Decrucifixion

  Early morning, inside the church, bloody Jesus hangs on the cross above the altar.

In the first pew, Michele, 5 years old., intensely looks at the tortured, twisted body. Besides her, grandma in trance, whispers the rosary.

Michele suddenly notices that the same tortured man on the cross dangles from grandma's rosary. The girl takes the small silver cross into her hand and focuses on the nails and the crown. She sniffles.

"Are you coming with somethin'," asks grandma, looking straight into her granddaughter's eyes to detect any sign of sickness.

"No," says Michele, shaking her head.

Years later, in her bedroom, Michele, thirteen years old, comes across the Avignon Pieta on the Internet. Observing Mary holding Jesus' body, the adolescent feels Mary's pain and crushes a tear. That night in her dreams, Mary appears just like in the painting, Jesus' body on her laps.

"Can you help?" Mary says.

"How?" asks Michele.

"My friends and I have buried Jesus two thousand years ago; it pains me to see people carrying my crucified son around their necks, instruments of torture and all. Don't you think, he has paid the price? Isn't it time to remove the nails, and put him to rest once and for all?"

"Of course," answers Michele.

"My son wants you to take responsibility for your own divinity. Imitate me, he said, don't worship me."

"What can I do?" Michele asks.

"Would you help me remove the nails, and bury Jesus again?"

Like by magic, Mary and Michele bury Jesus' body in the backyard.

"Earth is Paradise," Mary says, dropping some seeds in Michele's hand before she disappears.

Michele calls Brianna, her friend: "Mary, Goddess Mother, was in my bedroom last night. It was so vivid."

"What?" shouts Brianna.

"Doesn't it make you sad to see Jesus crucified?" Michele asks.

"Duh!"

"Pull out the nails then, so that he won't suffer anymore," she suggests.

Later that night, Michele and Brianna enter the church. They climb on the altar and unhook the big crucifix. They remove the crown from Jesus' head and the nails from his hands and feet. They wipe out the blood off his body and put myrrh on his wounds. They wrap him in white silk and put him to rest in the backyard. They burn the cross and sow seeds over the earth and the ashes.  

Headline news spread like wildfire: DECRUCIFIXION: JESUS IS REMOVED FROM THE CROSS.

On caught-on-tape television, we see Michele and Brianna climbing up the altar, removing Jesus from the cross, and pulling out the crown and the nails from his body.

In their homes, people start removing the crucifixes from their necks and walls. They pull out the nails and bury Jesus' bodies in the earth. They burn the crosses and plant seeds over them. By de-crucifying Jesus, they redeem themselves from guilt and sins.

Today, fruits and flowers grow everywhere. Girls are smiling. Paradise is restored in Pristine Nature.

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