The Chris Cuomo Project - The Real Meaning of Easter Has Nothing to Do With Religion

Episode Date: April 2, 2026

Chris Cuomo explores the real meaning of Easter, breaking down Holy Week, Passover, and the origins of religious tradition to argue that the core message has less to do with faith—and more to do with human behavior, forgiveness, and change. He examines how Christianity borrowed from earlier traditions, why symbols like Easter and resurrection predate religion, and what lessons actually matter now. Cuomo argues that “rebirth and renewal” isn’t theological—it’s natural law—and applies to anyone, regardless of belief. He connects that idea to personal accountability, regret, forgiveness, and the ability to move forward after failure. This episode moves away from politics and focuses on something more fundamental: how to deal with what you’ve done, what’s been done to you, and what comes next. Join The Chris Cuomo Project on YouTube for ad-free episodes, early releases, exclusive access to Chris, and more: https://www.youtube.com/@chriscuomo/join Follow and subscribe to The Chris Cuomo Project on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube for new episodes every Tuesday and Thursday: https://linktr.ee/cuomoproject Go to https://cozyearth.com/CHRIS for 20% off! Refresh your wardrobe with Quince at https://quince.com/cuomo for free shipping and 365-day returns, now available in Canada. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Go to Quince, Q-U-I-N-C-C-E dot com slash Cuomo, and you'll get free shipping and 365-day rest. returns. Quince.com slash Cuomo. It is Holy Week for Christians. This is the biggest part of what they call the liturgical or the religious calendar. Christmas is not really a thing for Christians, and I can explain why. Certainly not for Catholics. Certainly not for Roman Catholics.

But if you're batting your eyes and like, I'm not a Catholic or I don't care or religion is weird, I have a secret for you. There is profound meaning to what is being celebrated at this time of year, but it is not the religious that gives it meaning. It's the secular. And I think one of the big hidden truths of our society, of our culture, of our existence is that religion didn't bring us the significance of what happens this week and during what we call Easter. it's that religion borrows from the reality of life in taking its meaning, which is to say there's a whole bunch of truth that you can put to work in your own life that has nothing to do with religion.

In fact, secular thought, philosophical thought, is closer to the truth of what the Easter season is about than anything to do with Christ's. Christianity. How so? Let me explain. I'm Chris Cuomo. Welcome to the Chris Cuomo Project. And thank you for subscribing and following and checking out all the new subscriptions over on YouTube. I hope you're making your way over there because I'm designing the whole community around YouTube. So this is the kind of conversation we'll have. It's not necessarily on the news, except, you know, this is the week that we're. We celebrate Holy Week and Easter and Passover is April 1st this year and they are related,

and I'll explain how. But of course, Christians borrowed so much from the Jews, but from a lot of others also. But but, but I'm talking to you about it now because I think there's a great bit of wisdom in it. And also kind of a little bit of a truth bomb that you don't have to be religious for these ideas to matter. In fact, they probably matter more if you're not, okay, because I am different. This is why I'm selling the merch for you guys, is so that you can brand your independence, show that you're a free agent,

that you're a critical thinker, that you're not just some pack mentality, even with this, that you're not some lemming. I'm a Catholic, so blah, blah, blah, or I'm a Jew, or blah, or blah, or I'm a Protestant, so blah, blah, blah, no. No, no. You don't have to be a part of any of that for there to be a really big truth

that you should put to use in your own life. It can only make things better. better so how did we get here well even if you start with april first okay april fools day okay now it is preceded this year by palm sunday palm sunday is just the story that when jesus showed up in jerusalem people realized that he was the messiah and fulfillment of the scriptures and they threw palms and threw down their tunics and all this other stuff so his feet didn't have to touch the ground because he was special and that's why we give out the palms and people like me make little crosses out of the palms and we give them to each other very nice and then they take the

palms and they burn them up and that's what you use for ash on ash wednesday which is the start to lent which is proceeds which is what precedes the easter um celebration now why do we have it at all the christians were in a fix they needed to find ways to develop their own religion their faith and religion. Religion is just a set of rules. The faith is what underlies the need for any type of behaviors. What do you believe? And then what do you do in furtherance of that belief? It's a two-step thing, but it starts with the faith. And they didn't want to scare people away. They didn't want to seem like they were saying that other things that were believed weren't true, especially for the pagans. And with the Jews, you know, they had already made their bed, right? Jesus was a straight-up

apostate, you know, apostate for the Jews because he was basically, saying that they were doing it wrong and they wound up getting them killed for it. I'm not blaming the Jews. The Romans did it. But the Jews were largely tribal and aggressive and numerous and they were angry because this guy was saying all these horrible things about their religion, basically. And we know how that went. And this is the week that the Christians take meaning out of it. But but, but, but, what this is really about is the recognition that what comes around goes around and that everything is subject to change okay the theme of Passover is the story of the exodus for the Jews right and it was all the different plagues and the 10th plague i think was killing the firstborn in every

home so you had to put lamb's blood over your door and that's how the spirit of death would know that you were a real one and, you know, not the bad Egyptians and so that you would be spared. So they put the lamb's blood and passed over and everybody else's kids died and the theirs did. So an extension of that is that here we have the need for rebirth and renewal, right, avoiding that which could have killed you but didn't. So where does this come from? Winter. Spare times, off season, when things are dead.

Why do they celebrate the Christmas tree? Why is that such a strong symbol? It has nothing to do with religion. It has everything to do with natural law and observance by pagans and other heathens, you know, non-believers, non-Christians or Jews or whatever, about it lasts the whole time. It's green the whole time. Everything else dies, not this.

Why? It's a symbol of eternal life. It's a symbol of fertility. It's a symbol of perseverance. And there is a truth that this two shall pass. The cold months, the snow, the difficulty, the hardship, the failure, the loss, the pain, the regret. It will all pass. If it doesn't kill you, it will pass.

And just about everything falls into that category, Marcus Aurelius, who has come into vogue along with stoicism, even though he didn't create stoicism, not by a long shot. But he is seen as like, you know, everybody's selling his diaries and writing off of them. And one of the things that he said was if what you are dealing with is endurable, endure. Meaning what? Suffering is part of life. Pain is part of life. Nobody gets out of this life alive.

The pain is real. Suffering is real. But if you do what you can, you will get through it. hence rebirth and renewal, which is what the Jews are playing with as an idea, and the Christians are certainly playing with as an idea thereafter. So the way the Christians do it this week is Passover happens. Easter is a three-day. They call it the Triduum, which is a Latin word for three days.

It is Monday Thursday, right? Good Friday and Holy Saturday. And then, of course, you have Easter Sunday. So, well, isn't that the fourth day? Yeah, I agree with you. But this is how they define it. So, Mondi Thursday, or Holy Thursday, Mondee comes from the Latin mandatum,

which is to command, the commandment. And what is that commandment? Well, I'll tell you. But the first part is, well, what was going on? Passover was going on, and Jesus was a Jew, and so were the disciples. So guess what they were having, Passover dinner.

And it's called the last. last supper because it was the last one that Jesus would have and that's when Judas came and then he betrayed him and all that shit. So at this Passover supper because they were Jews, Jesus says to the disciples, look, we're going to make a promise to each other right now. I'm going to tell you some heavy shit. Okay. And first of all, something's going to change. Bad things are going to happen. Don't tell me no. Don't listen to me for a second. First, let's say, let's say, Let's eat, but this is no ordinary meal. Take this bread.

This is my body. It's going to be given up for you. Take a drink of this wine. Take a sip. This is my blood, which is going to be given up for you and for all going forward. And this is huge in Christianity, especially Catholicism. Catholics believe in what's called transubstantiation, which means that it really wasn't a metaphor. It's not bread and wine that he just wanted to be represented.

of these things. That's what most Protestants believe. Catholics believe that there is something magical about this, that there is something real about the change. And when they do the communal right, that's what they believe it is, is the changing of bread and wine into the body and blood of Jesus. Now, you can say that's crazy. You wouldn't be alone. You know the expression hocus pocus? that's where it comes from the Latin line that begins the communal right as they call it communion coming together to share the Eucharist which is the thanksgiving that's what the word means in Greek Hick est mium corpus this is my body that's where hocus pocus comes from it's like an amalgamation of those and it means what is hocus pocus means like bullshit magic right

because that's what a lot of people dismiss this as but this is what they choose to believe as Catholics. This is a big part of their liturgy, a big part of the sacrifice of Jesus. This is everything. If Jesus isn't the Son of God, if Jesus wasn't crucified to save everybody else, then what is the point of the faith? It means nothing. And the only thing more important than that testimony is what happened after his crucifixion, which I'll get to in a second. So at this supper, when he's explaining these things to his fellows, he says to them, Look, I'm leaving you with the only thing you have to know. This is what the entire faith is about, is this one line.

And the beautiful thing about it is it really doesn't require anything other than a belief and virtue. But just let's play it out. I want you to love one another the way I have loved you. And do it for the love of me. and my name is truth. Because the highest truth is that we have to love one another. As Pope Francis, may rest in peace, said, there are two words to my religion.

It can be described in two words. Love, mercy. That's it. That's everything. Everything else is noise, not signal. Everything else is what man decided to do for power and recognition and obeisance and conformity and discipline and all these other things. control mostly in my opinion but that's all it is be good to one another and do it because you say

you believe in me and if you think i'm so important and you think i'm so special and you think i matter so much to you and i have so much control over you and your existence then do this love one another and just if you just stop right there so few of us do that so few christians do that one of the scariest things to see next to someone's bio is a crucifix. Am I right? You know, the chance that person is on social media commenting in a way where there are not some judgey asshole who's being everything that Jesus was not. There's like no WWJD to them at all. They are judgey, preachy, say one thing, do another, hypocrite assholes. All of them, of course not. Too many of them, absolutely.

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Do her right. So that's Thursday. What happens Friday? They kill his ass. And they don't just kill him. They crucify him. And that's really important. Why?

Because he needed to suffer like nobody suffers to make the point that he was willing to do all of that for us. Didn't have to. If you believe, you didn't have to. He didn't have to go through any of that. But he did it to pay the ultimate price as humans see it so that the rest of us are forgiven our sins. And then on Saturday, we used to believe he descended into hell.

And all of the righteous souls that were stuck there, he freed. Not everybody. All of the righteous souls. And that is a little in conflict with the fundamental option, which is a deep teaching of Catholicism and the idea of forgiveness. So they've moved away from that. And they don't say he descended into hell anymore. They changed it, which is, in my opinion, it just shows some of the nonsensical thinking that goes into this stuff. But it doesn't matter.

The whole point of what I'm telling you today is that none of this really matters in terms of this massive truth that you should put to work in your own life about giving yourself a chance to change, to forgive and to forgive what was done to you and forgive yourself for what you did to others, even if they don't forgive you. The Jews have a great device with this. You did somebody wrong. You ask for forgiveness. They say, fuck you. You do it again. They say, Gary, say it again. Please, forgive me. I'm sorry. Let me do something. Let me help you get past this.

You're not ruined. It's not over. I can help. I can fix. You can fix. I can help you, help you. Then they say, no, no, get out of here. Then you forgive them.

Why do you forgive them? You're the one who did something bad to them in the first place. Because they're keeping it going. And that is unnecessary and it's a hostility. And it's to be left alone. So just forgive them and move on. Don't now return the animus as so many of us do, even though we started the problem. It's a beautiful idea. We just don't practice it. It has nothing to do with belief in anything bigger than virtue.

Virtue is bigger than all of us, right? Truth, goodness, kindness, love. Each and all of these things are bigger than all of us. They would hold communities together. That would fuel families. There were fuel friendships. There were fuel loyalty and commitment to things. It doesn't mean that you believe there's a man in the sky or 50. or down there or over here or anywhere or anything. Other lives, other dimensions, all of those things. You don't have to believe any of that to just believe in goodness. That's what ethical humanism is all about. So, Thursday, he has the last supper.

Friday, they put him to death. Saturday, he descends into hell. He actually dies. And then Sunday, he rises again. And that had to happen. I'm doing a whole special on it at News Nation for this weekend. and for when I was over in Israel and in the region, to cover the conflict, I did this special

on what we actually know about the resurrection of Jesus. What is in any way demonstrable or provable or reliable about it, and what isn't? And why? On what basis? And it was actually pretty fun doing it and going to all these holy sites. And you definitely feel differently when you're at a place that contains such a powerful story that, you know, is it true?

If it is, holy cow, it's amazing that you're in the same places that this guy was. And Jesus, we pretty sure, was a man who said and believed what he said and believed. What the significance was of him, the significance of his life is open to interpretation. So, but he had to rise. Otherwise, he's not an extension of the Godhead. He's not a real one, as kids would say to say, he's not defined. He didn't deliver us.

It didn't really happen. He had to. He had to rise for their faith to be real. So that's really powerful. However, it doesn't have to matter to you to get the lesson that they are borrowing. What the religious are borrowing is the truth that in spring we recognize that things come back.

Rebirth and renewal is natural law, not religion. It is not theistic thinking. It is not only motivated by God or some higher anything than nature. And that is really powerful. And you've got to give yourself that. Take it from somebody who really struggles with this. I'm haunted by what and who I did wrong and those who refuse to forgive or refuse to let go or refuse to move on or refuse to understand and decide to punish and punish themselves or punish me or punish me and not themselves or punish themselves and not me.

Whatever it is, whatever the circumstances in your life. we all go through tons of shit. But rebirth and renewal is everything. It's everything. It's every day. It is this strongest instruction you can give yourself. And it is taught through nature, not through belief or faith. And how do we know this?

So here's something that Christians and Catholics don't like to talk about. All of this is not original. Let that sink in for a second. The Jews didn't believe any of this, other than the Passover stuff, but they had a totally different story. But the idea of rising from the dead, obviously Jesus did it with Lazarus, but Hercules in the Roman tradition of polytheism, Osiris in Egyptian lore and mythology,

rose from the dead. Why? To show their divinity, to show that they are bigger and better than the rest of mankind. So this is not an original story. And even the way it went down and the duration and things, you know, you can find in other traditions. The word itself, what do we call this time of year? Easter, right? Easter is what? Is that a Catholic word? Is that a Christian word? No. It's a pagan word. It comes from the goddess of fertility. etrus. And they deified rebirth and renewal. And they made it feminine. Why? Because the female gives birth. And every year we see the return, if you're in a place that has seasons, right, that something gives birth to the world again. Everything becomes new again. Everything that was

dead or seemingly dead or, you know, dormant now comes alive, becomes alive, becomes vibrant the colors the hues the sounds the smells all of it is new again and this is mother earth this is estrus this is the goddess of fertility that's where easter comes from and i'll give you a little oh now i get it other than a cadbury commercial what business does a rabbit and an egg have with one another i'll give you a hint rabbits don't lay eggs Why do we have those symbols? Because they're both signs of fertility. There's symbols that are pagan in their origination.

Not Christian, not Catholic. Jesus never said anything about rabbits or eggs. That's why we have those two oddball things. What an odd combination, rabbits and eggs. And I always thought Cadbury eggs were kind of nasty. I mean, I know they taste okay, but everything with sugar tastes okay. But when you open it, it's like, ew,

what is all this gooey shit? But anyway, that's where it comes from, is pagan. You know, Christmas is when it is, not because that's when biblical scholars believe Jesus was born. They believe he was born sometime in the spring. That's why the new year in the Julian calendar from Julius Caesar, the new year started in the spring. And then Pope Gregory, I think the 15th,

changed to the Gregorian calendar to have the year start at the beginning of the new calendar year. So he changed it. That's where April Fool comes from. April Fool comes from people who didn't adapt to the new calendar system. So they still thought the year started in April. And it became like kind of a joke and a tradition and, you know, a lot of other little spoofy rationales for it were layered in. But that's how we get April Fool's Day.

So in all of this. you see a really powerful truth that has nothing to do with belief beyond believing and giving yourself a chance and realizing what is true in everything in our world, which is every time passes and every situation will change. The only constant is change. Rebirth and renewal is always available. It is never over. You are never ruined. You are never done. You are never finished. Nothing is ever over. Well, a game can be over and you lost and you could be fired.

You could lose a girlfriend or a husband or a whatever. Yeah, and then you get another one. You see what I'm saying? It doesn't have to be over. You make that choice. You decide that for yourself. It's not true and it's not even apparent from everything else around us. See, that's the beauty of this season.

to me. It has nothing to do with the story of the resurrection of Jesus. It can. I choose to put credence in the power of that. Support comes from Quince, okay? Quince is not talking about the fruit. They're not talking about the jelly that you eat with cheese and crackers, but they're talking about something equally appetizing. What? Fine garments. Why? Everyday essentials that are well made. So what? So you don't need as much. You can use them in combinations that are going to last. That's the key.

Very Italian, okay, in its extract. I'll tell you why. I grew up with a lot of people that believed. I don't have a lot of money, so I'm going to spend it on something good, and I'm going to keep it nice, and I'm going to wear it a long time. And I saw that, and I respect it very much. Quince makes high quality, everyday essentials, 100% European linen, insanely soft, flow-knit,

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Quince. Quince-D-C-E-L-E-W-E-E-W-J-E-T-E-E-E-W-Jet when WestJetting since 96. Travel back in time with us and actually travel with us at westjet.com slash 30 years. Now, that's a little bit of a tortured explanation. What are you saying, Cuomo? Are you a Catholic or no? Look, it is very difficult for me to extend belief beyond the known, okay?

And that's true for everybody. That's the power of the story of doubting Thomas. He needed to put his fingers in the holes of Jesus' wounds from the cross. Why? To inform the skeptic. If you think this didn't happen, so did Thomas. And then Jesus, he said, here, and he put his fingers through it. He was like, whoa, I guess. Same with his brother, James. You know, Jesus' brother supposedly didn't believe his brother was anything special when he was alive. But then when he appeared to him after his death and resurrection, he was like, holy moly, that's the story. Do I believe it? I, listen, I choose to have faith. in the power of something bigger than myself. I believe that, well, one, it certainly motivates my attempts to try to be better and live differently and to aspire to anything. It helps me.

So you're believing in some silly God man in the moon, heavens, because it helps you be a better person? Well, no, not exactly. but it gives me a basis of motivation to believe that there's something bigger than just everything I've screwed up down here, that there's a higher intelligence, there's some kind of plan, there's some kind of design, there's some kind of something. It just doesn't all make sense, otherwise this can't be enough. Now, that may be unsatisfying or at a minimum unnecessary for you. Good.

So just take this other truth with none of the trappings, with none of the religiosity. rebirth and renewal, right? You're looking out. Things are becoming green again. Why? Because it's never over. Because there's always a chance. Until you're in the box,

until you're burned up, until whatever way you want to be disposed of is done. It's not over. Old people, old infirm people, can make new memories, have new experience, believe new things, love, new loves.

You've had bad things. happen to you. You've done bad things. You've made bad things happen. And a lot of it may have left a mark on you physically, emotionally, on others physically, emotionally. Well, you have two options. Kill yourself or do something about it. Give yourself that opportunity of next, of new, of rebirth, of renewal. And that is the truth. Has nothing to do. do with what you believe or what can be proven or not. It is an absolute truth. Rebirth and renewal is the rule of natural law. It's right there for you to take it and use it and inculcate it into your life. Just like your grass, it's going to come up again. Why? It's the exigency of life.

Life insists on its self-emination and its duplication and its survival. Life tries to live. You should do the same. The weed that finds its way under the cement and through the crack and screws up your driveway. That insistence on existence of the struggle to survive, to make it. A little stupid weed finds a way through concrete.

And you can't find a way through your troubles. You can't find a way through a bad job or a bad relationship or a bad patch or having been hurt or having hurt somebody else. You can't handle that? You're ruined? It's over? It doesn't make any sense unless you want it to. Now that's your choice. That's not the truth.

That's your choice. And that is the beauty of this time of year. That is the beauty of this message. That is the beauty of this truth that the Jews find a way to celebrate, although I could argue, that the plagues have more of a basis in an easily digestible historical basis for a belief than the resurrection story. But look, you've got a billion people in this world that believe it. Why? Because of the power of what comes from that belief.

Oh, sure. some of it is group think, some of it is belonging, some of it is tradition, some of it is mindless. But there are those who just choose to believe it because it's a good thing to believe, because it can help because it can do something for you and motivate you to do something for yourself and for others. And that's why I want you to understand what's behind, what's being celebrated, so that you can see not a reason to be Catholic or Christian or Jewish or anything religious, but to just see the truth in the potential for your own life, no matter what is going on. And look, this is easy to see. You could have Googled it yourself in less time than you've listened

to this, but I wanted to motivate you to pay attention to it. And it's easy to understand. It's hard to put in a practice. It's hard to do consistently. I certainly struggle with it. I need it every year. I need it like every week. Just having this conversation. My neck's getting stiff. Why? Stress. Thinking about all the shit in my own life. Everything I've screwed up, everything that haunts me, everything that's still hunting after me. It's all on me. I made it all happen. Some of it I can fix. Some of it I can't. All of it I got to live with it and I got to deal with it. You know, they say you can be done with the past. It doesn't mean that the past is done with you. And that's very true, man. Shit can come back. Often does.

and you're going to have to deal with it. The only perspective that helps you not drive yourself crazy is, hey, let it come, man. I'm going to do what I can do. I'm going to try to fix what I can fix. And anything else that comes, let it come. And I'll deal with the best I can when it does. If I can prevent it, great. I told you once before, I'll tell you again, my only prayer that I pray,

and I pray every night, not because I think it's going to come true necessarily, or that somebody's going to hear it, but that I want to hear it. I want it to be deep in me and as present as, possible which is what give me the strength to prepare to perform to prevent and to protect help me prepare here here here everywhere for whatever is going to come for whatever i have to be ready for help me to perform help me to do what i got to do mostly at home for my kids, for my family. I owe them much more and much better.

Help me. Help me prepare to do that. Help me do that. Help me perform that. Help me prevent things that I can make not happen. That would be bad. And if I can't control it and it's going to happen, then help me protect what I can and what I have to,

any way that I have to. And that's what I pray for every night. Now, one could look at that, certainly I do, and say, oh, it's a pretty scared existence you have. Yeah, it's where I am. It's where I'm coming from. And that's on me. And that's my struggle. That's my journey, as you guys call it.

You don't have to be that way. You'd be whatever way you want. You'd be whatever way that works for you. But I hope that that's the way you're choosing. Not choosing a way that sucks for you, that keeps you stuck, that keeps you burdened. After 19 years, they're back. Frankie Munes, Brian Cranston, and the rest of the family reunite in Malcolm in the middle, life's still unfair. After 10 years avoiding them, Hal and lowest demand Malcolm be at their anniversary party,

pulling him straight back into their chaos. Malcolm in the middle, life's still unfair. A special four-part event, streaming April 10th on Hulu on Disney Plus. This is what I know for sure. Someone fires you, as I've been fired. Revenge is bullshit. Revenge is empty. It doesn't do it.

Seeing bad things come to pass to people who did me wrong has done nothing to make me feel better. If anything, I feel for them because I know what they've gone through because I've had to go through it, maybe because of them. And I feel badly for them that they had to go through it. Now, some people will say, not me. I love it. I love seeing them suffer the way they mean.

me, it'd be suffer. Okay, if it works for you, fine. But not only does it not work for me, but most psychologists, most philosophers will say, you're kidding yourself. It doesn't work for you. You're just thinking that, but you're being petty and small. You're being like what you really oppose. That the real vengeance is not being like what hurt you. It's not being that. There's not strength to go punch the bully in the face. It's strong to just never be a bully, be against bullies, help people who are bullied. That's revenge. That's getting back at them is by not being them,

by putting something into the world that matters more than what they did. Now, that can be unsatisfying. That can seem weak and passive. But I think, again, I think that that's about you having a flawed premise and a flawed construct. And I know because I have those feelings very often. and I know that that is a weak aspect of myself, of my design. And I try to address that. That is rebirth.

That is renewal. Being something better and more than what you were when you were reduced by what you did or what somebody did to you. Intentionally or unintentionally. It doesn't really matter. What happened happened and it often can't be changed. You can only change how you feel about it and what you do about it going forward. And that is rebirth and that is renewal and it is always available.

And as we see, this must be true because it comes to pass every year. No matter how cold, no matter how many feet of snow were piled up through the window and that I'm looking out right now is now gone and the grass is greening up where once it was all white because that is the natural law. That things that are fighting for life will continue to do that until they're. They can't, and so should you. That is the meaning of Easter, rebirth and renewal. It doesn't have to be deliverance from a divinity.

It doesn't have to be given to you. You can take it for yourself. It is there for you. And it doesn't matter what happened in the past. It really doesn't matter. What matters is the next. And does the past inform the next? Of course it does.

Of course. But that's your choice. You can make things better. You can make yourself better. You can make you feel better. You can make other people around you feel better. You can fix. You can do.

You can help. You can remedy. You can renew. You can be reborn. That is the beauty of this season. This is why it is my favorite. Why is my second favorite holiday Thanksgiving? Well, that's not even a holy day.

Well, it is to me. Why? Because family and coming together with the family that you choose and helping and showing that you give a damn about something other than your own appetites is holy to me it is what they call a sacrifice and i don't mean like giving something of yourself that you don't want to give a sacrifice is an act of making something holy see that's why i say at lent not eating for 40 days is great but that's not necessarily a sacrifice because unless you're putting it to positive purpose for others you're just dieting and that's fine you know you can do it

That's not what Jesus was doing. Jesus spent 40 days and 40 nights preparing himself for his sacrifice, his crucifixion. And he was praying and motivating himself and meditating on what that would take and whether it was worth it and why it was worth it. That's what he was doing. And you can do the same.

You could make the same choice, not to let someone hurt you, but to let yourself not hurt you and to give you another chance and to do better and to do more and it's always there it's always there for the taking that's why i wanted you to know so i wish you a happy easter i wish you rebirth and renewal i wish you the promise of that and just because i struggle with it doesn't mean it can't be done and it doesn't mean that you can't do it Thank you for subscribing and following. Thank you for listening to me about this.

It's not about why the war sucks or what's going to happen next in our politics, but we've done plenty of that and we'll do plenty more. But this matters too. Why? Because politics comes and goes, man. Trump comes and goes, comes back, but then he'll go away and then there'll be something next. This too shall pass. What do you do during it?

What do you do after it? This is up to you. How do you feel about it? This is up to you. What do you make of it? This is up to you. Do not let yourself be victimized by events when you control how you feel about them. That is the power of rebirth and renewal.

You get to decide what it all means and what you do about it based on what it means to you. Check out the YouTube subscriptions. You want to have conversations like this in smaller groups directly with me. You can do it. There's a subscription for that. And I'll see you on serious radio. seven to nine every morning. I'll see you on News Nation, 8 to 9 Eastern every night. And the podcast is always here twice a week. I appreciate you. I appreciate you giving me the

opportunity and the commitment of your time, of your energy, of your resources. That's why I sell the merch so that you can brand, extend, and let people know that you are about something more than just fealty to a side. The challenges are real. Let's get after.