Mga mahal kong kapwa Pilipino, huwag po tayong magpapadala sa labis na takot. Tunay ngang maraming nangyayari sa ating mundo sa mga araw na ito. Pero wala ni kahit isa sa mga ito ang pinapayagang mangyari ng Diyos ng walang pahintulot.
Siya po ay ang PANGINOON, ang Diyos nating lahat.
Lahat po ng bagay sa ating mundo na binibigyang pahintulot ng Diyos ay ayon lagi sa kagustuhan Niyang tuparin ng lubos ang Kanyang mga pangakong binitiwan Niya para sa lahat ng ating mga henerasyon patungo sa ikabubuti ng ating pagkatao at ikagagaling ng ating sangkatauhan.
Huwag po nating pangunahan ang Diyos ng labis at nakabubulag na takot sa mga kalamidad na nangyayari sa paligid natin at sa paligid ng bansa natin. Kapayapaan lang po ng ating loob at kapayapaan na rin ng ating mga bansa ang nais Niyang subukan at patatagin dito.
Manalig ka, kapwa ko Pilipino! Naniniwala ka ba ng buong puso na mahal ng Diyos ang Pilipinas? Datapwa't matakot ka sa Diyos na ating Tagapagligtas higit sa lahat, ikaw na nagmamahal sa Kanya.
Manalig ka, kapwa ko kapatid sa pangako! Maniwala ka na kung mahal ng Diyos ang Pilipinas, mahal ka ng Diyos, Pilipino.
Sapagka't mapalad ang Bayan na ang Diyos ay ang PANGINOON.
Bakit ka pa natatakot?
Fear of Calamities
I have a healthy aversion to chain letters of whatever form - email, social media messages, text, or the traditional paper versions. I do not believe that compulsion is an aid to free will. To me, as regards to free and human choices, what holds water is faith and reason.
Whatever transmits and advances faith, whatever fortifies and completes reason, these things in turn effectively aid the freedom of the will of Man to choose rightly the things that belong to his or her human dignity and therefore, has the potential to actually fulfill (in time and in eternity) the human promise that the LORD, our God, had planted as a seed in the soul of each person.
I've friends and family who send me chain messages and I love every single one of them. It is love however, and not blind chance, my beloved friends, truth and not random compulsion that feed that hunger from within our souls - that restless desire to grow out from inside the self into God.
Choice is not blind to the heart that has chosen to become in love alive - we all walk in this exile darkness guided accordingly by the love in our hearts...
Now please, a lot of our everyday people here in the Philippines are presently being affected by needless fears arising from rumors reportedly spread by text messages of a lethal degree of radiation from Japan reaching the Philippines.
This is something which has absolutely no factual merit. It is just NOT TRUE. The current radiation levels here in our own Country remain at levels that are considered safe.
The spreading of this misinformation reminds me of those more devious forms of chain letters that prey on the legitimate fears of the common people.
It does not increase my faith in God to believe with any conviction of heart in any of those things. Nor the fleeting quality of any random compulsion serve to intensify the presence of the love I must hold and I must have in myself for people as myself - human, mortal, vulnerable and fallible - a love commanded by Christ, my Savior.
But the fostering of an authentic human citizenship, the responsible collective ownership of the life of living creation, the love of nature and the dignity of the natural world, holy friendships, an ordered love of family, a strong sense of duty empowered by love of God and Country, active civic participation partnered with effective civic education, an ethical and diligent observance of one's state of life, a willing and generous response to the call of vocations, a life that is well-lived in loving service of the truth and of the good of others - all of these work together to transmit, whether explicitly or implicitly, the qualitative force of both reason and faith. In all its various gifts and benevolent guises it speaks of a certain love; that of freedom; of liberty in the service of human community.
And none of these are served by that reckless compulsion which as far as I am concerned, is spread by that same rationale of domination that seeks only to disturb the waters of our peace.
Does the spread of those above mentioned rumors aid anybody's love of God and Country?
Then whether through ignorance or malice, the person/s behind it must also be one who is devoid of that same love. For the means employed and the ends achieved are both driven and derived from the inward inclinations present in the human heart.
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The Quake in Japan: A Personal Retrospective
Deep within my soul, I hold a proper sense of pride for the great (ancient as well as modern) cities of our Mother Asia - Tokyo, Chiba, Beijing, Shanghai, Taipei, Seoul, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta, Mumbai, Bangkok, Manila of course, etc.
I was decisively reminded of this as it rose plainly into my awareness the day after the disaster in Japan - I realized that I felt sad and outraged.
This is my Asian spirit - a sense of a belonging to a greater whole. If you ask me, all Asian nations share one thing in common - one thing alone: a deep and profound longing for peace: A desire to belong.
I realize and understand that I have this desire and required neither validation nor permission from any other being other than myself to accept the fact that being Asian is part of my identity; that I belong with as well as to Mother Asia.
If a similar disaster had afflicted Germany, would France not be just as concerned? If a similar disaster had afflicted France, would not Italy not be just as concerned? In the same way, I am concerned for Japan. Because Japan is of Asia as I am of Asia.
But most of all, I am likewise just as presently concerned about what these events bode for my own Philippines, my own Republic undertaking of Country. Because as regards to earthquake preparedness, Japan is the most prepared Country in our corner of Mother Asia if not all of Asia. Is this not a worry?
Shall we not listen intently to her advice? JICA prepared a recent report as regards to our own preparedness in a similar context - specifically that of Manila. It had revealed that we have much to do.
Now please, let me add my own two cents worth to the growing national conversation about civil defense: I am of the conviction that national endeavors such as these must be seen and understood as a duty that is to be performed by every present generation in the context of the lifespan of the nation.
It must, in the spirit of greater civic participation, be something that is done with diligence and vigilance of heart even for the sake of those generations who are yet to come. It must also be felt in the heart as something every Filipino generation must continuously be doing; as something that is worked by all our citizenry, something that must be accomplished even if it lies far away from the notice of others, far away from any praise or recognition; something that is generally understood to even be beyond the reach of each of our lifetimes to completely accomplish.
In this way, we are never lulled into a false sense of complacency.
Indeed, my fellow countrymen, the common defense of the nation against natural and man-made disasters is the concern of all Filipinos. Each of us who draw their citizenship from our eternal belongings together bears a responsibility to act responsibly and decisively to secure the national good according to the freedom of each our gifts.
Japan understands this - so must we.
Let us continue to pray for Japan...
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Soccer Diplomacy
Our Marines are doing something new in the Spratlys - soccer diplomacy. If you think about it, they are initiating a work of peace-building. They might not be aware about it but they are - and so what they are doing is very important.
It is no small and insignificant thing that adds up to become a great thing and there is nothing of greater importance to the life of a nation than peace. Of this truth we must all become aware of because as regards to peace, every little thing counts.
Soccer connects individual citizens and individual nations together in very much the same way that peace does. It certainly has the potential to connect us to as well as with the Americas (most especially the nations of South and Central America with whom we have deep historical trade and cultural connections) and the greater regions of our Asia, Europe, Africa, Australia, Oceania - and to the rest of the soccer world.
Aren't we glad we have our own national soccer team? Go the mighty Azkals!
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Here are some examples of national peace-building initiatives: Light a Candle for Peace, Peace Runs, Peace Councils, Community Consultations, Interfaith Dialogues, Sports meets, etc.
These national initiatives are distinct but not apart from the governmental initiatives set by our Responsible State e.g. the AFP IPSP - Oplan Bayanihan. All of these work toward the same end of a peace that prospers the national good. Even the Common Market has its own innate ability to form its own peace-building initiatives with the nation and alongside the Responsible State.
Truly, we all have a part in obtaining from God, the peace of our Philippines.
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Preserve Palawan
If we are wise, O my people, if we are far-seeing enough, we will realize what we are losing by our indecision to preserve Palawan as a National Sanctuary.
In Palawan is a vestige of our former innocence - something the Filipino soul would always want to return into, something we should like to bestow to our generations even to the very last of our generations.
The frontiers of our world shall be as green oases in the midst of urban deserts. For the world will turn to our cities for hope. People will flock away from these rural areas. But most shall not quench their thirst for living life in the gray of these urban sprawls. Hope shall not be found in concrete jungles. For hope is a thing held in the garden of the heart: In these present times, a kind of innocence lost; something we presently stand to lose forever in Palawan.
Because for us Filipinos, Palawan represents our last frontier, something we must leave untamed and unconquered, something we must leave to be free - for our own good sakes'.
If we lose it now, we will lose it forever.
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Mabuhay ang Pilipinas! God bless us all.
It is no small and insignificant thing that adds up to become a great thing and there is nothing of greater importance to the life of a nation than peace.
Be present for peace.