Ecumenism: the Many Roads to God. Image from Perfect Days

What Non-Christians Want Christians To Hear. Blog post from Patheos.

I had expected their cumulative sentiment to be one of mostly anger. But if you boiled down to a single feeling what was most often expressed in the nonbelievers’ statements, it would be Why do Christians hate us so much?

Today is Black Saturday. It is the day that Christians who follow Lenten practices traditionally commemorate the descent of Jesus into Hell.

Contemplating on life, especially the tragedies that have come really, really close to my family members and me, I have become ever-more convinced of the great value of faith, religion, spirituality, and the communities they let flourish.

While I have taught my daughters to value the specific Christian tradition that has defined my own upbringing (Filipino and Roman Catholic), I have also taught them to value the traditions others follow. The choices we have made as a family, I believe, reflect this. I sincerely believe that to live a life on the path of love involves embracing others in ways that can’t be simply condensed into self-congratulatory platitudes like “hate the sin, not the sinner.”  This is a challenging, very narrow, and winding path to travel. One can get easily lost, confused, and turned around. But it is the one path I’d rather be traveling.

Today, we will be thinking about this path, filled with many contradictions, hardships, and paradoxes.

And remember the truth that once was spoken,
To love another person is to see the face of God.

~ Les Misérables, 2012 film adaptation of the 1980 Les Miz musical