art, Nonfiction, Prayer

192 pages, Kindle Edition

Published August 24, 2018

Reviews

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful meditations for Advent to reflect on the women in the Bible (historical and fiction) during the birth through the finding in the Temple. A beautiful mix of meditations both oral and visual as well as fictional stories to bring it more alive.

[Carolyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gaze Upon Jesus is the *perfect* tool for a Christian woman's Advent study. In six sections examining six virtues, the reader meditates on a separate event (i.e, the Annunciation, the Visitation) starting with scripture but including analysis, a fictional story to bring the events to life, reflection, group questions, and the study of sacred art. The addition of the artwork and Stephanie Landsem's wondeful storytelling set this apart from other studies.

Ideal for groups but fruitful for individuals too!

[Caroline · Rating 4 out of 5]

A beautiful mix of meditations and stories. I wish other pieces of artwork were included.

[Teresa Biggie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Our group overwhelmingly did not like the art that was presented in the book. I personally liked learning about the process of art and prayer combined but the art itself that was chosen did not appeal to me or was confusing or it needed more detail than the tiny representation of a book. It did spark much debate over it.

My favorite was the fictional portion of the book and bringing to life the area and people around Jesus and Mary.
I also liked bringing virtues and different authors and their perspective on the scripture reading and how it applied to their lives. I was not thrilled with the questions. They seemed to be repetitive... what do you want to remember about this , what was your favorite ... most of the time they were one and the same.... you could answer shortly or you could go deep..... depending on your group and how they felt about sharing personal stuff.

[Margo Brooks · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good, but not quite as good as Walk in Her Sandals due in part to the length of time between each of the childhood narratives. I liked how the last chapter tied up earlier chapters and provided new insight into Walk in Her Sandals by introducing characters you will meet in the next book. It would be a better for Advent than in June, when our book group read it, but it was surprising how closely several chapters tied into the Sunday readings for Pentecost and the solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ in particular. The Visio divino was also an interesting experience. Our group struggled a little with the questions being a little too similar each week, but otherwise it was satisfying.

[Jeanne Alfveby Crea · Rating 5 out of 5]

Perfect choice for a women's advent study! I enjoyed reading this with my bible study, and book club! So much wisdom in the book and in the groups I met with, that it was a very meaningful advent study for me! I also have a friend who is a very busy mom who doesn't have the time to get together weekly, so we talk on the phone each week to go over a chapter. I love the scripture study, meditations, and religious art at the end of each chapter. Author Stephanie Landsem's biblical fiction stories add so much to this study. I highly recommend this book for either group study or independent study. Well done to all the contributing women who wrote Gaze Upon Jesus!

[Anne Farrington · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an interesting book. Each chapter is dedicated to a segment of Christ's childhood, and viewed through the eyes of a woman who was there. While I liked the fictionalized stories and the scripture references, I did not think this book was as good as the author's other book "Walk in her Sandals". That being said, the use of artwork to have the reader contemplate the different events in Jesus's childhood was excellent, and it did make one view some of these events from a different perspective. Overall a good book - just not great in my opinion.

[Barbara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Virtues. Humility (Annunciation). Patience (Visitation). Charity (Nativity). Reverence (Presentation). Courage (Flight to Egypt). Prudence (Discovery in the Temple). And Mary is the perfect example of living these virtues. She demonstrates how living virtuous holy lives opens the eyes of our hearts, allows us to see beyond the visible and enables us to trust God and all he has planned for us.

[Jan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another great 6 week study from WINE. Even without the study, I recommend. With a fiction story with the biblical story, presented another way to put myself back in the time of Jesus.

[Bernadette Nelson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent! I love WINE, and their book clubs. So many wonderful insights I shared them with my Bible study. 👍👍 Highly recommend

[Ruth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting meditations that flesh out the stories in the Bible. Full review https://rannthisthat.blogspot.com/201...

[Connis Dayton · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked it and the book made me ponder on Mary and Jesus and the joyful mysteries.