Easter Thoughts

Happy Easter.
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This is the holiday that defined Christianity. Regardless, of the sermons, and the miracles.... rising from the dead was the pièce de résistance.
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Over the past 2000 years or so, the Catholic Church has manipulated and brutalized the teachings of Christ and his followers. The Church used to burn at the stake anyone who disagreed with its self serving interpretation that one could only attain salvation through the Church.
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Growing up Irish-Catholic, I was ingrained with this doctrine, and it wasn't until college when its illogical nature and my widening thought patterns collided. Since then, my theology has embraced a host of concepts to the point that I'm probably defined as Neo-Pagan by now.
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I believe in a higher power and an infinite soul, and the harmony of nature. Christ and probably others were more closely aligned with the higher power, and sought to guide others. I have no doubt in his resurrection from the dead. Although we all have a spark of divine higher power, Jesus was more attuned, and I regularly pray to him for his help and intercession.
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This makes more sense to me, than the heaven and hell, social control constructs that the Catholic Church espouses. Every time they hit a logical dead end, you are instructed to believe it as a mystery of faith.
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So I have evolved to a belief that says that a divine higher power of which we are all a part has set in motion the harmony of the universe, and we should aspire to act in tune with this harmony for the welfare of our eternal soul.
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But when I was on a commercial airflight a couple of years ago, that was experiencing violent turbulence, and seemed to be falling out of the sky, my Catholicism returned big time - I remembered the "Act of Contrition" word for word, just as the Nuns drilled it into me, and repeated it about a hundred times.
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So Happy Easter. I hope you got a basket with a hollow chocolate bunny this morning.