by Angelo Marcos Barba

The true gift of Maundy Thursday, I believe, is that we are embraced by God despite our flaws.

It is a reminder that we should also emulate this as human beings – that we do not exclude others whatever their political leanings, their background, or their status as perceived by human eyes and that we do our best to include everyone not only for the sake of harmony but for the betterment of our communities in general.

I already said this a few days ago but allow me to gather my thoughts so I may express them succinctly or maybe not so succinctly. Please indulge me.

I am not perfect. I have changed through the years and apart from the obvious results of growing older, I have had so many life experiences that made me who I am today.

In this photo, I was a young man – a 33-year-old who was, at the time, dreaming of improving his hometown of San Nicolas. The ones beside me are my parents and the gentleman with the big smile behind me is my brother Jay-Jay. We were waiting for election results.

It has been many years since this photo was taken and so many things have changed since then. Jay-Jay is no longer with us and my dearest mother and father are now with Jay-Jay, too.

In that photo, I hoped to be the perfect public servant even if I knew that it was an impossible feat. I still chase perfection to this day but no longer with the audacity of youth.

I have loved and lost. I have grieved and have had my fair share of failures and successes. I have changed. And I have changed more than I can count.

While thinking about this, I found myself looking at an old book about Churchill. In a statement in the House of Commons in 1925, Winston Churchill said, “To improve is to change, so to be perfect is to have changed often.”

It gives me joy that I am embraced by God despite my imperfections. It also gives me joy that I have chosen a path where I have changed so as to emulate the teachings of my faith.

On this day, I pray that we are all given the courage to change some more – for the better.