20101026

Of the aspects of Country, there are four: Political, Economic, Social, and Human.

These four aspects may only be clearly recognized as distinct from each other only from their most basic units or wholes i. e. the Barangay, the Philippine Peso, the Filipino Family, and the Filipino Citizen.

These four are the grounds upon which the four corners of our civilization are secured. The resilience of our Republic undertaking of Country against all forces alien and hostile, internal as well as external, depend much on how well these four grounds are secured.

And if any ground is to be held secure, it must first be held securely in the heart.
---<--@

The Barangay Elections 2010





Our recent barangay polls (for barangay and SK officials) is a measure of the will of our Republic to empower the liberty of its citizens (not excluding the youth of the nation and their tremendous potential for good). As such, in our national as well as in our local elections, it matters more how one votes than who.





Who one votes matters. But more than this, the principle behind the vote matters above all because suffrage exists to empower the citizenry and preserve the public peace.

Choice is not something we give away, it is something we always take back. For everything Man chooses in his heart becomes his life. In this way, the power of an authentic human freedom is derived from the power of our enabled choices.





In the vote, in principle, and in a process that is peaceful, we act to decisively take back from disorder and darkness by freely choosing order and light. We act to maintain the lineage of our leadership by the mandate that we entrust to those who we elect in quorum to represent us in our Republic government; entrusting our hopes together to those whom Providence has called to serve the Nation in the seats of the Responsible State: Vox Populi, Vox Dei.

It might seem easy to overlook all of this, my fellow Filipino compatriots, and surrender to the defeat that is destined for all that is evil; a defeat which has already been appointed in eternity. But our freedom does not exist for evil's sake but for our good and the good of all -

Service is a calling. Happiness is an ambition. Freedom is a guarantee. Love is a choice.

All in all, it was reported by the PNP that the polling yesterday was generally peaceful. 33 people have died and 14 others injured in election-related violence nationwide. 20 of the deaths were reported to have occurred in Mindanao, particularly in the ARMM. Some violence were reported in parts of Northern Luzon such as Abra and Masbate in Southern Luzon, while none were reported in the Visayas. In some barangays, elections that were postponed yesterday are being held today.

Congratulations to all our newly-elected and re-elected barangay and SK officials. May we all bear in mind and heart the labor of these times; the work of building a better Philippines for all Filipinos.

Mabuhay po kayong lahat!
---<--@

Mabuhay ang Pilipinas! God bless us all.

The Four Aspects of Country

20101019

Typhoon Juan Lessons Learned

It's been overcast all day today. There was a steady drizzle since morning but most of that is clearing now into steady gray skies. All day today, we were catching the tail end of Typhoon Juan.

I must say here in Metro Manila we have not caught the brunt of the storm. All of the fury of Typhoon Juan was unleashed further up north where most of the damage is to be found. The whole Province of Isabela is under a state of calamity.

It was reported that at least 10 people were killed during the storm's passing. None due to any sort of negligence on the part of our local authorities. On the other hand, our national authorities right on down to the LGU's did wonderfully. From PAGASA to the DOH to the AFP-PNP teams and our local emergency teams on hand in their barangays, the whole nation worked like a clock.

These storms usually take a number of lives per year - a sad but inevitable fact. But without an adequate and spirited resolve to effectively defend from the worse of these typhoons particularly from our government authorities, these storms have a potential to wreak much, much more havoc. This particular time however - in the form of Super Typhoon Juan - it didn't. It was as if the whole Republic stood up against it and said, "I simply won't allow it".

So to me the lesson that has been made apparent here to my eyes is this - WE CAN: The Filipino can. If we really set our hearts into it as one nation from the President right down to the citizen on the ground - it can be done.

Truly, my fellow Filipino compatriots, everything else can only get better from here.

Therefore, let us offer thanks to God and say -

---<--@

Mabuhay ang Pilipinas! God bless us all.

It was also reported that we lost about 8.5 billion pesos worth of crops. That seems indeed to be a big loss. But crops grow back. And the work of the building up the earth is always before us.

Now, a Republic is a guardian of a people orphaned by war. Our Republic is endowed with such a spirit so that if we remain true to this spirit in ourselves, we shall find in our understanding of our Republic that people, especially the least of our people, lies at the core of its existence. And when we come to understand its meaning, we come to understand its work. And we begin to see the path that lay before us - the path that leads together to the dawn.

Because the real treasure of this nation is its people.

20101018

Who is to blame for the presence of war in the Middle East? No one. Who is to blame for the absence of peace in the Middle East? Everyone.

Harbinger

To the Palestinian people -

PEACE, I salute you.

The fight you are fighting is the fight to end the fighting. In this hope I pray, you are united in nationhood. And in this hope, I am joined with you.

The whole of our world is afflicted by a spiritual darkness. And much may be said about it. But unless it leads our hearts to a remembrance of peace and its promise, of God and the freedom of God, we shall never understand it.

You are a robust people yet war-weary. Persevere with us a little more. For all the nations of the world have a stake in the peace process of which you are a part - let us abide in our hopes for peace. The siege of war may only be broken from your region.

I bid you also to look beyond your region in Asia and to look beyond these times. What choices we make today affect the purpose of greater things. This is especially true of my generation from among your people and from among all the nations; a harbinger of much good or much evil.

The road to peace is not as much a linear path as it is like the numberless stars in the night sky, a shining out - together. It shall take one whole sky to lead us all out of this long night and into the promises of the new age; into that new dawning that await our generations.

By our turning into the light we turn away from the darkness. By our working the works of peace set before us we shall leave the persistent shadows of things past behind us forever.

Let me share with you the timeline I have -

2009-2012 - Complete thy own remembrances and establish yourself a nation and a Republic.

2012-2045 - We shall begin building - together this time - nation, commission, and mission. And in two generations (X and Y), God-willing, we will have turned this thing around as the one family of the nations of Mankind.

Therefore, let us abide in our hopes for peace. I have listened to Abu Mazen being interviewed about the peace process once and I believe him because his intentions speak to my heart. Rally to him and be sincere - pray for peace.

---<--@

I bid us all Mabuhay! God bless us all.

I continue to pray for peace...

...from star to star, one whole sky.

"Wanderer, your footsteps are

the road, and nothing more;

wanderer, there is no road,

the road is made by walking.

By walking one makes the road,

and upon glancing behind

one sees the path

that will never be trod again.

Wanderer, there is no road,

only wakes upon the sea."

- Antonio Machado (18750726 - 19390222)

Typhoon Juan

Another super typhoon is bearing down on the Philippines - Typhoon Juan (International Codename: Megi).

If PAG-ASA had a storm signal number 4 in its warning categories, I've never heard of a signal #4 before this one: Signal #4 is now officially raised over the Provinces of Isabela and Cagayan.

PNoy and all the nation is watching this one very closely with zero-tolerance for casualties wrought through recklessness or negligence.

Godspeed to all our emergency response personnel and Godspeed to all our affected citizenry: Indeed, Godspeed to all of us affected citizenry - we are after all, my fellow Filipino compatriots, one nation.

---<--@

Mabuhay ang Pilipinas! God bless us all.

20101013

"A smile that is missing is a smile that is lost forever. If you have caused this, O Man, how shall you account for it in eternity?"

The IIRC Review

It is the first prerogative of Justice to restore dignity to the human person and this is most especially true in cases of murder.

We do not live in an ideal world. In this world, sickness, deterioration, and war, relentlessly drive against the striving of Man to build and advance the cause of human civilization. And this is true both in the temporal and the spiritual sense.

The hostage-taking incident last August 23 claimed the lives of eight Hong Kong tourists the youngest of whom is Jessie Leung Song-yi. She was only 14.





It's tragedy stems from the fact that we can never bring them back. From their families, friends, to their nation and their generations, to ours, their promise has now been forever withheld from the totality of all human community - at this time.

The just equality of all human beings under God is a chief concern of spiritual Justice. And this equality is built upon two foundations: Human Dignity (who we are) and Human Promise or potential for good (what we are). From this equality we all must begin and unto this equality we all must return. A society that is just will intrinsically recognize and uphold a just equality and her temporal Justice will stand in defense of this good. She will be thus guided.

It must now also be noted that the effects of the tragedy, centered on the deaths that resulted from the murder of the eight Hong Kong tourists, is now poised to claim the lives of other people but not in the same sense. We must be careful not to further damage what good there is that must be for our own sake's preserved. It is from this underlying consideration that I believe the IIRC review findings drew its principal mitigating logic.

Because what proceeds from the first prerogative of Justice is the preservation of the human promise. Notably not as a diminution of its first task but as a co-equal task.

It is a fact of this tragedy that the perpetrator of this crime has himself become a victim of his own evil intention.

It is also a fact of this tragedy that institutional weaknesses played a significant role in the undesired outcome of the rescue effort.

It is also a fact of this tragedy that anger and other unrelated motives still threaten the climate of objectivity in the bar of public opinion.

Evil must not be re-payed with evil. It must be repelled from the life of our common community. It must be deliberately excluded from our public peace.

And to do this, what good there is must be recognized, preserved and if necessary restored by the court of Justice, temporal and spiritual. And in this nation, this is the function of the juridical processes established across all the three independent branches of the Republic government - the executive, legislative and judiciary.

Therefore, that we all agree in quorum is crucial. Because it is very important for this Country of ours, my fellow Filipino compatriots, to move forward.



Personally speaking, and in defense of Mayor Lim, it must also be taken into consideration that the Mayor is an ex-cop and his service meritorious. He has accomplished a lot for the City of Manila as a member of the MPD. He has accomplished a lot more as Mayor.

That his sensitivity to the outfit and to the uniform might have reactively influenced his strategy can not be ruled out because the hostage-taker himself was an ex-cop albeit dishonorably discharged. If this is true, this weakness that in retrospect appear to be so might have appeared to many before the fact to be a strength.

Again, it must be pointed out that the effect of the person of Mayor Lim on the undesired outcome of the operation was only exacerbated by institutional failings that have been the cumulative effect of years of national decline.

The best way to reverse this is to move forward on all fronts. And I believe this is what the present Aquino administration is trying to get us all to do - and by example.

As regards to this tragedy in particular, I believe the best way to move forward is to learn from it and to become better prepared to defend the common good specifically in the effective rescue of hostages and to do this on behalf of all those innocents whose promise we are now left without.

We shall honor their deaths by restoring the dignity of their lives.

Because to remember them well, we should work to become better for their loss and not worse and work to preserve the memory of their promise for our own good sake in remembrance of their lives.
---<--@

People Power and Proclamation 50

I am carrying this post over from All to my All -

REVOLUTION, how must we understand it, O my nation?

LET US FIRST SEEK to know what revolution is not: Certain.

Time itself being so much fraught with uncertainty, like a chasm the depth of which no one knows, revolution yawns beneath the feet of those who seek to be defined by it.

It is like a throw of dice, entered only when the need is such that one must by destiny heed the call of random chance. And this need must be such great a need as to be placed upon its time by purposes that must transcend it, lest the will of the fight soon falter and fail, the faith of the people must burn that brightly, to set itself completely against the test.

This is why the People Power revolution of 1986 was such a great wonder.

It is a miracle of grace; our timeless pulling together for God and Country, and the measure of the quality of our people.

So let us remember People Power not as a falling apart but as a gathering together, in our hearts, in our lives, and in our times together as a one whole Filipino nation.

Let us not forget, my honorable compatriots, that to willingly surrender to chance is to court the Devil that we may from People Power learn to remember always the measure of our resolve to advance the cause of our one Republic, and to tempt never the Providence of the one Divine under Whose singular Standard of Truth the oppressed is liberated.
---<--@



I support Proclamation 50. I support this Amnesty because I am of a firm belief that we stand to become better unified as a Country through it.

I have always thought that the Magdalo group had in its heart the betterment of the nation specifically, the Filipino soldiery and the nobility of the Philippine profession of arms.

But not unlike our current Secretary of National Defense, Voltaire Gazmin, I am more personally inclined to err on the side of loyalty and disagree only with their method. I do not and never will support instability in all its forms including military adventurism.

In view of this, I believe we can all commonly draw our lessons from EDSA 1986, shed away the past, and become better as a nation for our coming together this time.

Mabuhay ang Pilipinas! God bless us all.



We must begin today
what no other generation can.
We must quicken to truths
that no lie can ever deny.
We must open doors
that lead to new horizons.
And we must shut the gates
so that no one may be left behind.

The Tree of the Desolation of War

Those who live to nurture
the tree of the desolation of war
shall certainly eat of its fruit
and the fruits of war is plain
and bitter forever.

Therefore,
let us return now to the native peace of our nations -
that we may eat of the fruit that sustains our humanity,
that we may be a support to each other as citizens,
that we may be a blessing to each other as nations,
that we may reflect the glory of the God heaven on earth.

THERE WAS ONCE
an orchard filled with trees
of many kinds.

All of the trees in the orchard
bore good fruit save for one.

There was a tree
at the center of the orchard
that bore no fruit at all.

It was the largest tree of all.
It was also the most ancient of all.

It's great and lofty branches
overshadowed a third of the orchard.
It blocked out much of the sky.

And it drew up nourishment
from the soil meant for other trees.

Now,
the number of trees in the orchard was fixed
by the owner from the beginning.

To each tree he assigned
from among all of his laborers in the field,
a custodian.

For the owner had much property to tend
and not enough workers.

To each custodian in the orchard, 

the owner assigned a specific yield. 

And for this yield he gave a specified time.

He then left to find more workers.

- selah -

The trees are our nations. 

The great tree at the center of the orchard 

is the desolation of war. 

The custodians are the angels of the nations 

who are the keepers of our sacred remembrances. 

The owner is the LORD, 

the one Sovereign of all nations. 

And we are the workers.

But the custodian of the desolation of war 

is the great serpent of faded Eden. 

And he bids us 

- constantly - 

not to tend to our trees. 

At the very door of our hearts, 

the enemy of all human nations 

calls us not to serve
and to commit adultery
against our own humanity.

Time came 

and a great darkness fell upon our nations: 

The great cycle of the one celestial season is turning: 

Winter now approaches our time on earth.

Let us then work 

to complete our own remembrances 

with autumn leaves shed 

not so much for winter's sake 

but for the spring.

Let us turn away from the darkness.

Let us tend to each our own trees. 

And bear the good fruit of repentance.

Let us fight for the Causes 

that have established us 

a free and human nation: 

Sacred Life, Law, Justice, and Benignity.

Let us compete in virtue 

- as citizens to each other - 

and produce for God and for each other 

a yield of good works, ten-fold, 

a hundred-fold, even a thousand-fold!

Starve out the serpent, O my nation! 

And let our generations prosper far into their years...

Born to the Morning: 

This is our land and Now is our time.

Because now is the time for peace.

This is our time.

---<--@

Mabuhay ang Pilipinas! God bless us all.

Have thou now forgotten
that promise long ago?
Return now to the wonder
and never let go.

20101011

Protest

There are many newsworthy articles that I came upon in the last few days but only a few of them stood out. Among the few that stood out, one thing in particular caught my attention. This was the report that our fruit industry took an unexpected hit.

Apparently, our banana exports to the Middle East became an unwilling casualty of the row between the US and Iran. A prominent local paper reported last week that Iran refused to buy them. Iran is the biggest buyer of locally grown bananas in that region.

The fallout: 64,000 citizens will most probably lose their jobs; that's 64,000 heads of families and this close to the Christmas season, I personally do feel for my fellow Filipino compatriots - the littlest Filipino worker - a lot.

Let me just say that I very much disapprove of this quite inconsiderate act of state. And that through this post, I personally protest it as being squarely unjust.

While it is true that this Country is allied to the United States, the roots of our alliance are established upon the same foundations that built the United Nations of which my Republic of the Philippines is a founding member. As a member of the Non-Aligned Movement, the Philippines makes clear our principle that our alliances are built not upon war or aggression but upon peace and human community. And as a member of the ASEAN comity of nations, we stand by that same principle.

I myself am squarely in favor of peace and human community so that even if I am speaking here only for myself, in the democratic traditions of Philippine society, it is still representative of the good will of my nation as a whole. Because no nation on this earth may truly exist for war's own sake most especially at this crucial time in the history of our world.

It might just be that we are, as a nation, experiencing some difficulty at present. Long may our years have been but we are still an emerging endeavor of Country. We have yet, as a nation, to become reconciled with what virtue we may contribute for the good of all nations and also that all nations possess this same potential to contribute to the good of the world. And I would that we should not overlook this, my fellow Filipino compatriots: Never again must we think in terms of what darkness there is or how deep into oblivion it runs - for darkness that is deep is madness.

I think the Iranian people are a good people. Otherwise they wouldn't be here with the rest of us this far out into exile time. So let our own thoughts be focused on this - only on the things of the light - as we continue to complete our remembrances as a people - a nation distinct from among all the other nations of the one family of the nations of Mankind: Distinct but not apart.

Let us say to them: Peace, I salute you.

And understand that if we continue on this path, though there may be setbacks like this, though things may seem difficult, we will prosper. Because we will be fulfilling the promise we have been purposed for by the one Sovereign of all nations, the LORD.

---<--@

Mabuhay ang Pilipinas! God bless us all.

A little anecdote:

A fellow Catholic told me once that he left the Faith because of all the bad apples in the bunch. He told me that Hitler, Himmler and Goebbels were Catholic (or so he said) and to look at what they did.

Being very good friends with my Anne Frank, you should know by now, my fellow Filipino compatriots, that I am particularly sensitive to those things.

And indeed, I know what they did. I fully understand it. Indeed, I fully understand the depth of it. Because I am utterly repelled by it. The very spirit of it nauseates me. I see in it everything I ought by the grace of God not to be. For the evil in evil things does not inspire me to be good. It only serves to affirm in my heart what goodness I know there is. Only good things inspire me to be good. My Anne inspires me to be good. But evil itself inspires me not to be evil.

The thing about him, brothers and sisters, was that his sight was dead set on the darkness and how deep the darkness runs so he forgot about the Light.

He betrayed Peter because of Judas.

He left Christ because of Satan.

However wholesome and right these things may present themselves to the door of our hearts, we should never be inspired by evil inspiration -

Salutation #5

(Freedom)

PEACE, I salute you.

Even the smallest of lights
shines in the darkness -
so shift your focus, my friend,
if you haven't already done so
for each and every good thing counts
regardless of the darkness.

What is praiseworthy is right action.
It is what makes us distinct from the darkness -
it is ignition -
the actual point of contact
between human will and divine grace.
Right action is, in the painting by Michelangelo
of Adam reaching out to God
with their fingers extending out to each other,
that bright spark at the imagined point of contact
between the freedom of Man and the freedom of God:
Right action always results in good works.

What motivates the will to act
must also be what inspire the heart to love.
Therefore, evil action is always the result
of false inspiration -
the idolatry of sin!
So if we are to do good,
we must first learn to love the good -
and shun all that is evil.

For we profit not from evil,
my dear friend,
but from the good;
our motivation being derived
from purposes that are good,
our hopes being anchored upon things
that are true and therefore, good,
and the wings of our surrender to prayer
being ever vigilant and discerning
in its ascent
to the one Giver of all good things.

For evil no longer hold us captive.
We have come to know it
and forever bless the LORD for His Light.
Therefore, we seek now to unknow it
upon paths of repentance
that lead away from darkness
and into peace -
peace in our hearts -
peace with our fellow human beings -
peace with all of heaven -
and peace with our God.
---<--@

I continue to pray for peace...

...from star to star, one whole sky.

Lastly, brothers and sisters, it is not the seeming randomness of nature that impart virtue on human events but the freedom of Man cooperating with the freedom of God: This is a first principle truth.

Therefore, if you want to know if there was anything special to me about 10/10/10, well here it is -

Congratulations to all the 175K+ people who joined in on the 10/10/10 Run for Pasig River - what a splendid success it was!

It was truly a model of community participation in the national conservation effort.

Way to go, Philippines!

20101006

To the Church in the Philippines -

JESUS CHRIST is our Exemplar:
Our Path and our Destiny.
He is the Second Person
of the one Triune Perfection -
The true and everliving God -
Most to be adored
Yet so little known
By needful men.

He is the Eternal Word of God,
Beloved Son of the Father,
Eternally begotten, not made;
True God from True God,
Infinite Truth from Infinite Truth -
One with the Father and the Holy Spirit -
Through Him all things came to be,
The Splendor of all living creation,
The Light of the human race.

And this Light shines in the darkness
and the darkness has not overcome it.

Though immortal and invulnerable
out of love for suffering mankind
He went down from heaven
through the obedience of our Lady
and the love in her Immaculate Heart.
He was conceived by the Holy Spirit
and was born of the Virgin Mary.
He is True God and True Man.
In His Sacred Humanity,
He is True Man,
like us in every manner
save for sin.
In His Eternal Divinity,
He is True God,
unlike us in all truth
save for grace.

He constantly yearned over us
living in solidarity with sinners.
He lived to serve the least of men
desiring that all men be saved.
He lived and walked among us
examining our hearts and our ways.
He called each of us by our name
and made Himself available to all.
He called us to live a life of repentance,
to worship God in spirit and in truth;
and he gave our hearts, our hope -
and he gave our hopes, His Heart -
with the courage to overcome
the darkness within ourselves.

By our common Christian baptism:
He rekindled in our hearts
The sanctifying fire of Divine Love.
And called us out of this world
to belong forever with Him
as one Covenant family of God.

He illumined the darkness of our minds
by the Light of His own perfect human life.
And taught us His timeless counsels -
to be meek, humble, and contrite,
to be chaste, holy and upright,
to be like God, our Father in heaven,
giving us His new commandment of love
by which heaven and earth shall know
that we are His disciples.

He grieved much for our sakes
and prayed assiduously for us.
He lovingly offered for us
His own Body and Blood
and instituted for us
Our common Eucharistic meal
that would feed our souls,
as our new manna from heaven,
and sustain us for the journey
across the void of exile time
through the bitter portal of our death
into the promised Kingdom of God,
Our one, true Country.

His Peace is a promise
that He will be with us for always -
His Light will see us through this darkness,
His Truth being both our Path and our Destiny,
and His Love will not let us perish in the end.
For His Peace is a promise indeed -
that He will see us through to better days -
into a place without war and tears,
into a better world without sin and suffering,
into a time of everlasting life and of joyous peace
lived in the timeless embrace of the vision of our God.

He sent us His Holy Spirit
to guide and to fortify,
to serve and to strengthen,
to shape and to sanctify,
and protect from the gates of hell
His Militant Church on earth.
And illumine for all of us the way
along the hard and narrow road,
up the difficult, high mountain path
of universal truth and Christian virtue.

He lived for the truth,
He spoke nothing but the truth,
He is nothing but the truth,
and died instead of mouthing the lie
that would deny Him His Divinity.

He became vulnerable
to suffer with our suffering
and embrace our human condition
giving true meaning to our living.
He became mortal
to die with our death
and transform our fallen nature
giving true meaning to our dying.
He was betrayed and abandoned by His friends,
and suffered under Pontius Pilate.
He was rejected, slapped, spat at, mocked and scourged,
punched, tortured, crowned with thorns and beaten with reeds.
He was made an object of contempt
and though innocent
was treated more guilty than a murderer.
He was unjustly condemned to die
a horrible and ignominious,
slow and lingering death by crucifixion.
He was made to carry His heavy, wooden Cross
and amidst a jeering, shouting crowd
was dragged violently through the streets of Jerusalem.
He was stripped naked and was nailed to the wood of His Cross.
He was raised up and made to hang in unthinkable agony,
upon that lonely mount of Calvary;
an object of scorn and ridicule to His own creatures,
suspended between heaven and earth
like a bridge between the world of God and the world of men.
His Sacred Humanity, bloodied and bruised beyond recognition,
He did reveal to us the depth of his hunger for us.
He did thirst for our love.
He wept out of sheer loneliness
and looked down in sorrow
upon the grieving faces of His Mother, Mary,
and his beloved disciple, Saint John.
Out of love for His Mother
and out of mercy for us,
He entrusted us to Mary
and Mary to us through Saint John
at the foot of His Cross.

His most loving and Sacred Heart,
a most loving Heart that has loved us so much
yet in return is loved so little,
was emptied out for us.
He bore for all mankind the terrible wrath
gathered up for all our sins past, present and future.
He bled His Sacred Blood in profuse torrents
to wash away all our iniquities
until finally
He cried out in abject grief
and utter desolation
to His Father in Heaven,
commended to God, His Spirit
and died of a broken Heart.

His broken Heart was then pierced
with a lance
and It flowed with the water and the blood
that sealed forever the new and everlasting Covenant
between God and man.
It is said that our Holy Mother Church,
as Christ's new Covenant people,
sprang from His wounded side.

Alleluia, O my soul, Christ our Savior
Has paid the ransom
For the sins of all mankind!

Our Blessed Lord gave to us the gift of Himself
out of His perfect obedience
to the tender mercies
of the Father of all mercy
and His infinite love for us,
miserable and wretched sinners that we are,
until He was so completely
and utterly spent
that even though He was God
and He is God
and God being infinitely rich
and powerful beyond measure,
as Saint Augustine said -
He gave until He had nothing left to give.

Indeed, He loved us all without exception
and cherished us each without measure
right to the bitter end.
He forgave His tormentors
for He loved both His enemies
as well as His friends.

In so doing, our Blessed Lord
and Holy Redeemer
completely transformed
our common heritage
by His life, Passion, death and Resurrection
from one of everlasting death
into one of resurrection unto everlasting life.

Glory to God in the highest!
Peace to all men of goodwill -
Adoration to Jesus Christ -
Our Beloved Lord and Omnipotent God;
Our Blessed Savior and Loyal Friend;
Our Divine Master and Celestial King;
Our Eldest Brother and Faithful Helper;
Our Light and our Truth;
Our Resurrection and Life;
Our one true Shepherd,
Our Pledge of Victory;
Our Prince of Peace;
Our Hope Everlasting;
Our Eternal Daystar;
The True Morning Star;
The First of our First Magnitudes
Our Everything and our All.

He is Jesus Christ, our Exemplar:
Our Path and our Destiny -
True God and True Man,
Son of God and Son of Mary.

And this I most solemnly confess
as most sincerely mine own,
with all the Christian truths
of my Roman Catholic Faith,
in silence and in words,
alone or with others,
in thought and in deed,
in time and in eternity
by the blessed
and thrice-holy Name
of the one, great Triune Perfection:
The Father,
The Son,
and the Holy Spirit -
One God and LORD forever!
---<--@

Mabuhay ang Pilipinas! God bless us all.

God is not a product of religion. Religion is a response to the Divine Reality.

While all men are called to faith, faith is not a choice begun by any man. Faith is a choice begun by God of all men. And as thus is a surrender to the calling by which all men participate in the Divine will.

Unity is an aspect of the liberty of nations.

The separation between Church and State is not a separation between God and human reality.



The fruit of all honorable religion is peace.

20101005

There is no other time in human history where the need for peace is greater than our present time -

A lot of people say, "I support Israel."

A lot of people say, "I support Palestine."

Not a lot of people say, "I support the Middle East peace process."

Well, I do.

Why? Because, my fellow Filipino compatriots, I love both those nations.

To the nation, Israel -

PEACE, I salute you.

I was told to be forthright with you, O Israel! You must bear with me -

You must stand for peace.

I recognize your suffering. I identify with your humanity. I see your need to serve thy cause of Country.

Therefore, you must stand with us, O Israel.

You are not alone.

Consider the Middle East peace process of which you are a part. Consider the state of the earth upon which we are all a part. Consider the times and work to complete thy own sacred remembrances: Make the choice for peace - the same with each and every one of us - while this is yet a choice: 2009-2012. Abide with a one-year time frame and we shall finish earlier than expected. 2012-2045, we shall begin building - together this time. And in two generations (X and Y), God-willing, we will have turned this thing around as the one family of the nations of Mankind.

For my own part, I realize that this is a very difficult, complicated, and emotionally-invested matter, but when things like these seem too overwhelming, I return to the faithfulness of Him who has promised us together - nation, commission, and mission - as a blessing to the communities of Mankind: the LORD, O Israel, He Who is, God to us all: Hear Him!

---<--@

So I bid us all Mabuhay! God bless us all.

I continue to pray for peace...

...from star to star, one whole sky.

The road to peace is not as much a linear path as it is like the numberless stars in the night sky, a shining out - together. It shall take one whole sky to lead us all out of this long night and into the promises of the new age; into that new dawning that await our generations.

By our turning into the light we turn away from the darkness. By our working the works of peace set before us we shall leave the persistent shadows of things past behind us forever.

"If you want to go quick, go alone. If you want to go far, go together."

- An old African proverb

So make mistakes. Now is the time to make mistakes. Right or wrong, if we truly know where we must go, all roads will lead us to the dawn.

Happy World Teachers Day to all teachers!

Those who love God love instruction.

20101004

The LORD makes all things whole.

The LORD makes all things one.

For God is a God of relationships.

He called Man to be one with Woman

and He joined them by their hearts

so that they would be one flesh.

He then made their happiness whole

through the union that joined them in love

by the children that made it complete.

Human Dignity and the RH Bill

Life begins at conception: At the moment of conception, Man becomes a soul and the body comes to life.

The soul of Man contains our being, giving form to our bodies and shape to our lives.

From the soul of Man proceeds the dignity of our being human.

Now, all human beings possess this intrinsic dignity and are likewise possessed by it from conception to natural death. There is no exception to this rule. It is a natural, God-given right that we all share.

And this dignity is one that we inherit at the moment of conception.

I am speaking here, of course, about the controversial RH (Reproductive Health) bill.

Life begins at conception: At the moment of conception, Man becomes a soul and the body comes to life. This is where we shall draw the line: It is where we must each agree.

Difficult and complicated as it may seem, I should like to submit to you that if we shall fail to draw the line here, my fellow Filipino compatriots, and willingly cede this line to relativistic thinking and scientific expediency it would not bode us well as a free and human society.

For then, it would soon become easy to dehumanize any other segment of our humanity that is deemed to be either too weak or unproductive by subverting any other truth about our being human (i.e. human weaknesses and imperfections, or the existence of the human soul itself) that proceeds from our common human dignity; a dignity that each of us becomes gifted with at the moment of our conception.

I realize that the debate about this Reproductive Health bill is centered around the problem of population control and is therefore, a quality of life issue. It is good to debate this, for it is indeed true that the quality of life of many of our fellow Filipinos desperately needs uplifting.

Indeed, poverty alleviation in this Country is a significant social justice issue. But I bid us all respectfully to be forward-thinking on this issue and to lead with our minds but think with our hearts.

While I personally disagree with the absolutist tendency that seek to demonize the negative, casting some erstwhile quality of life advocates in the unhappy guise of the enemy of all sacred life; a growing trend that I realize is present also in some Church circles and uphold the value of liberty in our great democracy (yes, we are a great democracy - one of the great democracies of this world), I absolutely agree with the stand that my Mother Church has taken, unchanged and unyielding, since this problem became a problem: Life is sacred and life begins at conception.

The unborn possess (and is possessed of) the same dignity as you and I. This is why abortion is an evil we can not afford to let loose in this Country. Our laws should exist to accommodate the truth about what our society must be - human and free. Not because we are each the same but because we are all different and different in so many ways. Therefore, where our agreements should meet must be where all the good that is common to our shared humanity begins. And one of these truths is the truth about our dignity as human beings and that it begins at conception.

Because life begins at conception: At the moment of conception, Man becomes a soul and the body comes to life. This is where we must draw the line. And proceed from here.

Contraception and all the arguments that proceed from this that is contained in the controversial RH bill must take its direction from this.

Because if we linger divided on this issue like night and day, my fellow Filipino compatriots, and find no common ground where with we may as citizens and public servants together begin building solutions, we might be doing a great disservice to the littlest Filipino.

We can never take for granted that Country is an endowment.

But the bottom line for me as regards to this particular issue is this: It is not life per se that is the problem here but how we treat life: It is the strong that makes these problems persist not the weak.

Of the aspects of Country, there are four - political, economic, social, and human. These four are grounds upon which the four corners of our civilization are secured. If we consider this problem and analyze it in this light, we should develop a wider sense of perspective that should take the debate beyond just the political to all the other aspects that join together the fabric of the reality of our Country: To obtain the synergy of its parts, it is the whole that must inform it and not the other way around.

---<--@

Mabuhay ang Pilipinas! God bless us all.

I support Senate Resolution 217.

I personally believe that this will help to unify my Generation X and bring more workers to the work of building the nation according to the call of these present times and under the current Aquino administration.

"The work of healing the wounds of the world is the work of nations. But the work of healing the wounds of the nations is the work of individuals."