Saints, Liberal Woke Jesus, etc.

 

Atheist that I am, I refuse to let go of my favorite Catholic saints. I know, I know. It's all imaginary. But on occasion, I light a votive candle to the appropriate saint as needed, because it helps me focus myself on caring about the people I know who are facing difficulties, or to focus in on my own problems.

So yeah, I talk to saints, but not to God. The following are the Saints I like to hang with. And after this list are some of my thoughts about Jesus.

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Francis of Assisi (patron of animals and peace)

Anthony of Padua (finder of lost things, etc etc)

Paulina of the Agonizing Heart of Jesus (that's one hell of a handle, but she is patroness of diabetics.)

Therese of Liseux (The little flower, patroness of headache sufferers and a bunch of other stuff)

Jeanne D'Arc (patroness of rape victims among a whole slough of other things)

Saint Dymphna (patroness of mental health)

St Maximillian Colbe (patron of drug addicts and journalists)

St Nicholas - (yes. Santa Claus. patron of sex workers)

The Virgin Mary (patroness of all humanity, mothers, etc)

St Peregrine (patron of cancer patients)

St Jude (patron of illness in general)

St Margaret of Castello (patroness of physical disabilities)

And finally, St Jude the Apostle (patron of desperate cases and lost causes)

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Is it weird if I say that I believe in Yeshua, a Jewish rabbi who walked the earth a couple thousand years ago, spreading a message of peace and love for all. A rabbi who was in no way a God or a son of a God, just a really wise man with some ideas of a better way for humanity to be? And in the 2000 years since his death, human beings with an agenda of their own have taken his message and twisted it into something that it never was.

Yeshua is a man I would have enjoyed a cup of coffee with.

Jesus the Christ as interpreted today, is a man I would never allow in my home or heart.

But Yeshua sounds cool.