The Fava Bean

Well, my work for the day got cancelled—thank you for your steadfast ways gaming industry—so before I go do anything else useful with my day I figured I'd chat up the blogosphere.

This has been a crazy, beautiful amazing month. Thank you St. Joseph for your powerful intercession, you seem to be following me around even if I don't ask you to pray for me. I finally discovered where on earth my father got the idea that my name, Fabiola, means "offering to God". For the life of me throughout the years I've gone on all the "meanings of names" websites and the definition is always the same: bean, bean picker, fava bean... just beans. I always thought my dad was just trying to make me feel better, you know beans could be offered up to God or something.

So yesterday, I was looking up the feast of St. Joseph, which is March 19 and I know this well because it is my sister's birthday, but I wanted to see if I could find another day when he might be celebrated. There weren't any other feast days dedicated to him so I just scrolled down the Wiki page and I came upon how his feast day is celebrated in different countries. The first and most prominent party for good old St. Joseph happens in Sicily.

St. Joseph is considered by many to be the Patron Saint of Sicily for preventing a famine during the middle ages. "According to legend, there was a severe drought at the time, and the people prayed for their patron saint to bring them rain. They promised that if he answered their prayers, they would prepare a large feast in his honor. The rain did come, and the people of Sicily prepared a large banquet."

Now for the weird part people.

"The fava bean was the crop which saved the population from starvation, it grows well even in poor, rocky soil, and is a traditional part of St. Joseph altars and traditions."

So yes, the story is slightly idolatrous but still pretty cool.

And just to take the point home.

"In Roman times, the fava bean was considered food for the poor, used mainly as an offering to commemorate the dead on the first day of November. The name of an ancient Roman family the Fabi, comes from fava bean, as do the common names Fabio, Fabia and Fabiola." (source)

Pretty cool right?

So thank you St. Joseph for your prayers. Thank you for being there for me when Disney said no, so I could work on Lolek, and for the brilliant young man working at one of the schools under your patronage. I like him very much too. So I really do hope I get to glorify God with my life and offer myself completely to him, in thanksgiving for everything that he has done for me.
~

I drew this wee picture of Mary last week. Enjoy!

Have a happy July!

A Palette of Things

You know, the thing about being employed by legit companies is that they never let you show anything. It's like there is this library of accumulated work that no one is allowed to visit. However, a while back I did create some backgrounds for the "Mr. Potato Head Play & Create" game published by Callaway Digital Arts that are simple, but at least you are seeing some color on the screen. A bunch more aren't officially available yet so one day you may see them.

I can't wait until I can show the background concepts I've been doing for a Tinkerbell game! I'm learning so much! I don't think I'll ever be able to show the drawings I do for Hasbro, which is a shame, but if the toys of the concepts ever come out they will definitely be found here. Yay!

~

I'm so very grateful to all the people who have made the last few weeks a beautiful and joyful whirlwind. 

 These are the highly involved party bags I made. 

And it paid off because I was called a hobbit for giving presents at my birthday.

 My friend, Irene drew me a lovely card. Visit her website here :)

And a big shout out and thanks to BrandonVogt, for not only contributing to the last post, but for finding me a whole list of people who are willing to endorse my book.

~

I had this whole big plan for a birthday post with twenty-six super quotes, but it did not happen, so here are only six, and I feel like I'm sort of six sometimes so that works.

- 1 -

 

"You are seeking for secret ways of belonging to God, but there is only one: making use of whatever he offers you" - Jean-Pierre de Caussade

- 2 -

"Your objective is to receive grace now so that you can receive glory later, or even more simply put, to cooperate with God in his work to save your soul." - Andreas Widmer, The Pope and the CEO

- 3 -

"If we go astray at the beginning and want the Lord to do our will and to lead us as our fancy dictates, how can this building possibly have a firm foundation?" - St. Theresa of Avila, Interior Castle

- 4 -

"Men and women are on a journey of discovery which is humanly unstoppable–a search for the truth and a search for a person to whom they might entrust themselves."- Pope John Paul II, Fides et Ratio

- 5 -

"You are ambitious: for knowledge... for leadership. You want to be daring. Good. Fine. But let it be for Christ, for Love." - St. Josemaria Escriva

- 6 -

"Optimisim is wrong: evil exists, and life is a war against it.

Pessimism is wrong: good is stronger than evil, and good must win in the end.

So fight, because optimism is wrong. But fight with confidence and even joy, because pessimism is wrong...

Life is a fight, but the fight is fixed. 'His kingdom cannot fail.' " - Peter Kreeft

 ~

Have a lovely week!

- Fabi

Uproar on Huffington Post: The Pope said what?!

So remember the time everyone thought Pope Benedict XVI said it was okay to use condoms if you were like a male prostitute with AIDS? (Not what he meant guys!) Well, an article has been going around about Pope Francis. Here is the link below if you haven't seen it yet and below that is a very congent response from Brandon Vogt.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/22/pope-francis-good-atheists_n_3320757.html


"I was thrilled to hear the Pope's remarks, which were simply a reiteration of traditional Church teaching, but I'm afraid most HuffPost and reddit commenters have misinterpreted them. The Pope is not saying that "All people are saved." What he's saying is that all people were redeemed by the blood of Christ since Christ's one sacrifice was for all (cf. 2 Corinthians 5:15 and 1 Peter 3:18.)

However in Catholic thought, Christ's redemptive act on the Cross is not the same thing as salvation. Salvation comes when we accept that redemption. Christ died for your sins, but you must accept that free gift by believing in him--accepting his proposal of love and following him with your life.

So while Christ redeemed all people, even atheists, that doesn't mean that all atheists have accepted that offer of salvation, and thus it doesn't mean that all atheists will be saved.

The key Church teaching in this regard is paragraph 16 of Vatican II's "Lumen Gentium":

"Those also can attain to salvation who through no fault of their own do not know the Gospel of Christ or His Church, yet sincerely seek God and moved by grace strive by their deeds to do His will as it is known to them through the dictates of conscience. Nor does Divine Providence deny the helps necessary for salvation to those who, without blame on their part, have not yet arrived at an explicit knowledge of God and with His grace strive to live a good life. Whatever good or truth is found amongst them is looked upon by the Church as a preparation for the Gospel. She knows that it is given by Him who enlightens all men so that they may finally have life.

But often men, deceived by the Evil One, have become vain in their reasonings and have exchanged the truth of God for a lie, serving the creature rather than the Creator. Or some there are who, living and dying in this world without God, are exposed to final despair. Wherefore to promote the glory of God and procure the salvation of all of these, and mindful of the command of the Lord, "Preach the Gospel to every creature", the Church fosters the missions with care and attention." "

And then he added, for the sake of clarity the following...

"Suppose you destroyed your friend's car causing $10,000 in damage. You're taken to court, and the judge sentences you to 10 years in prison for the crime. But then I burst in and tell the judge, "My name is Brandon Vogt. I'm Fabi's friend, and I want to pay for her deeds. Whatever it costs to fix the car, whatever it costs to make things right, I'll pay it." The judge agrees.

Now even though I offer to pay the charge, you have a choice. You can either accept my free gift of freedom or, though it would be a strange option, you can reject my offer and choose to go to jail anyways.

Christ's redemption of all mankind is analogous to my paying off your $10,000 charge (to "redeem" literally means "to buy back" or "to restore.) Christ has paid the debt for every person, but you still have a choice whether to accept that act of redemption--it's not forced on you. You make your choice by how you live your life and who you worship: God or yourself, self-giving love or self imprisonment."

Thanks Brandon!
~

Update: Brandon just posted a more thorough response here

http://www.BrandonVogt.com

Publishing Land

    I was walking around my town with a book, looking for a good home for this much beloved work that had been lovingly bound by time and words and pictures. I finally came upon the magic portal that would perhaps lead me to the destination I so greatly desired– publication. The Publishing Land that stretched before me was a minefield and I, just a hop before square one, observed, "Gee, this is a whole lot less exciting than I thought. There seems to be a lot of squares for waiting, and the coffee isn't even free."

- F

P.S. The meeting I had today went really well ;)