Thursday, October 20, 2011

7 Quick Takes Friday (vol. 7)



-1-
In a vehement moment of self-indulgence I gathered images of characters or people portrayed in movies that have compelled me to reach above mediocrity throughout my life; characters that have subconsciously formed the virtues I strive for and the excellence I long for. I'm curious to see which ones people recognize, some being more obscure than others!



-2-
My father gave me St. Therese of Lisieux's autobiography years ago, claiming he thought I'd be a saint like her one day. When I first read it it was an intense source of inspiration in my life but over the years I drifted away from the particular love I had for her spirituality... I think I was running away from accepting that I was little, weak and sensitive like her. In coming back to read some passages from her autobiography again this week I have realized that it is precisely because she was little that God was able to work such great things in her, and so the quiet aversion that had begun to grow on me towards her in recent years was swiftly knocked away. She died at twenty-four, my age.

Here is a passage from her biography:

I look upon myself as a weak little bird, with only a light down as covering. I am not an eagle, but I have only an eagle’s EYES AND HEART. In spite of my extreme littleness I still dare to gaze upon the Divine Sun, the Sun of Love, and my heart feels within it all the aspirations of an Eagle.
The little bird wills to fly towards the bright Sun that attracts its eye, imitating its brothers, the eagles, whom it sees climbing up toward the Divine Furnace of the Holy Trinity. But alas! The only thing it can do is raise its little wings; to fly is not within its little power!
What then will become of it? Will it die of sorrow at seeing itself so weak? Oh no! The little bird will not even be troubled. With bold surrender, it wishes to remain gazing upon its Divine Sun. Nothing will frighten it, neither wind nor rain, and if dark clouds come and hide the Star of Love, the little bird will not change its place because it knows that beyond the clouds its bright Sun still shine on and that its brightness is not eclipsed for a single instant.
At times the little bird’s heart is assailed by the storm, and it seems it should believe in the existence of no other thing except the clouds surrounding it; this is the moment of perfect joy for the poor little weak creature. And what joy it experiences when remaining there just the same! And gazing at the Invisible Light which remains hidden from its faith!
O Jesus, up until the present moment I can understand Your love for the little bird because it has not strayed far from You. But I know and so do You that very often the imperfect little creature, while remaining in its place (that is, under the Sun’s rays), allows itself to be somewhat distracted from its sole occupation. It picks up a piece of grain on the right or on the left; it chases after a little worm; then coming upon a little pool of water, it wets its feathers still hardly formed. It sees an attractive flower and its little mind is occupied with this flower. In a word, being unable to soar like the eagles, the poor little bird is taken up with the trifles of earth.
And yet after all these misdeeds, instead of going and hiding away in a corner, to weep over its misery and to die of sorrow, the little bird turns toward its beloved Sun, presenting its wet wings to its beneficent rays. It cries like a swallow and in its sweet song it recounts in detail all its infidelities, thinking in the boldness of its full trust that it will acquire in even greater fullness the love of Him who came to call not the just but sinners. And even if the Adorable Star remains deaf to the plaintive chirping of the little creature, even if it remains hidden, well, the little one will remain wet, accepting its numbness from the cold and rejoicing in its suffering which it knows it deserves.
O Jesus, Your little bird is happy to be weak and little. What would become of it if it were big? Never would it have the boldness to appear in Your presence, to fall asleep in front of You. Yes, this is still on of the weaknesses of the little bird: when it wants to fix its gaze upon the Divine Sun, and when the clouds prevent it from seeing a single ray of that Sun, in spite of itself, its little eyes close, its little head is hidden beneath its wing, and the poor little thing falls asleep, believing all the time that it is fixing its gaze upon its Dear Star. When it awakens, it doesn’t feel desolate; its little heart is at peace and it begins once again its work of love.


-3-
Continuing on the topic of Little Therese, my friend and I are asking her for her prayers in a novena right now and I found this on Etsy for her.



More pieces of jewelry can be found here. They are created by the Salesian Missionaries of Mary Immaculate.

-4-
Art has been slow, but it is happening. I'm working on an piece that requires a lot of time and detail...
here is a little preview of part of it in progress.



- 5 -
I watched Miyazaki's Howl's Moving Castle and I was blown away. I hadn't seen it in years but I'd never been this struck by it before. The depth of the story is beautiful... and it's so darn pretty! Watch it.



-6-

1 Peter 1: 6-9

6 This is a great joy to you, even though for a short time yet you must bear all sorts of trials; 7 so that the worth of your faith, more valuable than gold, which is perishable even if it has been tested by fire, may be proved -- to your praise and honour when Jesus Christ is revealed. 8 You have not seen him, yet you love him; and still without seeing him you believe in him and so are already filled with a joy so glorious that it cannot be described; 9 and you are sure of the goal of your faith, that is, the salvation of your souls.

-7-
Something I wrote in the back of my copy of Fellowship of the Ring because I didn't have anything else to write it on:

It's not about getting what I want but loving as I should.


love, love,
Fabi
~

7 Quick Takes hosted by Jennifer Fullwiller @ConversionDiary

Sunday, October 16, 2011

Twin Murals

Hello Peeps!
I'm making a few spot murals for a couple of adorable twins. They each have their own rooms; Hallie's is pink and Paige's is purple. I got the chance to babysit them and their little brother, watch Ponyo with them and take a look at their room set up. I took down the colors, shapes and characters on their bedspreads so that the final paintings would complement them. These are my drawings and color plans for each room.

Hallie's Room


Paige's Room

Peace,
Fabi

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Fully Moved In!

Now I only have one blog! Yeah!

For all of you that had not idea this thing called "Catholic Colors" was happening let me just fill you in that indeed I had two blogs my art blog and my chatty, rambling blog called "Catholic Colors". I had a fun time moving all my posts from that site as well as my domain to make things in the end much easier for myself. This is now officially:

http://www.catholiccolors.com

Where I post my art, my writing and stuffs. I still have to fill out the "Gallery" page but that will be up soon. 

To celebrate I will send you to VirtuousPla.net where I contribute a piece of writing or art once a month.
My new post Can Christians NOT Be Religious? at VirtuousPla.net

Jubileee!

Fabiola

Thursday, October 6, 2011

Merging of Ma Blogs

Hey Guys, just letting you know that if this blog looks ugly and weird for the next few weeks it's because I'm reorganizing my bloggy blogs and I want the finished result to be really user friendly and purty.


-Fabi

7 Quick Takes Friday (vol.6)



-1-
If someone had told me 5 years ago that I'd be going to daily Mass I would have said. "Pff, only old ladies do that and there's no way I'm going to be uncool." And then I'd avoid whoever said that like crazy.


-2-
If someone had told me 5 years ago that my most cherished time would be with my awesome Priest friend on Skype and with my best girly praying novenas, I would have cried at the idea of being such a weirdo.


-3-
If someone had told me 5 years ago that I'd be speaking to fellow Christians on how Jesus has transformed my life I would have offered myself up for martyrdom rather than speak in public.


-4-
If someone had told me 5 years ago that'd I'd take up a love of theology books equal to my love of fairytale novels I would have been like "Hmm, do you have any idea how much I love my fairytale books?"


-5-
If someone had told me five years ago that St. Francis de Sales, St. Therese of Lisieux, G.K Chesterton, J.R.R Tolkien, C.S Lewis, and Scott Hahn would be great comforts during my sorrows, I would have been only a little disturbed. "Who?" 


-6-
If someone had told me 5 years ago that I'd be blogging about my faith I would have said, "What's a blog?"


-7-
It was about 6-5 years ago when I stopped just skimming on the surface of God's almighty love. I decided to take a dive in because I was drowning. And then I kept swimming deeper and deeper, sometimes against the current, sometimes leisurely but I found that there is never a bottom. I found that I am either swimming continually down into the depths of love or I beginning to float up toward the surface again. I've never regretted a minute of it no matter what the suffering has been. He has always been present no matter what I've done or what I fear. He is always there waiting for me to go deeper. My conversion is continuous, daily. Everyday I have to choose to say "Yes!" to God.


EXTRA
-8-
Squeeeee! Is my new favorite thing to write when I'm full of girlish delight.

SQUEEEEE!



And for everyones info I'm just giving y'all a head up that I'll be consolidating Catholic Colors and My Art Blog into one so that I don't have to do double posts and keep two blogs up. I donts got the times. 

Con Amor, Fabi

For more quick takes please visit http://conversiondiary.com