This little ornament hangs on my tree.  It is an "Angel for the Broken" made by a charity in Mongolia who craft them from the glass of bottles that contained alcoholic drinks, and sell them to raise funds for alcohol rehabilitation.

These angels are incredibly fragile, and the wings of this one had snapped off, leaving her looking more like Mary.

In a perverse way, I like that. Not all angels have wings. And Mary was a messenger in her own right.

I didn't quite manage to position the angel/Mary so the lights would shine through her glass body, but I think she also has that 'saint' quality too.

One fundamental truth of Christianity is that, in some way or other, we are all broken.  Yet the light of Christ still shines on, and through, us, enabling us to be, and speak, Good News to others.

Broken angels, bearing hope to those who are broken - what could be more hopeful than that?