"I rescue all who cling to me. I protect whoever knows my name. I answer everyone who invokes me. I am with them when they are in trouble. I bring them safety and honor. I give them life -- long and full, and show them how I can save."
                                                                                                  -- God (Psalm 91)

          A reader inquires, "What do you mean by salvation ?" That's a very good question. I wish I would have thought of it. Yes, it deserves a prompt answer.
           Let's think of salvation and kalayaan as brother and sister. They are very closely related.
           The best answer I can think of is in found in Psalm 91.
           There it is. Without religious jargon. Salvation is what God does for us -- rescues, protects, answers, is with us, brings us, give us and shows us. That's what God wants to do for us, and that's what salvation is. And that sounds a lot like kalayaan.
           God gives us sex, and God gives us salvation.
           There's no better  time to  contemplate what God  wants for us  than  during the Gay and Lesbian Pride Month.
           Take for example, God says, "I give them safety and honor." We are not second class citizens. We are not marginalized children of God. God doesn't marginalize. Homophobes do. We are the children of God, and God gives us safety and honor. Sounds like kalayaan and pride to me.
           Lesbian and Gay Pride can also spring from the fact that God offers us not only the gift of sex, but also the gift of salvation -- with the gift of safety and honor.
           Homophobes are so quick to tell us that God is out to get us, but the Bible says God wants to rescue God's children who are pleading for shelter from homophobia, from prejudice, from bigotry, from rejection, from marginalization.
           My dear reader, if you want to know what salvation means in Lesbian and Gay Pride Month look at Psalm 91. God wants to rescue us from ever-present-ill-will. God wants to protect us and answer our prayers for equality and justice.
           During the Lesbian and Gay Pride Month we can be proud that God is with us when we are in trouble with a society who does not see us as God sees us. We can be proud that we are God's own children, and God not only gives us talents and sex, but salvation with life -- long and full.
           Yes, dear reader, that's a short answer to your question, "What is salvation?" It's the full and fulfilling life God wants for us and Jesus came to give us. "I have come," He said, "that they may have life in all its fullness."
           I love to think back to a charming lesbian couple. They were holding hands after I had officiated at their Holy Union ceremony. They gave God all the credit: "We knew from the start that we were meant for each other. God made us the way we are and brought us together, and nobody could be happier than we are." I saw they were proud to be in love with one another while basking in the sunlight of God's love for them. "God is love, and those who live in love live in God, and God lives in them. It's true, di ba?
           Yes, my dear reader, it's not only about sex. It's about salvation, a wonderful, caring, loving salvation we can claim and be proud of.


  For more information about these or similar issues, e-mail your questions or comments to me at saintaelred@gmail.com (just click on the moving envelope)



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