Monday, March 24, 2008

Easter, God and the significance

Easter, what does that mean to us as gay latino men? Any connections between the first we learned about God and the first time we felt rejection and/or the needing to be loved/accepted?

Maybe we should take a look to see the significance of those two times in our lives...How does it all tie in?

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I'd like to express my thoughts on this topic even though I was unable to attend the meeting this week.

My belief in God was always tied to a particular religious doctrine, and so for a long time, a lot of the rejection I felt as a gay Latino man was self-imposed, based on what I had learned and had been taught to be God's will and definition of love and acceptance. I struggled to accept myself as a gay man because I couldn't reconcile this identity with the religious views I grew up with and believed in my whole life.

It wasn't until I reached "rock bottom," in terms of my spiritual confusion and hopelessness, that I was able to reconnect to what I now believe to be my spiritual core, which is not defined by any religious dogma. Ironically (or maybe not), it was at this point that I was able to truly feel a personal connection with God, knowing that I am loved as I am, and not as someone else thinks I should be. Once this happened, coming out to my parents, family, friends, and everyone else was much easier, because I felt at peace with God and with myself.

I have found that in being my true self (or atleast trying to be), I am more susecptible to God and to spiritual awareness in everyday things, and since this "coming out" to God, I am happier than I've ever been. This makes me feel grateful, and closer to God in a very personal way.