YOUNG VOICE
Faith
My best friend is a Jehovah’s Witness. My grandmother is a Baptist. My fifth grade seatmate was half Muslim. I am a Roman Catholic and unlike them I eat dinuguan and pray the rosary. But it never occurred that we got into a rift of gods. I am rooted deep in my religion burrowed by the eight years of living as a stereotyped Catholic schoolgirl and despite my mission to evangelize; I also learned how to respect the diversity of denominations. I may have wondered and asked them of their beliefs, but when my queries were quenched, I shut up and let them be. The world is home to a vast multitude of religions creating yet more reasons for differences, brewing yet more causes for misunderstandings. But dare I say the religious fragments are the discrete façades of our similarity, faith.
Faith. I believe it is more than beads in our rosary, more than the vibes of our mantra, more than obedience to our Jihad. Faith is not limited to a Jesus, to an Allah or a Buddha. Faith is simply believing. You may deny the existence of the divine, thus people taunt you as atheist. But since you decided to go on breathing, to continue living; you can never refute your nature of faith. Life can be cruel and arrogantly claiming that you don’t need faith is a preliminary to suicide. Faith is something keeps us thriving. We attest our faith, but to various recipients: different ideas, objects or people, so in case we mess up, we won’t think we’ll be deserted. We’ll have something to hold on to.
I have faith in my Jesus. I have faith that He listens to me. I have faith that He never leaves my side. He is the flickering light that will eternally burn when my world vanishes into darkness. This faith fuels me turn the lights on and move on. Jesus might not be the same guy who will do the trick for everyone, but the same faith will. A Muslim and a Christian, distraught from a savage war, lost their families and livelihood but soon both of them regained strength and glued back the broken pieces. Jesus and Allah are two different personas for some, with different commandments and different laws. But the same strong faith coming from the believers extracted the same amount of strength from their respective gods that drove them to journey on.
I recently watched the third episode of the legendary 19-Emmy nominations series, Glee. The troubled gay fashionista, Kurt Hummel left his fellow Glee club members struck after quipping, “I don’t believe in god.” The episode progressed with Kurt’s father suffering a heart attack and soon comatose. Kurt was uncomfortable with the prayers of his friends and thought that god was a jerk. I thought the episode would end with Kurt’s father waking up and Kurt breaking into song at how he now believes in god. But not to my dismay it did not. Kurt said to his father, “Dad, I do not believe in god. But I believe in you. I believe in us.” These were all it took for a miracle to take place. Not mantras, not chants, not novenas but simply Faith.
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Last time I urged the public to denounce the RH Bill. I said I was a strong Catholic. Until now, my stand remains as is. I do not favor contraception. But I know now that you can’t just demand everyone to believe in what you believe, to have faith. I guess you cannot curse a hormone-driven boyfriend to hell when he used a condom on his first passionate night with his girlfriend. His morals might be shaky, but I guess his faith belongs to his fear of getting his girlfriend pregnant and dishonoring their families. Some call it prohibiting life and disrespecting the sanctity of sex, I do agree. Then again, some call it saving the nation from poverty because of the too-many-mouths-to-feed scenarios. I am consulting my faith for a more enlightening discernment. I will pray on this.
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Religion is not equal to faith. Religion encompasses a world of various colors and preaching. Faith leads the global crowd into a source of strength, whatever it may be, to carry on. We say we respect religions. I guess we should also consider respecting the presence of faith. If I had to choose between religious or faithful, I’d rather be faithful.
My best friend and I have different religions.
But there is never a moment I regret being with her.
Tracy is one of the reasons why I continue on.
My best friend is someone I also have faith in.
Have faith? You already do.
Believe me.
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