Like Queen Elizabeth the Great

After a couple of months of having spiritual crisis, I now consider myself to be of serene mind. I no longer have problems with my studies and I am completely contented with what I have in life. I have some incapabilities, I know, but having learned that I am sitting pretty as a law student in UP, I realized that God is up there providing everything in life. I am, despite of my weaknesses, surviving each day. This is enough to be thankful for to the Lord.

I just had a chat with Manny Freires a couple of hours ago and upon learning of my present condition, he was happy that his prayer for me to have serenity in life was answered by the Lord. My mother, when she called few times over the past few weeks is also very thankful when I uttered that I am contented with my life and I am enjoying my studies. I hope these times would continue. I learned for the past several months to be modest in everything, including in having faith in the Lord. Before, I was very emotional. Now, I am not. I can control my emotions these days. For these, I am also very very thankful.

Manny Freires told me that perhaps I can become like St. Thomas More, patron saint of lawyers. I got scared when he said that this saint was beheaded during the reign of King Henry VIII for having defended the Catholic faith. Of all the modes of dying, this one sure is one of the most dreadful. I've had nightmares of being beheaded. This is the kind of dying that scares me the most. I believe that he means I can become a militant Catholic, a defender of faith but I'm not very sure that I'd take such path. I already have dreams and aspirations myself and this one is not in my list.

So I told him, I'd rather be religion-neutral in front of everyone and be like Queen Elizabeth the Great, the queen who united England amidst the religious wars of the 1500s. Debating about religion is, as what Prof. Florin Hilbay said in our class, "a conversation-stopper," and as what can be gleaned from History, has been the cause of many wars and deaths of many souls. Until now, I can see that differences in religion is the cause of the on-going wars in the Middle East. I know, at the back of my mind, that Catholic faith calls us to be martyrs. But I believe in the power of diplomacy and the principle of freedom of religion...