Day 086c: My next tribute to Truth … (July 09, 2019)
Crosses regularly graced the sides of (and often adorned the stopovers along) The Way, and sometimes these Christ-referenced shrines were large enough to inspire decades of pilgrims to leave their tributes there. And while it is easy to think that these marked memorials evidence an almost overbearing popularity of the Christian religion, I think we would all do well (if not far better) to remember a few things of importance – 01) that every believer, Christian of otherwise, worships his or her own unique godhead (ie that there are no two Christians in the world who actually worship the exact same God), 02) that the cross has a far greater significance than the Christian church would ever allow us to believe – namely, that the Way to the Kingdom of Heaven* that JESUS offered (which is in no way to similar to the postmortem “paradise” upon which the Christian church is founded; the much hollower “heaven” that Paul espouses & advocates) is only walked in this lifetime during our acts of selfless Love … And it was always to this far greater truth that I always gave thanks and paid homage** whenever I myself paused by a cross aside The Way …
“Christianity will at its core always makes at least some sense, because it was Jesus Christ who still lives at its center, and because it was he who did the following: *He never judged a person by his/her appearance (Mark 10:46-51et al) … *He never looked down with disdain on another when he or she did not believe or worship like he did (John 4:1-26 et al) … * He never withheld his gifts or compassion from those who did not belong to his own community – even the open enemies thereof (Matthew 15:25-28 et al) … *He always shared his love & kindness with both poor (Luke 14:13 et al) and rich alike (Mark 10:21 et al) alike … *He humbly kept quiet whenever he was wrongly accused (Matthew 27:12 et al) … *He knew that generosity came always from the intent of the giver and never the contents of a gift (Luke 21:1-4 et al) … *He rejected material wealth in order to empower his acts of service & love (John 13:14 et al). What a shame it is indeed that so many Christians so often dishonor their own Lord & Savior by thinking & speaking & even acting in a manner directly opposed to the one he would have them think & speak & do. As such, our world need not be disappointed in the teachings of Jesus or the influence his legacy has on the world, but rather should loudly denounce any portion of the Christian church that (and any one of its followers who) refuse to embody the same.” ~ inspired by Santosh Thankachan
*It is possibly not by any accident that the standard “crossing one’s self” gesture made by most Catholics the world over perfectly embodies the symbolism of Jesus’ great teaching on this matter – unifying the vertical trinity of God the Father above with the Son of Self within and the Holy Spirit of Love that resides in all conscious beings, and doing so by combing the left hand of humble gratitude with the right hand of selfless generosity.
**I often did so not only with prayers of gratitude & affirmations of resolve, but also with the placement of beautiful stones (like the one I placed here) that I had been carrying with me, often for many miles beforehand …
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