I ALSO believe that people can be taught.
Can be saved from ignorance.
Can be saved from their own delusions.
Hello, I’m a teacher.
Hello, I’m a nurse. (Was a mental health nurse, too!)
***
As a writer, I like my position to be able to challenge people’s ideas in a wider scale.
I mean, I can reach maybe 300 students in a given semester.
Maybe 150 patients in three months.
But as a writer, I can reach at least a thousand readers in a day.
And as a social media personality, I can reach that thousand in an hour, maybe more people in less time.
***
So I keep hope in my heart.
Hope for the Resurrection.
Hope for recovery from this pandemic.
Hope for people to be better, or at least to suffer less.
Hope for enlightenment.
***
I know that I can sound superior when I call the stupid stupid.
But maybe I am naturally superior.
If I can see their stupidity and they can’t, ain’t I rightfully superior?
And to be honest, in this century, unless you insult people, you can’t really get their attention.
Remind me, how did Donald Trump win the 2016 American election again?
***
There is a problem with multiple truths, multiple realities.
Because if we can’t agree on something, if we can’t agree on a problem, how can we solve it?
Of course, I’m limited because I am a Catholic.
And I’m not saying that I am better than a Muslim or a Buddhist.
But if I conduct my life better than everybody else I see around me or in the Internet, shouldn’t that make me feel good?
***
In truth, I am very worried about the new generation.
Things are moving and changing too fast.
For 4,000 years, the human brain hasn’t really evolved that much.
But in the last 20 years, artificial intelligence technology has evolved drastically, exponentially.
(You only have to compare the most advanced phone in 1999 and today’s latest smartphone.)
***
As a Catholic (and I partially trained for the priesthood, remember that), I have always admired the church for keeping the fabric of society together.
I mean, we are still behind with female clergy, even with homosexuality, liberation theology, and some other biggies, but I love how the church always provides a grounding (if not a center) for me.
Despite its weaknesses and errors, religion still provides some comfort for me.
***
I am more spiritual than religious, obviously.
But sometimes, I need a crutch like the church.
The church just makes it easier for me to believe sometimes.
I mean, minus the scandals and her scandalous riches, the church has always been a wise, old voice that comforts and feeds her people.
***
When the church reminds me of the Holy Week, or Christmas, I find communion with the rest of the Christian world.
Even if, to me, everyday is Christmas, is Holy Week, is Easter, is Resurrection Day.
***
I believe in a single, powerful, one-time crucifixion and resurrection for our salvation.
I won’t apologize for my faith.
But I rather enjoy the grand yearly celebration (commemoration, if you will) of it during the Holy Week.
I like the electricity of the faithful coming together in collective atonement just as they come in collective thanksgiving during Christmas.
***
I don’t like the long sermons of the clergy during the mass.
Some of them are really uninspired, old, tired, formulaic even.
But that’s just me being a writer, being a better homilist, being a free thinker.
My takes on the Gospels, I write here in my column or on my social media posts.
***
My biggest good news: I came that you may have Life, and have it abundantly.
That’s me relaying what Jesus said.
But that’s me also appropriating what Jesus said.
Because if I can’t be the new Jesus for you, what good is the title of “the Christ” for?
***
Here’s another of my biggest spiritual beliefs:
Jesus (of Nazareth) only becomes Christ, which means the anointed, which means the Hebrew Messiah, when he rose from the dead.
When he won over death.
When he transcended the human form to become more like the Creator, the Parent God.
***
And after his Resurrection, which we gloriously celebrate in the Easter, his Christness means that we who believe in him are also called to be little christ-siblings.
If Jesus really is my brother, and he showed us the way (and the truth and the life), why would I not resurrect and become like our Parent God after I transcend this human form?
***
So yeah, I’m living the life.
I’m living abundantly.
I spread the good news of this salvation.
Some people may choose to ignore my gospel.
But blessed are those who keep my word and ideas.
Theirs is everlasting life… now, and forever more./PN
