Award-winning columnist, photographer and news writer Ellen Leahy is editor of the City Eagle in Syracuse, NY. She is the former editor of the Skaneateles Press and the Marcellus Observer, also in Central New York and is a freelance photographer and adjunct professor in food service at Onondaga Community College.
I remember the exact moment that I finally really got the concept of Jesus Christ.
Consider the fact that I was baptized and raised as a Catholic in a pretty accepting America when it came to the Catholic faith.
I heard the stories, studied religion regularly, listened to the gospels, received sacraments, ate fish on Fridays, covered my hair in church, did the Stations of the Cross, made a few confessions, but still I didn’t quite get the significance of the spotlight on Jesus, the son of God. Or, more to the point, why the obsession in regard to Jesus bypassing God, our father, with almost total disregard for the Holy Spirit?
So, almost 40 years into this life I was on my way to work in Armory Square in the mid-90s. I was actually waiting for the traffic light at the corner of Fayette and Franklin Streets; When the light turned green, my foot fell into the gutter and it came to me, “even if Christ were a man, life would be extremely difficult.”
Essentially being a man, or woman, or child, a human being ... is difficult ... even for God. Wow!
Christ lost his temper, was tempted, sinned, etc.
Sadly, I often don’t remember this lesson and spend a lot of time wondering why people do the things they do. Why even a priest or a politician or a developer or a business-person or even a journalist would lie, cheat or steal ... break a commandment? It’s the human condition.
Only God is perfect, God or Allah or Buddah, and even if they were human, failings would creep in and day to day living would become a struggle.
CATEGORY: General Society
TAGS: Jesus christ,god,armory square, ellen leahy,the holy spirit
