Insight Shaped by Direct Experience

"I believe the teaching of Christ because it is good, because it calls us to love, and because it agrees with the reason God placed within us." - Zera Yacob, Hatäta Ever since I was a child, starting at 7 years old, I enjoyed fasting, lenting, and eating vegan, despite coming from a religious carnivorous family. I felt light and healthy, my body and mind brimming with energy. Lent felt like a superpower, granting me self-control over my mind and body. As I grew older, I loved eating mostly vegetables and fruits, to the point where my family would make fun of me, calling it “food for the poor.” When asked to label my eating habits, I am reluctant because my palate changes over time, and food is not something I am attached to. Throughout high school, university, my career, global travels, intimate partnerships, creating my business, and serving God’s universe, I used lent, fasting, prayer, body discipline, meditation, and learning emotional and social intelligence to focus, e...

As an Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church follower, we celebrate the beginning of the Holy Week with the Feast of Hosanna Sunday (Palm Sunday). This day marks the triumphant entrance of Jesus Christ into Jerusalem, where He was greeted by crowds waving palm branches and shouting, "Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the Name of the Lord!" The term "Hosanna" is a plea for salvation and an expression of praise, symbolizing the recognition of Jesus as the Messiah and King. The palm branches represent victory, peace, and eternal life, while Jesus riding a donkey signifies humility and peace, contrasting the worldly image of kings who often rode horses into battle. Hosanna's Biblical Meaning Hosanna stems from Hebrew "hôšîʿâ-nāʾ," a desperate plea of "save us now" from Psalm 118:25, shouted by crowds during Jesus' entry as both cry for salvation and praise for the Messiah. It blends desperation and adoration, fulfilling prophecy. Palm Sunday in...