20110630

The Calm in the Storm

Everything that is happening around us - especially the Spratly issue - is like a vicious typhoon.

You know as well as I do, my fellow Filipino compatriots, that each of us must find that calm in the storm to make sure that we are no longer part of the problem but part of the solution.

When everybody is railing around you in anger about China's aggressiveness, you can not stir in the spirit of that same stirring - you must find the center in the storm.

You know how strong these typhoons get. It is quite easy to be swept away by its howling winds. This is precisely what it does when we act out rashly, judge things with finality, believe falsely or too easily.

Or it may bring to us, my brothers and sisters of the Promise, so great an inundation that the crash of all these realities might unleash currents strong and swift enough to drive us all into inaction or worse, despair.

But if we hold on to the beliefs in our hearts, and if we practice these convictions in everyday life - we shall be secure in the storm.

If each of us makes a conscious effort to make these truths about ourselves as a nation stand out in our awareness strongly enough through daily practice that they form good, strong civic habits in ourselves as citizens to each other - we shall be secure in the storm indeed.

Because no matter how the Spratly issue plays itself out - the reality of it all is that what really, really, matters is how we react to it as a nation.

Defense is a reaction - absolutely speaking.

Therefore, we can not stir with the stirring of the outside world. We can not let external forces dictate our own internal desire for peace amongst ourselves and amongst other nations at any and at all costs.

I tell you now, the best adaptation in these uncertain times is unity and the more timeless the truths invested in this sense of unity, the better we shall be able to withstand those forces of division that seek to tear all nations apart.

Not the Chinese, not any other nation on earth can reach out to God for our own sense of national unity and belonging than we, the Filipino people.

And in a typhoon - let us always remember - a house divided will not last.

Therefore, when you hear those many voices railing against sides to this dispute (voices who do not even have the courage to own up to the perspectives they like to spout) go ahead and listen but always make sure you have presence enough in yourself to be able to make your own considerations about the matter as soundly and as closely to the one heart in each thy selves that you can get or ask those who you know and whose counsel you can trust.

Do not be so easily swayed or unhinged by opinion polls, popular clamor, or any extemporaneous outpourings of sentiments from faceless crowds but rather, always try to have one for yourself and always be open and honest enough to test the strength of your own opinions against these external forces.

Be committed to the truth and not to false pride.

Do not hold on to the darkness that must sink into the void at the passing of every moment lest it carry you down to your grave.

Ascend with the ascent of all true things to the unity of God, the LORD of All.

Represent the national good will in these times but especially in sundry times - in and amidst our national communities and among our kindred nations.

Do good things that are unknown and without fanfare. Love the act of doing good, yea - love the act itself - appreciate deeply in your heart what you receive by your giving away.

Preserve the national good will in sundry times but especially in times of adversity.

Especially, do not creates sides within our Republic whole that may not exist and discriminate against our own citizens of Chinese descent or any other citizen that does not appear common to you because not one of us has the right to do so who belong to this nation - citizenship is a call made by God and not by people (or by angels for that matter).

It is a particular bent in the human soul - a grace no human eye can see but is all too commonly felt in those whose hearts have awakened to their patriotic calling.

It is a splendor we witness by the beauty of those lives we as citizens desire to commonly imitate in our nation's heroes and in the heroes of all nations.

Above all, know and understand that this grace is made to dwell in the hearts of all citizens from every nation - that you may better identify with them in their humanity and better understand also that constant call for good will among our nations that despite the ferocity of our recent past is now being reiterated under this season of Peace, by the one Sovereign of all nations no less.

Let us pray for an equitable solution to the Spratly dispute.

And let us continue to be vigilant and deeply committed to the cause of peace in our nation, in our region, in our continent, and in our world so needful of the responsible and decisive exercise of our most basic of citizenships simply as human beings, one to another.

---<--@

The Angel of the Nations

All the Holy Angels of the LORD serve God and God alone.

Now, the Angel of the Nations beholds the face of the LORD, constantly giving worship to God.

Therefore, when the angel of the nations faces its own nation, it provides light to the generations of its people who in turn accept it.

Its sword is then turned away from its own nation in its defense.

When the people reject the peace of this unifying light, the face of the angel is turned away.

And the sword of the angel is then turned toward its own nation to fight against the darkness that keep it from its own remembrances.

As nations, we can only really either surrender to the peace of our belongings together or fight against the angel that guards the memory of our people from the darkness of War.

Remember this - nationhood is a spiritual endowment. It is therefore, a truth in the heart. You can not see it - it is not just a face, not just a sound, or anything purely material - it is wrought through a particular kind of grace, of peace and the love of the same (good will).

It is a labor, a mission, a vision and a destiny.

You feel it in your being, you know it in your heart because it is an unseen reality that calls out to you and all of your peers in the nation that you may be gathered into your own true belongings in time.

It is your gift of nationhood that fosters you according to the peace of your own citizenship - one to another - as a human being among human beings and as a nation among a family of nations.

It is not a work of War.

---<--@

If you still want to know the name of the Angel of the Philippines, it is this - "Go and be a good citizen".

---<--@

Mabuhay ang Pilipinas at lahat ng mga bansa ng ating sangkatauhan! May God bless us and all His nations of the one family of the nations of Mankind.

To close, let me (and my Miyang) share this with you -

Country is a Verb

Blindness

Salutation #24

Cor ad Cor Loquitur

Have you observed now, dear starshine, how some of our written human languages are read from left to right, some from right to left, and there are yet even some that are read from top to bottom?

Of all of these, Beloved of God, the most useful ones to you are those that can be understood by all human hearts - those that are written in the language of the truth.

Heart speaketh unto heart, starshine,

so let the language of the truth

- in all its forms -

being the tongue of Peace and of all of heaven,

let this be thy official tongue -

---<--@

(A Salutation to the Youth of all Nations - On Peace, Human Citizenship and the Longest Night)

PEACE be upon you,

Our beloved Starshine -

kindred youth from all nations.

You of the generations of life -

all you children of the light,

kindred spirits, one to another,

called to that Promise of old

made by He Who Is to our Father Abraham -

all you numberless stars of the skies above thy souls

allied to the peace of all the children of good will

drawn from the sacred remembrances

of all the nations of the earth

through whom the LORD God has deigned

to bless all our national communities

in this present time, under this season of Peace,

citizens of all creation,

I salute you.

Let the awakening of these present times

be a certain comfort to you, Beloved of God,

and be glad for the coming of the new Day, alleluia.

For this long night

is a necessary passage

- as you shall see -

gather thy selves therefore, in this twilight,

and turn thy hearts away

from the waning of the dark

that you may come to discern

what lies ahead.

Before us, beloved starshine, are new horizons -

and you are the strength

with which it becomes possible

to reach out toward all these brighter tomorrows.

Speak thy truth, therefore -

ask of thy LORD and God, "what do I love, O God of All?",

that you may understand

with an understanding that leads to Peace

and the Peace which shall be your common right

- one with another -

established in thy faith in God and thy humanity.

Before us, beloved starshine, are new horizons -

speak thy truth, therefore -

ask of thy self, "what do I love, O heart?",

that you may lay claim

to that Morning which is thy own

- together this time -

a future that is fully human, Beloved of God;

a work of heaven and the earth.

Love the LORD, therefore -

our most precious starshine,

not with a love of division in thy heart

for your prayers shall never ascend to the unity of God

if War is in thy heart.

The strength of all our human communities

spread across the sheltering wings of all our nations

is the product of your own personal commitment

to the labor of completing your humanity.

Everything is given to establish you upon the grounds of this truth -

that you are a human being, a creature before your one Creator,

you are a work of Peace - a living work -

established in the life of thy nations

and entrusted to the wisdom

of all thy lineages of honorable religion,

above all to the three great Abrahamic faiths

(Judaism, Christianity, and Islam)

to whom it is especially entrusted by God,

the labor of the Peace of these present times,

and so it is through thy own humanity, starshine,

that you multiply

- through thy constant faith and humility -

the excellence of your citizenship, one with another,

before the LORD and the assembly of the nations in Eternity.

Remember this always

and love the other as yourself.

Be patient, starshine,

and do this without being bitter -

believe constantly in all good things

without despairing of self or of others like thy self

for the darkness is but the darkness

that does not lead to the light.

Give praise and thanks to the LORD,

for God alone provides

and His grace alone is sufficient.

Say to thy heart,

"everything is changing around me, alleluia."

And after the long night,

Beloved of God,

the Day is sure to come -

for thee.

---<--@

Mabuhay ang puso ng ating mga kabataan! God bless the youth of all our nations.

Virtue of Truthfulness

The Longest Night

20110624

"THERE IS A WAY to effect change but never must it go against the will that establish for all Mankind the shape of present things, all that is present to our humanity must be all that is accepted, first and foremost, and without condition -

this is the first requirement of faith in Divine Providence."

Salutation #23

(The 2009 Minimum of the Times)

Peace, I salute you.

Accept the status quo from 2009 - surrender to it -

embracing all its opportunities, problems, as well as its advantages.

And work to improve it from within.

Look no more into the troubles of past things for answers.

Neither be inspired by the evil of things past.

Let them all fade away into the night falling away behind us.

Rebuild thy nations

who are citizens of each its undertaking of Country

and work to restore good will one with another

dreaming as nations together this time -

human nations, O human Man!

Restore the fostering strength of thy national communities.

Repel the darkness of War and deny War an entrance into this world

by rebuilding the one Peace from within

- from wholes to wholes -

from each thy selves, shining out,

even as the numberless stars in the night sky

become in thy selves all those living lights, shining out,

into thy families, thy tribes, thy communities, and thy nations;

into thy regions, and into to thy continental wholes

and when the wholes are in their order,

arrayed according to their councils,

the problems of this, our present world,

which have heretofore

remained out of thy reach

- being global in their nature and scope -

shall come into each thy own purview

and - if God is merciful to us,

no longer shall these evils confound.

Remember always from Whose Light you were all recast,

especially all of you numberless stars of our Father Abraham

- children of the Promise made by God of old -

drawn from the emptiness of the void

into the substance of thy remembrances this time -

the LORD, thy one, true and living God!

Remember also thy togetherness,

O ye nations of the children of Mankind,

and make a burden of thy history no more.

Cross the threshold into this new age

by entering into the right door

which shall not only open for you

the dawn of the promise of this new age

but shall also secure for each of thee

a blessing for thy generations

- the generations of life, they shall be called -

closing itself shut against

the lingering hold of the last great age of War.

You must do so before the close of 2012.

For if these shadows seem long and dreary,

lingering there - in front of thy sorrowful heart

turn away from the Night, Beloved of God,

and face thee again the gathering Day!

And if in the LORD, thy God,

thou has found once again Thy sheltering Light

never look back, o ye nations,

to let these shadows of times past

fade away behind us

forever.

(Refer to Daniel 12)

---<--@

Our Future

The future is golden, it is the color of a smile.

You may measure it by the brightness of thy hopes.

The future is blue, built upon the strength of friendships.

You may in thy belongings succeed under the sheltering skies of its Peace.

The future is green, it is verdant with patient life.

You may stand firm upon the solidity of its commitment to Sacred Life.

The future is white, resplendent with truth and virtue.

You may seek all human happiness unhindered in the freedoms you will gain by its merits.

Let this be our future.

---<--@

Arise, America

There are these many stars in the skies above my soul -

I draw from the inspiration of General George Washington, impervious to the corrupting influence of power, steadfast in adversity, gracious in victory - avarice and elitism (wrought by selfish factionalism) were no match for his discipline.

His soul lived for his Country and his heart for his of family to whom he showed an ordered love that lived in the context of his patriotism especially for his wife, Martha.

It was the obsolete practice of blood-letting that weakened George Washington and eventually took his life on his sick bed in Mount Vernon - something that I perceive is happening all over again to his beloved American Republic.

- selah -

America, you must dream again with us in this new age of Peace.

Arise, America! Complete your remembrances - our one family of nations have a constant need of your principles, ideals and strength of innovation.

---<--@

Mabuhay po tayong lahat nang mga bansa! Long may our remembrance serve us. May God bless all the nations of our one family of the nations of Mankind.

An Act of Unity

Come See

20110623

Salutation #20

(Freedom and the Filipino Dream)

My fellow Filipino compatriots -

Is the Filipino truly free?

Not while Country flounders

and ignorance of it reigns...

Not while our one Republic sky

remains shattered and broken

and our Peace is left unspoken.

- selah -

What is thy vision, O my people?

Is it so difficult to dream

- nowadays -

that we have forgotten the dreaming

that in ourselves as ourselves

require our constant true believing?

Have we forgotten the daring

that must accompany the dreaming

that can not take to its flight

without our surrendering

to the greater dream of Country?

- selah -

Shall we be forever fettered

by this lingering gloom, this unbelief,

this stultifying lack of conviction

in the nation in ourselves?

Shall God forever deny us

the Peace of our one Republic whole?

- selah -

Does our freedom consist in chains?

Indeed, freedom is a bond

but it is a bond of truth

- as a vow -

forged in the fire of brotherhood.

It is a liberating, expansive experience

of all that is good in the ascent

toward the unity of God

and the perfection of our humanity.

It is not a fear of responsibility

for our freedom is not the so-called freedom

of tyrants and cowards

but a courageous acceptance of the same.

It is simply the happiness of knowing

you are who you ought to be

in the LORD and among your fellows,

a citizen, true and true.

- selah -

If this has resonance in you,

let it rekindle in your heart

- a willingness -

to make this Republic of ours,

according to the freedom of our gifts,

truly a home away from Home for all Filipinos.

Is the Filipino truly free?

Do not look for the answer in others

seek the the answer in thyself!

---<--@

Salutation #21

(A Revolution of the Heart)

My fellow Filipino compatriots -

If it is so

that the need for adaptation

has outpaced the agility of our Republic to react

- as it is being evidenced now -

by our vulnerabilities to disasters of a natural source,

we must take this concern to heart,

my honorable compatriots.

Because if we are now being outpaced by these

what more of man-made calamities

which are much, much more unforgiving?

Or is it so

that these natural sources of nemesis for our Country

are being presently aggravated

by the willfulness of persons

who desire for our nation no good will at all?

Persons who from motives

ranging from blind self-interest

to a complete and utter collaboration with the evil in all evil things,

bring down upon our common folk

untold suffering at our expense?

All the more must we endeavor

to awaken to the calling of God and Country within ourselves,

O you of noble Filipino heart

- because -

if we can not preserve ourselves against their scandal,

we shall lay ourselves prone against their evil

and will fall with the very same cohort

as those who seek to overthrow

the rule of God in our lands

and sow confusion in the hearts of our people.

For the War to liberate the soul of this Country is in our hearts

- let us remain vigilant -

and let us complete our remembrances with each other,

invoking the LORD for His guidance

and His most efficacious assistance - always.

As the slogan from my home Province of Cavite goes -

Let us make this is a revolution of the heart.

---<--@

Salutation #22

(A Nation with a Soul of Submission and a Republic with a Heart of Peace)

To each of you, my honorable Filipino compatriots,

and to all our generations, Peace - mabuhay!

Our original line of eternal election* lost (to War),

(*that is, our hereditary rulers - kings, queens and princes of old)

we are survived still by the nation in ourselves -

for we are a nation, O my people,

born and bred in battle

and as thus, my brothers and sisters of the Promise,

our hearts can no longer be divided

for we are a people

inclined by the Providence of God

in our heart of hearts

to an understanding of His peace -

one lineage of hope, 7,107 islands strong.

A Republic undertaking of Country

is like a phoenix

born out of the ashes of fire and revolution -

it is therefore,

an endeavor of our generations

established not in War

but in Peace.

Our Republic therefore,

must be built up from the fostering strength

of its own abiding will of Peace.

For as no human hope may be realistically built

upon foundations wrought in War,

a Republic that must prevail

must prevail first from the fire of its own revolution

and emerge from within

its own ashes where from

this Country must eventually emerge

from War into Peace.

Our Republic must therefore,

for it to serve as a guardian to an orphaned people,

be brought up

- here in our heart of hearts -

in the spirit of the absolute defense.

And so the best indicator of the Republic will

to preserve itself (at any time)

- in the first instance -

is the prevailing state

of its national military forces,

its spirit as well as its capabilities,

namely the entirety of its willingness

and ability to fulfill its constant mission

as well as

- in the second instance -

the watches of its community police

who are the custodians of the civic peace

and all of its first responders

whether professional, reserved, or volunteer

who are the extensions of the good will of the state.

Now, the watches of the community police -

more than enforce the law,

deter criminal activities,

and combat criminal structures,

must be custodians of the peace of the community

and are therefore

free agents of the cause of justice

inspired by a sense

of the vision of the nation in themselves

who more than quash evil by force of law

promote by personal example

as well as by extension

of the instrumentality of the policing institution

the whole individual good

- human dignity as well as human promise -

in the spirit of the community good

for the law and its prescripts belong to our courts

but to our own national police services

must primarily belong the order of the peace

of our civic communities.

Blessed indeed is the nation served

by the unblinking vigilance of the watches

of their own loyal police, fire, rescue,

and various civil defense services,

including its rehabilitative institutions,

- at all levels and at all times and places -

professional, reserve, as well as volunteer.

As to our noble military services,

charged primarily with the defense of this nation

standing faithfully with the Republic favored by God Almighty

with the Sacred Life and common good of our generations

to the very last of our generations

and so by equal extension

our national peace and good will

with all the other nations

of our one family of the nations of Mankind

especially here in our region, in our continent of Asia,

and across all the continental wholes of our needful world

caught adrift between heaven and earth -

Preserve the sense of the person of the soldier in yourselves.

Do not be influenced by evil affairs!

Do not be so swayed by those present things,

passing and obsolete in themselves

- empty of promise -

being manifestly vain by their very nature;

things that you know so very well

in your own heart of courage and peace,

have absolutely nothing to do with the good in yourselves

which though vulnerable is of a nobler and lasting substance,

more in keeping with the virtues of your profession.

Therefore,

Beloved of God,

do not be so swayed by those present things,

so as to become bitter

or fall into the darkness of despair,

neither allow your soul to become fraught

so needlessly by anxieties about tomorrow

for tomorrow is here now

with you today.

- selah -

For you are the path that opens

who know by your own heart

the Republic belongs to those who love it

and the nation to those who take this love to heart.

If the times are dark, it is not because of the true:

As every lion waits for its time, so must you.

Indeed, however long the night,

it can not last forever.

---<--@

Peace is original to our state. It can not be won in battle nor can peace ever be attained through war.

Peace, as it concerns our nations, can only be re-established among the hearts of the people.

---<--@

Mabuhay ang Pilipinas! God bless us all.

The Two Questions

20110622

Salutation #19

(The War in Heaven, the Person of the Soldier, and the Responsibility of Peace)

Mankind was never meant

by the one LORD of all heaven and earth

to face the darkness and the desolation wrought by

the Adversary of God and of All Sacred Life.

Mankind was never meant to fight these battles.

War was never part of the plan for the nations of the children of Mankind.

Therefore, the craft of Peace

which is the craft of all human nations

is not a wholly human obligation.

Humanity (as the nations of Mankind)

shares this role (the person of the soldier)

and responsibility (the craft of soldiering)

of Peace with the Holy Angels of the LORD

for the mission of the Absolute Defense is a ministry

empowered and blessed by the victory

of our one, invulnerable and omnipotent God.

The War in heaven is in the heart.

But this Peace is just as ancient as the ancient of War.

If we forget this, O my beloved nations,

in this midnight darkness, we will lose our way.

For War takes responsibility only for itself.

But this Peace is the responsibility of All.

All Soldiers fight from the heart

alive to the eternal mission of the one Army

this is the person of the soldier -

it is a ministry of the defense of Sacred Life.

Blessed is the nation served by them.

For thou art a nation of Peace!

And truly, truly, truly,

the LORD prospers all of His own.

The uniform of every military service is sacred

but the person of the soldier is held in the highest esteem

by the noble military of all nations.

For the person of the soldier

does not dwell with War in the Heart.

He does not stand from a view

of permanent and irreconcilable divisions

that believes that the causes for conflict are many

and the enemy is everywhere.

He does not draw his elan vitale

from a will dominated by blind hatred

of vague and faceless opponents.

For all soldiers fight from the heart

but the person of the soldier does not fight

to maintain and advance the causes of a divided Mankind.

Nor exist to propagate the flames of conflict.

For he is not a taker of life but a preserver of the life of nations.

Truly blessed are those nations served by them.

For thou art nations of Peace!

And truly, truly, truly,

the LORD prospers all of His own.

(NOTE: The use of the word "soldier" in this body of work is always inclusive of all members of the armed services but specifically pertains to the Infantry).

---<--@

The Quest for Sustainable Peace

THERE IS NO OTHER TIME in human history where the need for peace is greater than our present time.

With the passing of the last century, we have seen the great tumult brought about by three global wars - the First, Second and the Cold War.

It must not be lost to our humanity that a war that is global in scope is a significant evolution in the nature of warfare.

For conflict and its paradigm run parallel in their course. War and its outbreaks in our world being determined both by the actual viability of waging war and the will to make war is indicative of the relationship between conflict and its paradigm.

The paradigm that exists today in our world is one of War (in the heart).

And this paradigm is prevalent not only in terms of the conflicts that plague our nations, this paradigm is now present also in our societies, in our markets and even in our places of worship - the one place where War should have no footing, it has entered.

Thus, because the paradigm of War is an absolute whole and as this paradigm has come to cover the whole of the earth, the very word, "peace", it can now be said, is both under appreciated and misunderstood in its meaning (i.e. it appears eclipsed to the eye of our souls).

To understand War as a paradigm whole, we must return to our roots.

To understand Peace as a paradigm whole, we must awaken to the eternal destiny of our nations.

If we are to include spiritual considerations with regards to War as a paradigm whole, it would be more sobering. But since I should like to make this a primarily secular statement, I thought not to include it as much as possible (without damaging or distorting the reality of our humanity) in this post.

For the reality of the times and the obvious trending of these things are indicative enough of the consequences to make the choice for Peace, a very reasonable one.

With the passing of the last millennium, after 2000 years of dwelling with War, we must (as nations dreaming together this time) complete our remembrances and bring our hopes forward for the favorable season for Peace is Now.

At the waning of the Industrial Age, there are yet problems that exist in our world that belong to that age, problems which shall prevent or preclude what benefits our world stand to reap from this Information Age as well as understand more closely the challenges that await us which are proper to this new age.

But the siege of War must be lifted even before our nations shall have the capacity to effectively address these problems.

We are nations because our responsibility to our world and to each other require us to dwell in the strength of our human communities.

And we will take this responsibility with us in this life and, if I may, in the one that is to come (for we shall also individually stand to final account before the bar of the Justice of God in Eternity for this manifest gift of nationhood).

Our human habitation is not just this inhabited earth, it is the reality that includes both spirit and earth, body and soul, for thus were we created, only thus can all things truly human be effectively understood.

Human reality is our habitation - our one visible universe and those universes within every human being. Our habitation, like ourselves, forms a one, indivisible whole. Therefore, there is nothing truly human that can be divided - much less the earth.

It is material possession not the truth that is relative. This is not to say that we should not practice prudence in our temporal affairs - it is a good thing to be able to hold on to material wealth for it is a reflection of entrepreneurial skill and virtue, but above all things, we should ever be mindful that our ultimate belonging is to each other.

True and lasting human happiness, in all realities, can only be achieved as a common destiny. And this destiny can never be won by ends that are purely material, entirely selfish, self-serving or willfully evil.

Our nations with their Responsible States respect borders not because our reality is divided but because this responsibility must be shared by all nations.

Nor does human responsibility end at every limit of a nation-state's sphere of influence. In fact, if I may, our human responsibility stretches ever onward across our generations and into eternity.

Our responsible stewardship of creation requires Mankind, in all our generations, to be thus arrayed - as nations. Indeed, our nations, albeit imperfect, were meant for more noble and worthwhile purposes than breeding grounds for those conflicts which in the end shall defeat the cause for which they were at the autumnal dusk of our faded Eden established - to prosper the Peace of the LORD, our God and one, true Sovereign.

The paradigm of War makes meaningful the lie that war can somehow be good - all war is evil - only human beings can obtain the grace to be good, no war is just, but there are just people who from every nation must fight in them.

War preys on other truths, corrupting them for its own ambitions in order to gain a footing in the human soul which shall otherwise perceive as incomprehensible the meaningless lie which is its one, true form and substance.

Neither War nor its agents, seen or unseen, can ever truly be good - for War, by nature of its violence and aggression as witnessed by all our nations in our history, must involve the willful taking away of human life, the destruction of created things, the annihilation of entire nations - the very definition of complete evil.

The spirit of War revels in meaningless opposition, division, deception, discord and blind hatred - everything that is foreign to our original human belongings both as nations and as individuals. It mires the people in despair and poverty.

Indeed, even our nations shall fail to take their flight if their spirit is afflicted by the descendant gravity of War.

There will be conflict, for we live in an imperfect reality, but it should not have to bear any more significant a weight so as to reduce any nation-state's capacity to provide for itself, advance the common good, make provisions to better aid other nation-states and secure the Peace that shall help mature its own Sheltering Wings to serve and to prosper all the generations of Sacred Life entrusted by God to each its own nurture and protection.

The sum total of all the ill will that humanity can muster on its own can not match the evils we have witnessed in the last 2000 years (or more if remembrance serves us well, right to the time of Abel when the Beast of War first entered into the earth).

And this Beast of War may only be gathering in force and maturity - at our expense.

Therefore, this is not to say that we will not employ military force in our defense as nations. For defense is the natural duty not only of every human individual as citizens to each other but also of the Angels of the LORD. Truly, even God Himself is committed to this cause (Sacred Life).

But no defense can ever survive if it arrives last and does not hold the ground.

For defense by its own nature must be fought from grounds that are understood and therefore, held by the line of the defense being certain of its own truth; ordered, organized, lawful and arrayed as thus, being noble in spirit and in form.

And Peace as a one paradigm whole is the grounds by which this defense shall be undertaken.

We must quest for sustainable peace in our world. Drive back the darkness of War and make room (in our hearts, in our lives, in our communities, and in our times) for a better, more worthwhile, albeit imperfect world for all the nations of our one family of the nations of Mankind.

Our humanity (in our nations as nations distinct but not apart from each other being bound by spirit and covenant as one family) must become alert to the fact that the generations that are to come after us depend on us today.

Their song must not remain unsung.

This is our fight, our longest night.
---<--@

Mabuhay po tayong lahat nang mga bansa! Long may our remembrance serve us. May God bless all the nations of our one family of the nations of Mankind.

The Hero of Tirad Pass

Remember,

O noble Filipino soul -

you gallant keepers of the peace,

the virtues that keep thee steadfast

in the spirit of the defense.

Love of God,

love of Country,

love of Sacred Life

even to the point of giving it

in the midst of the nation in thy selves

and the assembly of the nations before God

- freely and with joy -

with courage and honor intact

for that same cause.

Remember our own

General Gregorio del Pilar,

the Hero of Tirad Pass!

THE LAST FADING AWAY

O Soul of Army!
Defender of our Peace -
when in battle we weep
for those whose time has come
weep not because of anguish,
our tears are meant not for grief.

Cry not because they have fallen,
those sons and daughters of Country;
valorous souls who gave to us their utmost
and have bled their everlasting witness
to the universal mission of the eternal Army
from which all honorable armed professions
draw their great lineages of victory
Here, at the last fading away -
the quest for that one final sacrifice
the very last soldier to fall

before the breaking of the Day
in the name of Peace and for Sacred Life
in a relentless war that have lasted
from the dawn of Our exile time.

O Soldier of the Peace!
Noble Defender of Country -
You are life preserving life itself
for what is Country but a work of life.
Know you not why you respond
when duty calls you to battle?
Vague at times may your reasons be
especially amidst the desolation of war
and the darkness of war's attendant evils
but forget not what you love
and love shall forget not why you live
and none shall forget you if you shall fall
for in thy Country is thy longevity
Life itself shall be your resting place
and God will forever remember you
His Peace shall forever honor you
for the time you have given others -
more time for building,
more time for sowing,
more time for loving,
more time for hoping,
for kinder days to come.

O when shall the wounding stop
and the healing begin!
O beloved Soul of Army -
when is our last fading away?

Until mankind learns
to be better builders in peace
more than wanton destroyers in war;
until humanity learns
to value Sacred Life
than to seek those paths of death
Heaven and earth shall weep
with thee, O Soul of Army,
but never for those whose time has come
for the lost are never lost
so we must seek them not in vain.
Seek not our fallen with the dead
for life is life and death is death
so let the dead bury the dead!
Let us look for those who are triumphant
not with the defeated enemies of the Peace
but with the living as well as the everliving
for God Himself has declared Peace is over War.

It is for the oppressors of Country
and the enemy of Peace and Sacred Life
for whom the bell tolls
as we sing the songs of our fallen heroes
and their potent remembrance stir
in the hearts of those who yet believe
in the victory of the eternal Army
and in the timeless vision of God
to bring to bear in the name of All that is life
the final wrath that is to come
and bring to pass
Our last fading away;
that one final hymn of taps
at the joyful dawn of the Everlasting Peace
and the breaking of this midnight world.

So cry not because of the passing away
weep for loneliness but never for sorrow
for life is life and death is death.
Let us save most of our tears for those
who yet stubbornly cling to the lie
and believe in the heart in everything that is false
giving rise to all things that inflict evil to our poor world
and bring war and death to our suffering humanity.

For it is always for the reprobate that the bell tolls
to remind to those who sow in War what they shall reap.

The Peace of the Times

Salutation #18

(On Iran in the context of the Middle East Peace)

To all our national communities, Peace.

I do not see the threat coming from Iran.

I see the threat coming from the perception of a threat coming from Iran.

Whether one may be reacting to this threat

as in the US or Israel,

or one may be inadvertently projecting this threat

as in the State of Iran,

it will make no difference to any party

as long as it feeds the perception.

The face of the Dragon of War seem veiled

- for a time -

but once the threshold is crossed

and War is let loose in our midst, O ye nations -

will it matter to any of us then

what its chosen pretense may have been?

When we shall be left to behold the face of the Dragon

and our world descends yet again into another age of turmoil

will it matter to any of us then, O ye nations,

as the maddening darkness engulfs our generations,

what choice lie it sold to our hearts?

When the sign appears, it shall be too late.

- selah -

War is a creature of deception.

The perception itself serves the spirit of War

and War serves no nation.

This perception having been built and solidified

by years and years of division

is the gravity that might pull that embattled region

or worse,

our needful world

back into a new age of conflict

and reap for our generations the pent-up rage

of 2000 years of War.

It can only be counteracted by undoing what harm

years and years of miscommunication and mistrust

have created in and between the parties concerned -

the affected nations and their Responsible States.

Something that the politics of any side

seem averse at doing at this time,

or worse incapable.

My honorable compatriots,

that whole region is aching for a change

and I am becoming more and more convinced

that this change may only be effected

as a person to person, people to people transition

from national attitudes ranging from either ignorance and/or indifference

to one of a total commitment to peace and authentic human community -

from star to star, one whole sky.

If we shall continue on with determination with the path of peace,

here in our nation and here in our region

and especially

in the context of the Middle East peace,

between Israel and the Palestinians,

I am personally convinced that this perception of a threat

will eventually undo itself -

to the benefit of all.

But if we allow ourselves

and consequently,

our one family of nations

to be strategically directed by this perception,

it shall eventually lead that embattled region

to a place it does not want to be -

to the regret of all.

My fellow Filipino compatriots,

I believe all nations of our one family have a stake

at ensuring a viable option does exist for that embattled region -

the choice of a meaningful, sustainable, durable peace.

Hence, it is important that we are able to preserve this peace in ourselves.

It is vital that we can hold on to its vision

of a better, kinder, brighter world for all nations

even as it directly relates to us here in the Philippines.

Therefore, it is just as important

that we are able to make a committed and principled stand

on matters directly affecting it (such as Iran)

and the region (Middle East Asia, specifically Jerusalem)

central to our attaining it.

For this reason, I have thought to share with you

my own opinion regarding the matter.

I suggest you think about it, pray about it,

and even share it (as well as your own opinions) amongst yourselves

(or with me - for I am one of you).

Be concerned about matters of the peace -

in our nation, in our region, in the Middle East, and in our world.

Our world is in a perilous state

and though calamity might seem distant to many of us

here in our own Country,

when it arrives, it shall come to claim our nation

and all those communities under its wing

- quickly -

and shall neither relent nor discern

between rich, poor, young, old, male or female

of any creed, family or tribal affiliation.

For War is a devourer of peoples.

Peace is the key to a better world.

Not the false peace of the age that is past,

nor appeasement in any sense -

Peace as a paradigm whole, O my nations,

which is peace rightfully understood -

the necessary peace that prospers, O my people,

the belonging that preserves our generations.

---<--@

Terrorism is a crime not a cause.

---<--@

Mabuhay po tayong lahat! Long may our remembrances serve us. God bless all our nations.

War in the Heart

20110620

Salutation #17

(Common Identity, Common Destiny, and the Republic Vision)

If we succeed in our time

to achieve what in our own Day

is necessary for this generation to prevail,

we will have begun for our people

a new age for our Country.

The peace of these present times

require us to return to the timeless memory of ourselves as ourselves;

a Republic with a heart of peace

built upon the strength of a people with soul of submission

- that is -

a nation unified under Almighty God

being sheltered by the prospering peace

of the one Republic standing faithfully

in our defense forever.

Therefore,

if we remain true to the spirit of our undertaking of Country

and obtain to the strength at the heart of the nation in ourselves,

we will succeed in this labor of our times

for it is by the command of God that we are so arrayed

and by this same command we shall prosper.

As every nation is possessed of its own destiny -

a Republic undertaking of Country is led

by the vision of the national success.

This vision that must faithfully lead us

across the exile darkness of the unknown earth

as an undertaking of Country

and the hopes that

through common human needs

bind our generations together

is the soul that sustains our conviction

that we are

- as human beings and citizens to each other -

one nation entire.

More than anything,

my brothers and sisters of the Promise,

it is a remembrance of these things,

common identity and common destiny,

that must lead us ever onward

and forward against the darkness

to establish upon the unknown earth

the life of our national communities

like a multitude of living lights.

Its brightness in each ourselves

advances our cause of Country into its ages in time

for this vision is a thing written entirely in our hearts,

its outline is but a sketch in our Constitution -

it is spirit more than words, meaning more than form

being wrought more through action than inaction

for we must not only be Filipino by name or paper alone

we must work to become its actual merit in ourselves

by the virtues consistent to our common identity -

virtues preserved in the memory of our heroes

and in the bravery of our common peoples.

For how else can we become the citizen in ourselves,

my fellow Filipino compatriots,

than to know with conviction of heart

that we are who we ought to be

in time and in eternity?

How we appear, how we sound,

what we hold and possess in our hand today,

our family lines, our tribal affiliations,

all these things might influence our history

but it is remembrance that truly rules our destiny

as a nation distinct but not apart

from the one family of the nations of Mankind.

Mabuhay, let it be so.

---<--@

Sources of Prosperity

The LORD, our one Sovereign, will ask of you, O my nation - "Where now are thy treasures, O valiant Republic?"

"Where now are thy offerings to thy one, true and faithful God, thy most gracious King and stalwart Defender?"

"Do I not deserve thy love, thy allegiance and thy loyal tribute?"

"I, the LORD, speaks!"

Prosper therefore, abiding in thy common human hopes and rendering meaningful service, one to another - for the greatest treasure of this nation is its people.

As thus, the greatest accolade this Republic undertaking of Country may give to the LORD, our Holy Sustainer and Most Beneficent Provider is the spreading of its own sheltering wings of peace - the peace that prospers, O my people, the Peace that is over War!

Now, the nine common human needs, eternally protected by God and sanctified by our nation in time, are, in and of themselves, sources of prosperity.

These nine common human needs underpin as well as drive the prevailing reality that necessitates our gathering together into the divine endowment that is our nationhood.

They form the foundation of our industries.

Rightfully understood and individually expounded, these nine common human needs also co-relate to the UN MDG's which are a mirrored expression - observed in our behalf by our family of nations - of our particular national deficiencies in protecting and sanctifying these hopes in each ourselves as citizens to each other within the peace of our one Republic whole.

The catalyst for national prosperity, of course, is a strong national identity.

A strong national identity is like an electromagnet - it will necessarily reach out as mightily as it is enabled in itself to do so toward its own self-cognizant destiny.

And remembrance is its requisite expression - its electricity, as it were.

So let us remember, if we remain true to the nation in ourselves - time is on our side. Because however long this night might be, if we are who we ought, my brothers and sisters of the Promise, it can not last forever.

Have thou now forgotten

that promise long ago?

Return now to the wonder

and never let go.

---<--@

If in Rizal is our patriotic hope, then in Bonifacio is our patriotic daring - one completes the other, they should both be our national heroes.

Mabuhay ang Pilipinas! God bless us all.

Common Human Needs

20110619

PEACE be with you, Starshine -

Words are but empty vessels if they are to remain without meaning for you.

Just the same, in everything you say or do, Beloved of God, do not remain hollow - because you must practice, you must pray.

Now then, didn't you know the best prayer of all is Holy Mass?

To learn the heart of this most important of all Christian prayers ask your local parish priest for a Catechesis of the Holy Mass today - and then pray...

For prayer is an attitude of the heart present to the Presence of the LORD of all hearts - it is a sense of connectedness (unity) we must fight to always maintain in ourselves, Starshine.

In this sense, prayer is battle (2725, Catechism of the Catholic Church).

And it must naturally lead our heart of prayer toward a deepening sense of inter-connectedness (community) with each other as human beings and as citizens of all creation.

For in prayer is Peace because its results are the works of peace.

Pray, pray, pray therefore - pray for all Mankind, my most precious Starshine - pray for all our poor, broken nations, know of their needs intimately in thyself, tolerate no division, no chaos, no enmity in thy heart of hearts and let us storm the one God of all heaven and earth with our common human hopes -

Today is Holy Trinity Sunday.

On Prayer

AS A RULE, my precious Starshine,

prayer is always more

than the sum of all that we can see

with our unseeing eyes.

A soul in prayer is a heart present to its thought;

a walk across the vast, empty deserts within;

a reaching out to places beyond self;

a looking above from within.

It is silence contemplating Silence -

alone with the Alone.

It is a growing, persevering,

often times frustrating work

born of great necessity,

out of thy love of God.

Prayer is an ascent to the timeless,

anchored upon ageless truth,

of all the things we love

and of the Love that all created things hope for,

most especially by the truth of thy heart of love,

and of thy faith yearning to God in prayer.

The way to God is a crooked line,

for we are all but human.

But the way of prayer

makes this way certain.

For the soul that perseveres in prayer

shall indeed profit

from the LORD Who rewards all things,

great and small, known and known to God alone,

when done out of love and fear

of the one common Creator

of all common creation, seen and unseen.

It is not only important that we pray,

and persevere in this way, my precious friend,

in private, above all in community with each other,

it is simply necessary for human happiness

and the well-being of the still small truth that lives,

like a mustard seed,

inside of every self

for all things true and everlasting

depend on a heart of prayer.

Prayer is spiritual.

Therefore,

there are seasons within the soul that range

from sweet to dry or empty

but never must thy heart stay still,

you must gather when it needs gathering

and to know also when to look beyond these seasons;

you must be vigilant,

pressing on till you reach the heart of God

to lay your hopes in the LORD.

So prayer may be long

or it may be short

but it must always be timeless,

its substance is the motion

that lives like a love longing for Itself.

And when the Silence shall to your bowed heart speak,

It shall do so swift as light,

being Spoken without words

and instantly manifest to your soul as winged truth -

then you shall seek to forget all other things

but God and God alone.

And in God you shall range far,

self cognizant of self,

intimate with the Intimate,

to dwell in holy remembrance of all things.

For far may your wandering heart be

but to love and in Love

you shall forever remain

when you shall in prayer persevere.

So do so, dearest Starshine,

and say AMEN:

Know for thy own self

why the heart that believes

believes only because it prays.
---<--@

(produced 20090223)

Salutation #16

(Salutation to all Christian minorities among the nations)

To all our Christian communities, Peace.

Take courage,
my beloved brothers and sisters,

peace be with you!

Let us remember each other

as we heed the call of Christ

Who upon the mount of Tabor
was Transfigured into glory
that we may see beyond time
into the timeless brilliance
of our great Home in eternity.

Let us be meek like our Savior
and seek shelter in His humility
Who upon the mount of Tabor
by our witness of a living faith
was Transfigured into glory
to unveil for us,

our Christian hope
and give courage in adversity -
"Arise, be not afraid." (Mat 17: 7)

God is our surest Refuge!

We include you in our hearts,

my beloved brothers and sisters,

our prayers constantly reach out to you
asking the LORD for His mercy
that we may always together endure

for God alone provides

and His grace alone is sufficient.

Though you may feel alone

at times, O Beloved of Christ,

surely, you must know

in your heart of hearts

our baptism is for always.

Ever in God then,

my beloved brothers and sisters,
in time and in eternity

we are but

one Communion of Saints.

Ever to God then,

my beloved brothers and sisters,

toward peace and brotherhood

and the unity of God's Perfection

where your hope becomes our hope

your virtue becomes our virtue

your sin becomes our penance
whatever helps you helps us
whatever hurts you hurts us
your gladness being our gladness
your sorrow being our sorrow
for we are but one bread,
one Love, broken for others.

Hold fast to the peace of Jesus
for His peace is our abundance
and the abundance of Christ is life
being the promise of eternal bliss
revealed in the Most Holy Trinity
as the truth of the most high God
unveiled in the Father and the Son
and in the unity of the Holy Spirit -
one God that transcends all time
one Truth that illumine all truth
one Will that fulfills all our being
one Being that sustains all of life
one Love that gathers us together
like a love ever longing for Itself:
one blessed, triune Perfection!

Alleluia, my brothers and sisters,
distance is no longer a tyranny
nor separation bear it's sting
to every Christian who trusts
in the Name of Jesus Christ
Who is Emmanuel, God with us.

Alleluia, Amen to Christ, Alleluia.

---<--@

Let us pray especially for our brethren and sister Christians in the Holy Land. For the Holy Land is a special place. And the Christians in the Holy Land are a special people.

Let us therefore, extend to them willingly our hearts and hands.

Let us bear in mind and heart this day, all human minorities of whatever distinction from among all our nations, peace - mabuhay!

And also let us pray for Dondon Celestino Lanuza, an OFW on death row in KSA.

Mabuhay po tayong lahat! God bless all His Christian communities.

God Encompassing God

O LORD,

God encompassing God,

God encompassing All in Thyself!

O LORD,

Father, Son, and Holy Spirit -

Blessed Unity,

Holy Trinity,

Perfect Company!

O LORD,

there is none but Thee,

there is none like Thee!

O LORD,

Thou art from everlasting to everlasting -

in Thee All draw their being,

in Thee All draw their living life,

in Thee there is no shadow of turning,

in Thee there is neither darkness nor Night,

in Thee there is joy, abundance and peace,

in Thee there is only love and the Light!

O LORD,

Thou desire salvation for all beings

to Whom shall all needful souls turn to,

my God, but to Thee?

O LORD,

Thou art the one Sovereign of all nations

unto Whom shall Thy exile peoples return to,

my God, but unto Thee?

Abide in us, O LORD, be with us!

Be the God of our lives, our families,

and our national communities!

O Goal of all my goals,

I love, I trust, and I adore Thee!

---<--@

Our God, O my beloved of my heart, is a God of relationships - One, Triune Perfection!

Salutation #15

The roots of War is ancient.

Therefore,

War was never a choice that can be made freely

by any nation as itself.

The real choice all our nations must always make

- in every generation, and in every present time -

is peace.

So let this be our choice -

let our freedom be always guided by it.

(An exhortation to Israel and Palestine for peace)

Peace, I salute you.

Will it matter to us anymore, O Israel and Palestine,

whatever permits the Dragon entrance into our midst?

When the threshold is crossed

and War has again entered into our world

I say to you now,

War will not distinguish

between our nations what it wills to consume.

For War is a devourer of peoples.

Something terrible approaches our nations...

What matters to us today

is the strength of our collective desire for peace

and peace properly understood -

Peace as a paradigm over War.

Be single-hearted therefore,

in this quest for a durable, meaningful, sustainable peace,

O Israel and Palestine,

and cast away thy lingering and sorrowful past.

Recall to yourselves today

the hopes of thy generations, past, present and future

and establish thy feet upon the truth of thy belonging together as nations -

I exhort you to work to complete your remembrances.

Do the past justice

and relinquish from your midst

the darkness that keeps its hold on thy futures together.

O Israel,

you may seek to build for yourself today

an impregnable fortress of isolation

but it shall still be a prison for you -

do not make this a permanent reality.

O Palestine,

you may seek to strike out

with a sword meant for thy defense

but for so long as this sword of nationhood

seeks to harm other nations,

it shall always seek to strike out at you.

But both of you, O Israel and Palestine,

if you build on the right remembrances

have a great potential to prosper together

in the embrace of thy sheltering wings.

I exhort you both therefore,

to work to complete your remembrances!

Do the undying hopes of past generations justice

- and labor now -

to relinquish from your midst

the darkness that keeps its hold on thy futures together.

- selah -

O Israel and Palestine -

thou brothers, make peace!

Is thy long-suffering impotent?

Let it bear fruit therefore,

and let the nations follow thee

into brotherhood, into peace.

You are loved - both of you.

---<--@

Do not look for answers beyond 2009. For it was in 2009 that this choice for peace was begun. Prior to 2009, there was no choice. After 2012, it will be no more.

---<--@

Mabuhay po kayong dalawa kapatid na Israel and kapatid na Palestine! Long may our remembrance serve us. God bless us all.

War in the Heart