Tomorrow is Christmas Eve, and I am very much looking forward to the great celebration that is Christmastide. It's just... I've been given great joy over Christmases in years past, and I do not doubt that it'll be the same this year.
It's been a wild, wild December so far. Carol services, crib-making, composing special songs, doing special drawings, handling my really important case, and meeting friends... oh my!
On the subject of crib-making... a friend received these yarn figures from his mother, and he and I decided to get together and make a crib for two young children who are very dear to us. Now my camera's broken and I have to take pictures by estimation, but this is what I've managed to capture...
See the full list of pictures here.
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My Audio Secret Santa submission is near complete, and so is the Newgrounds Christmas/Holiday Art Worm. I'll be updating links to both when these get uploaded on NG. Once again, thanks a lot to TurkeyOnAStick for first asking me to come up with something for the project. The track for the Art Worm, In Anticipation, has been listened to by the members of the project (sometimes even for hours on end) -- I did it through hours of uncertainty, but I'm just glad it's touched you guys.
In addition to these, I'm uploading three bonus songs, all Christmas carols -- A Solis Ortus, What Child is This and Gaudete. As with the major projects, I'll be posting links when these are ready. They're not the best renditions out there, but I do know I poured myself out for these.
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Those of you in Preston Centre, Lancaster or the surrounding areas: if you would like to meet me anytime soon, I invite you to come meet me at Saint Wilfrid's Church for the Christmas Vigil Mass tomorrow at 8:00 p.m. Not only will it be the meeting to make this time of the year memorable. I'll be singing there too! ^_^
That's it from me for now.
A blessed Christmas to all, and to all a good night!
T. x
kkots
I wish I could visit.
But (Make a "in Russia" joke process initiated) (please wait...) (process failed. Joke aborted) I live in Russia, so I cannot.
Btw, is it OK to think that angels, golden cities in skies, visions of saints - all this is insanity that is written in the Bible, and somehow unconsciously believe in all of it?
Troisnyx
No harm done. : ) I know my friends are here with me in spirit -- you'll be there with me in spirit, especially during that Christmas Vigil Mass. We're physically distant, but not all that distant.
On your question, it's a matter of conviction -- I can't even begin to imagine what an angel looks like, let alone what Heaven looks like. I do know, by faith, that they're there, and the angels and saints are praying for me -- I've had many close calls, but each time, my life's been spared. Of course it's fine to believe in angels and saints and the Heavenly city -- You and I believe in Our Lord. All of creation is an outpouring of love from Our Lord, even every tree, animal, human being, inanimate object, etc. Would it not be the same for the angels, who are spiritual? And would it not be the same for Heaven?
Saints are people like us who have fought the good fight, and are praying for us. They lived just as you and I live... and some of them might just be living in our own backyards. All it takes is a desire and a drive to live a holy life, i.e. to be set apart as God's instruments. And then, we do according to that desire. We fall, and we fail miserably. But then we pick ourselves up and try again. G.K. Chesterton, I think it is, put it so nicely when he said that 'saints are sinners who keep on trying'.
I do sometimes hear a soft, gentle prompting whenever I am praying -- and the way you can tell apart the voice of Our Lord and the saints from others is this: the voice of Our Lord and the saints encourages you, confirms what's been said earlier, is consistent (especially with what Our Lord has mentioned during His life on earth), loves you, forgives you, and wants you to live. The voice of the enemy, which I have heard many a time also, condemns you, picks apart everything you say, and makes you look very down upon yourself, the kind of downness that Our Lord would not want. In addition, the enemy has been known to assume the look of a saint, or an angel, or even Our Lord Himself, but with discernment -- and this is a gift from the Holy Spirit -- we can tell who it actually is.