20110731

A pleasant Sunday evening to all!

It's a damp and rainy evening here in our Philippines so let's always remember to wear a smile, my constant friends, beloved compatriots, and brothers and sisters of the Promise - why?

"Because the weather that matters is the weather we keep inside of ourselves!"

Tomorrow is a new day, a new working week, and a new month. Let's start it all off in the right spirit!

---<--@

Mabuhay ang Pilipinas! God bless us all.

Smile

20110729

Salutation #44

(Interdependent Human Community)

To my one Filipino nation -

all my brothers and sisters of the Promise,

peace - mabuhay.

Our one Republic is part of a great family of nations,

each engaged in the labor of building up the earth

as its own undertaking of Country,

of this we can be sure, my honorable compatriots,

especially in this new age of interdependent human community -

no Country matures on its own,

no nation learns the truth about itself by itself alone,

above all, our failing world can not long endure the darkness ahead

without the LORD, the God of all nations.

For the Peace of the LORD is our pledge of unity

and this unity is the guarantee of our victory

- as nations dreaming together this time -

against the darkness in our midst

wrought by the War in heaven

and division in the human heart.

- selah -

Therefore,

In this house, in this Country,

my fellow Filipinos -

we shall serve the cause of our victory.

Glory to God in the highest!

Adoration to Jesus Christ the Lord.

Peace to our nation and to all our kindred nations.

Good will to all men and women of peace.

---<--@

A Picture of War in the Heart

During the Holocaust, in Auschwitz, there is an old picture of the selection process where people who were to live (at least for the time being) and people who were to die at the gas chambers were sorted immediately upon their arrival by the camp authorities.

This is for me by far, the best pictorial representation of War in the heart.

It is a spirit which is still very alive in our world today. It is the bane of all nations. It will surely prevent us from entering into this new age in peace.

But we are not without help for we have God and we have each other - as human beings and as human nations, citizens and keepers, each to the other.

---<--@

An Example of Human Solidarity -

It was reported in Egypt, during the recent upheavals that delivered that great nation to a return to promise, that when the Muslims prayed, the Christians protected them, and when the Christian prayed, the Muslims protected them.

I salute you, honorable Egyptians, for this necessary example of the shape of things to come for my Country as well. May both our nations be blessed by God with peace and prosperity as we write a brave, new chapter of our history together as a noble undertaking of Country upon the earth, thank you - mabuhay!

My fellow Filipino compatriots -

Let us bear into mind and heart the example of brave Egypt and, despite what darkness there is in our midst, consider once again our own national minimum:

A Filipino is a Filipino is a Filipino.

All honorable religion comes from the reality of God, my noble Republic of the Philippines, its fruits make us human.

Therefore, prayer itself is a common human need.

It is a need (like hunger, thirst, etc.) protected by the Eternal Law of God and by the law written in our heart of hearts.

This is most especially true within the Abrahamic Peace we share as Christians, Jews, and Muslims together and is the engine of our national progress as human beings and as citizens to each other, as Filipinos.

---<--@

Mabuhay po tayong lahat! Peace. Salaam. Shalom. God bless all His nations of the one family of the nations of Mankind.

The National Minimum

Promise of Old

Healing Work

20110727

This is my initial reaction to the SONA 2011 -

My one Filipino nation, with the Peace of the LORD - I salute you.

What I noticed the most is the President's call for national transformation.

Let me explain:

Our Country seem insulated from tragedies such as that which recently befell brave Norway. This is so because most Filipinos are too busy trying to survive from day to day.

My fellow Filipino compatriots, if we as an emerging Republic get the workings of the foundations of our fledgling national culture right - here and now, when in time we become developed enough for our people to start confronting those problems developed Countries must presently confront at this time, we shall not find our nation as vulnerable to such crimes as those wrought by the terrorist intents of the likes of Mr Breivik (or Mr. McVeigh, or OBL on the other extreme for that matter).

A mature Republic is proof against War in the heart.

It is this gathering spirit dwelling in our culture that we are presently trying to awaken into here now today through all our Salutations and our conversations in this blog so that when time comes (and it will) and we are, God-willing, developed enough in our material prosperity as one Republic whole, my honorable compatriots, our present generations will also have had (as a gift from us) the spiritual maturity to seamlessly advance this Country of ours into its fourth and most fruitful age upon this earth.

(You have to excuse my language here and bear with me, I am expressing them in a form that is native to this blog alone. They shall be meaningful to you only if you have been following me in this conversation of ours.)

In a sense, I get President Aquino's speech about the wang-wang mentality. The transformation he is spearheading is a necessary thrust in the right direction away from the night that has long engulfed our Land of the Morning.

We must let go of the wang-wang mentality that says, "I will lord it over others." Jesus Christ the Lord Himself warned us about this mentality.

This is nothing more than the "them" and "us" mentality that flies in the face of our just equality as human beings and peers to each other before God and the law.

It is the elitist mentality of the so-called servant who does not actually will to respond to the Divine calling to serve the nation in the Republic but rather, seeks through selfish ambitions to possess the fruits of the virtue of others instead.

- selah -

My brothers and sisters of the Promise, you know as well as I do that this long night can not last forever. We are here now and step by faithful step, we shall lead each other away from the tired old ways of the past.

We shall break ourselves free from the gravity of the last 2000 years by the sheer brightness of our remembrances together, each to the other, a keeper and friend, all to the All, one whole sky.

No longer shall mindless division, political discord and a dissolute spirit confound, weaken and trouble our belongings to each other as citizens to this nation God has commissioned for a Country the LORD has commanded to prosper and prevail over the darkness of an unknown earth - allied to the peace of all our kindred nations.

We shall break new ground in our ways of thinking and belonging as a people, and of building, sharing, and enjoying through our labors together, this land and its fruits.

And we shall defend this endowment - continually being won for us by our people and eternally granted to us by our God - against all takers, foreign and domestic.

Indeed, we shall as citizens to each other advance this Country and its posterity into the dawn that is promised by the LORD to all those nations who love and fear Him as God to one and All, once and for all.

(So let us out of fear, dispense with thousands of years of rigid, formal introduction, Beloved of God, for there is but one God and one LORD alone: As you love God, you know Him.)

---<--@

Salutation #43

(Service)

Any undertaking of Country

- across its generations in time -

easily span the width and breadth

of human lives in their millions.

God is severe enough with sins against individuals

but to willfully sin against Country,

it is beyond my understanding what will happen to those souls

who knowingly and maliciously deprive an entire nation

and their generations their own God-given house,

which is their shelter and sanctuary against War in this world.

Indeed,

countless human lives have from different times and places

been taken from us before their time

only because they lack the shelter of Country.

Remember them today,

bring their hopes for a better world with thee...

and with forbearance, serve.

Starshine,

there are as many holy innocents in heaven

- pleading constantly to the LORD -

for an end to War and the breaking of this midnight world

as there are grains of sand on all the beaches of the earth.

So remember the LORD today,

trust in the wisdom of God even in thy midst

- do not despair in the midst of all this darkness -

for the LORD allows rain to fall on the good and the evil alike

so be thou good - Beloved of God - shine for Him

and with forbearance, serve.

- selah -

Do not be scandalized by the tares in the wheat!

---<--@

Some Suggestions:

I agree with Senator Marcos - employing the poor in productive labor gives them a much better fighting chance to liberate themselves from the clutches of poverty.

Distribute the PPP projects by region.

Triage the entire Country by region, province, then city - determine civil defense readiness and necessary requirements per LGU. Establish a national standard of readiness and a centralized, unified incident command process.

---<--@

Just a Thought:

Is it so hard to take care of a nation? Heck, it practically takes care of itself.

A nation is like a seed; a labor endowed by God with the power to fulfill its own destiny.

It already has in itself everything it needs to grow and to succeed.

Now, the work of government is to just help it along its own way and - most importantly - avoid suffocating the life of the people.

---<--@

Let us continue to pray for the Kingdom of Norway and her people, for peace in our nation, the Middle East and in Asia.

Let us also pray for CGMA who is presently in hospital - despite everything that is happening - let us remember to her credit as well as ours that she did our nation a measure of good as well.

---<--@

Lastly, let me and my Miyang share this with you - Utak Wang-wang

Mabuhay ang Pilipinas! God bless us all.

Service is a call (not an ambition)

One Nation

Breaking the Siege

20110725

Starshine, peace be with you -

Have you prayed for Norway and her people recently?

What happened in Norway, of our one family of nations, is a terrible thing.

What had cost that nation many lives, mostly young lives, is a spirit that once led into the human heart divides it against its own humanity.

It is not the fault of Norway.

Most certainly, it is the fault of Mr. Breivik. But most of all, it is the fault of the enemy of God and of all our kindred nations.

Do the innocents justice, our beloved Starshine, and tolerate no division, no enmity, no chaos within thy own selves - preserve the reign of the LORD within each thy own worlds within.

Of whatever name or doctrine it may fashion itself as, Beloved of God, when it shall propose itself - with lies - at the door of thy soul, you must never allow this spirit of War into thy own heart of hearts.

With due diligence preserve thyself, precious Starshine of the nations of Mankind, in the good graces of God and in common good will to each other as free citizens of His creation, for by thus thou wilt strike at the very heart of the spirit of War itself.

The law of the land of Norway will bind the evil of Mr. Breivik. But the justice of your own souls, Beloved of the LORD, must work to continue to preserve the common good in our societies outside of the courts of our nations.

Let us review the following -

Salutation #3

(Darkness)

TO THE NUMBERLESS LIGHTS
of our kindred belonging,
greetings of sincere hope
and good will -
my love and prayers:

There is evil in our days,
as it was in those days of old.

Evil where it is allowed to endure
into every present time
to stand against the line
established in the Now of the moment
is an enemy that is never meant
to defeat the will of the good.

For the arrangement of all past things
in every person's life
like a romance between human choice
and the serendipity of God's grace
is always intended in such a way
by the beneficence of Divine Providence
so as to culminate into every present time
which is always sufficient in its own Day
with regards to the particular evils
that each and every individual soul
must in each their own time and place
learn to recognize and vanquish
by and through the grace of our LORD
in and with the support of our human communities,
civic and religious, national and international,
that exist for our benefit

- in exile time -

to safeguard and foster our common good.

Should there be evil in our day,
even if the past had a large part to play
in its appearance in our present time,
indeed, it should not be here to give us reason
to conveniently dwell on the darkness of past things.

Where evil is allowed to endure
into the present reality
of souls and communities of souls,
it is so that we may learn in our own lives
how to effectively close the doors of past things.

Believe that evil endures
not to defeat the human being
but to allow him or her the opportunity
to recreate in every present moment
in God and with each other,
the beginnings of better, brighter and nobler things.

Peace.
---<--@

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.
---<--@

Anything fashioned purely out of hatred and the spirit of revenge bring only darkness and grief at its wake. Do not be by evil-inspired.

---<--@

Mabuhay po tayong lahat! Peace be to Norway and her people. God bless us all.

Lastly, just a final reminder for all my honorable Filipino compatriots - mamayang hapon na po:

We will certainly be discussing this - constructively - in support of the mission of our Republic and in the context of the goals of the Aquino administration.

Mabuhay ang ating Presidente at mabuhay din po ang kanyang Bise Presidente!

20110723

Salutation #42

(The Peace of ASEAN)

To my honorable Filipino compatriots

and to the kindred nations of our ASEAN -

Our ASEAN Neighborhood has the potential for much good

not only for our region but for Asia and the world.

But only if we apply ourselves

to the understanding

that the Peace of our ASEAN

is wrought in virtue and human community.

We are the ASEAN Neighborhood.

A region that is distinct but not apart

from the problems that the nations of our world

must presently confront as a planetary community.

Problems we must work out and confront together as one

to bring about the close of the last great age of War.

If we fail, we shall all fail together.

For the planet itself is at stake.

But if we shall succeed

- as nations dreaming together this time -

we must triumph as ASEAN first.

It is essential that we believe with our hearts

in what strength there is in our unity

over what darkness there was in our past -

The strength of this unity is evident in the Flag of our ASEAN!

O my beloved ASEAN nations -

we can not hope to pull our home region in Asia

away from the descendant gravity

of the last great age of War

if we cast away our unity, covertly or overtly,

and pull ourselves apart in all directions:

War will surely scatter our peoples to the four winds.

If we remain divided in spirit,

O my Philippines,

O my kindred ASEAN nations,

we will have hoped in vain

to develop the inherent potential of our region.

If we hope in vain, we labor in vain.

For we all have inherent strengths

and we all have inherent weaknesses too

because our civilization is not complete

as individual nations in our ASEAN.

We will capitalize on our strengths

and work together to encourage, develop and fulfill them

in our nations for our region.

And we shall through weaknesses become empowered

to rely on our faith in each other and in God - more and more -

with a sense of humility and sincerity.

We will strive to realize - without direct interference -

that our ability to succeed as nations

depend largely on our being adequately cognizant and understanding

of our essential human natures,

its weaknesses as well as its common needs,

invested to the call of each our nations

and entrusted to the care of each our undertakings of Country.

By this we shall strive to be an example to each other in ASEAN

so that while we understand that we can not without coming into conflict

disregard the common experiences of our peoples,

each nation being as unique as each individual human being is unique,

we may also affirm in our own times

within each our own particular undertakings of Country

that the destiny we all aspire for as nations is one and the same

as the Peace we all strive to live in as Countries in ASEAN.

The spirit of War will eventually flee us

by the strength of the Peace of our ASEAN.

Therefore,

peace be to Brunei Darussalam,

peace be to Cambodia,

peace be to Indonesia,

peace be to Laos,

peace be to Malaysia,

peace be to Myanmar,

peace be to Singapore,

peace be to Thailand,

peace be to Vietnam,

and peace be to our ASEAN!

(And to East Timor

- waiting in the wings -

the Peace of our ASEAN as well)

Mabuhay po sa ating lahat - past is past -

we will ascend with one ascending

as one ASEAN Neighborhood.

---<--@

Attack on Norway

The twin terror attacks on innocent Norwegians yesterday at a youth camp and at the city center is appalling. Initial reports that placed the casualties at less than 10 have now risen into around 80 with people still unaccounted for.

This crime is a condemnable act of terrorism indeed.

Let us stand with Norway in this hour of tragedy, my Filipino compatriots, and let us pray for the victims and their families.

---<--@

SONA 2011

Let us pray for our President Noy. May his SONA 2011 be a sweeping success!

Lastly, let us ask the LORD in prayer (especially at Holy Mass tomorrow) to bless our nation with a strong succession of presidents beginning with our PNoy to lead our Country out of this long night.

Better yet, let us constantly desire this in our prayers to God as a nation that the LORD may bless, preserve and prosper the Office of the President of the Republic of the Philippines and that God may likewise bless, preserve and prosper the Office of his or her Vice President.

(Yes, we need more than one and so may all of them be blessed by God with a lion's or a lioness' heart. Refer to Daniel 12 since we are running on this timeline.)

---<--@

Mabuhay ang Pilipinas! God bless us all.

Being Present for Peace

20110720

If the LORD asks you for a harvest of good works, do you go and blame one another for the lack of fruit in His orchard, O you nations of Mankind?

---<--@

Salutation #41

(Divine Love)

Starshine, be not afraid.

If the Judgment of God did not directly involve our nations,

I would not have been speaking about it to you.

Who shall God save, Beloved?

Despite all these differences in yourselves,

the bottom line is the hope of All is the salvation of all.

Do good, be good, pray hard, work hard,

be a human being to other human beings not unlike thyself

(forgetting not how Our Emmanuel brought you up into new life)

and do this for love of the God in your own heart;

acknowledge only Him, worship only Him, and leave all else to Him,

and never despair of others like yourself

for the LORD thy God is supremely able and mighty to save,

full of compassion for all His creatures,

slow to anger, unsurpassed in generosity,

merciful and just to all living beings.

Starshine,

all you love in your heart is worthy to be saved by Him

so love All in Him and trust in the LORD.

Maintain a state of common good will

with all thy fellow citizens upon the earth,

and say thee thy peace - freely and with joy -

back to all of creation entire, divide it not,

you whose soul is alive to the wonder God has done.

Be reconciled to the salvation God intends

for all those who love and fear Him.

Follow all that He ordains

and seek thee the shelter of all His commands

and you shall remain safe from doubt and needless fear.

Prosper the living life of His glorious creation

and thou shalt return to thy LORD in peace.

Do not make judgments reserved

for the final Justice of God in Eternity

while you are yet caught adrift in this exile darkness.

Love all living beings

- with all your mind and heart -

and love yourself as well.

For you can not love others

- without first coming alive -

to the love you must invest

in your own humanity.

Ask the LORD for wisdom in unceasing prayer.

Learn His ways through discerning acceptance

of the realities that He everyday spins around you

- as a net cast around thy being -

sown from the thread of thy human communities

into the fabric that separates you from the void

not only to keep you and all those you love safe with you

but to instruct you also in the same work of living creation.

If you love the LORD, you shall do this and you will love as God loves.

If you love Jesus Christ, you shall do this above all else - as a sacred duty -

for in Christ the fundamental law of divine love is perfected

and the justice of God is made complete in love which is boundless mercy.

Never desire hellfire on other human beings.

For if you do not yet understand it

you should not play with it.

Do not dwell in dark fire

lest it consume you body and soul.

Rather,

let yourself be consumed in the bright fire of God's love

and you shall live complete

and with your little life fashioned by God

you shall be a great instrument

of the life of God in Him -

the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit.

If you love the LORD, you shall do this and you will love as God loves.

If you love Jesus Christ, you shall do this above all else - as a sacred duty -

for in Christ the fundamental law of divine love is perfected

and the justice of God is made complete in love which is boundless mercy.

AMEN. Alleluia to God.

Adoration to Jesus Christ the Lord.

Peace to all our nations and goodwill to all men and women of peace.

Alleluia to God. AMEN.

---<--@

Mabuhay po tayong lahat! Peace. Salaam. Shalom. God bless all His nations of the one family of the nations of Mankind.

Promise of Old

20110719

Salutation #40

(New Heavens and the New Earth)

To my Holy Mother Church,

especially to the Church in the Philippines -

AT THE DAWNING

of the new heavens and the new earth,

my beloved friend and constant companion -

after our General Judgment at the Last Day

here at the beginning of all things new -

I would that you shall prayerfully

ponder upon these things

that I shall share with each of you:

If the holy angels in heaven are arrayed in their choirs;

our humanity at our restoration shall be arrayed as our one family of nations -

ascended nations, perfected in peace and human community

and infinitely wholesome with all kinds of good things.

For God shall be our Country,

God's perfect Peace shall be our State

and we shall each possess as our eternal belonging,

the wonderful strength of all of our national communities -

all who are good and who have left this world in friendship with God,

reborn and perfected in everlasting friendships with each other in God,

dwelling forever in pious society with all the Holy Angels of God.

True Light shall imbue and permeate our quicksilver reality

with a golden radiance, as the infinite majesty

of the one Presence of the LORD - our one triune Perfection,

shall for all Eternity completely rest

upon the one whole one of our human habitation;

upon all of our worlds, within and without,

shining out unto all of our cities in the visible universe

stretching out from before our feet.

Our own true skies above our souls

shall be conscious and awake to our human longings

and open to the radiant light of our heavens above,

receptive to all our heart's yearnings

as well as responsive to our mind's eagerness to learn -

for not only shall we be ageless as the Angels of the LORD,

we shall also be timeless as they are timeless

and travel the way the timeless and the ageless travel - by speed of spirit -

moving from thought to thought, love to love,

faster than light, sliding from moment to moment,

and we shall nevermore feel pain nor hunger,

neither shall the fear of separation or death anymore haunt our steps

as we labor to discover and understand - together - without effort

the inexhaustible mysteries of time and creation, salvation and redemption -

ever as the vision of our LORD opens up to our souls - face to face -

to bring our lives forevermore into a state of constant felicity.

And,

greatest and most exquisite of all wonders -

our Savior, Jesus Christ - our one True Light,

shall walk among us once again - bodily -

even as the most gentle mind and the most loving heart

of our Lord Christ dwells with us from within

as our own true rest,

ever as timeless as the Peace of the Holy Spirit of God

- within our souls -

bringing us into a permanent unity with the Father in Eternity

and into communion with all the blessed Saints of God -

those prophets, kings, queens, bishops

and the all the true heroes of all Mankind -

each and every one of them servants and friends to Him alike

- from all times and from all places -

whose living fruits are made edible for All and fruitful forever

who are, each of them, elect of the LORD from Eternity

and upon whose happy company we shall be included forever

as the one ascended family of the perfected nations of Mankind.

And we shall know all of this

and many more things when we get there, Beloved of God -

but verily, we will not get there - at the one gathering -

as perfected nations lest our own nations survive here

in this midnight place of War and sin;

here in our hearts, here in our poor world.

Furthermore,

my brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ,

at the approach of the closing of 2012, do not be disturbed,

for there shall be many who will say that the hour of the LORD is here.

But until God Himself decides to work out the way

to bring about His promised hour, as it is foretold by our Savior Himself,

let us bear in mind - here and now -

No man, no angel, not even our Lord JESUS CHRIST Himself,

knows the exact hour of the Last Day;

only God the Father knows precisely when the gossamer veil of time

shall be ripped in two

and our fragile, shadowy existence

directly exposed to the unmitigated, immovable, supernatural reality

of the blinding purity of the Divine existence.

So in the unfolding of our reality today,

my beloved friend and constant companion,

here in this present time,

even as War is still among our nations,

let us be sure that sufficient to the evil therewith

is the light of our Day, shining from within,

ever as the numberless stars of our Father Abraham.

Let us be constantly mindful of all of these things

that we may learn to respect and understand

the reason why things are they way they must be:

Why we must make this choice for Peace

at a time, times and half-a-time,

here in our hearts, here in our lives,

here in our nations, here in our Midnight world,

under this greater season of Sky

or forever lose something good in our becoming

- as nations dreaming together this time -

that we will never know the completeness of.

Lastly,

I commend to you the request of our Lady

that we pray for each other and all people of good will

- everyday - as much as we can (when not doing so at Holy Mass)

and work in our hearts to preserve our horizontal relationships

as true individuals reborn in the Spirit of Christ,

as family to our families, as friends to our friends,

as citizens of our nation and of all nations,

and as faithful and obedient children of our Holy Mother Church -

even through her Rosary of Hope.

For the salvation of so many rests on so very few.

These are perilous times indeed.

But we should never fall into a state of despair,

my friends - God has overcome the world - for us.

---<--@

General Judgement - An Outline

• The Song of Moses and the vigilant hymn of the Triumphant Church.
• Some will not taste death: The final triumph of the Militant Church.
• The emptying of the tomb: the Resurrection of the Body.
• The gathering of the one family of the nations of Mankind.
• The public revelation of the mysteries of salvation.
• The passing of judgment prepared from the foundation of the world.
• The breaking of the midnight world: the passing away of the exile darkness.
• The end of the necessitate Suffering Church.
• Sin exorcised forever: the eradication of death and suffering.
• God wipes away all tears: the exorcism of the pain of memory.
• The reunification of heaven and the inhabited earth: the final liberation of the habitations of life.
• The Beatific Vision: The nature of the finite and the infinite reward for virtue.
• The citizens of the Holy City: Why one must never judge without hope.
• The noble society of Men and Angels: the friendships that remain are the friendships that shall remain forever.
• The end of the beginning at the beginning of all things new.
• Happiness becomes a dedicated place as well as a state of being.
• Hellfire becomes a dedicated place as well as a state of being.
• The everlasting death of Satan and the reprobate, of forsaken memory.
• Epilogue - Our Peace is Prologue: The Sacred Wounds of our Lord Christ: The Love that remembers is the Love that remains: one Love, one LORD, and We, one People - forever.

---<--@

The First Law of Human Possession

Why did God create the universe first before creating Man?

Because Man belongs to the universe and not the universe to Man.

Nature is not a mere possession that extends out from the hand of Man but rather, Man is its necessary keeper so that from the hand of Man through the goodness of God, Nature is made complete - for Man.

This is the first law of human possession - what Man desires to possess Man must first make complete. For the resources of the earth (and the universe entire) may only be truly possessed by Man by its completion in Him.

Man possesses Nature inasmuch as Nature is made complete by Man through God - for Man - and not destroyed by token of Man's irresponsible use of his or her own human powers.

When I think of this in practical terms, I am presently inclined to think about our current policies regarding land use.

---<--@

Mabuhay po tayong lahat! God bless all His nations of the one family of the nations of Mankind.

Common Ground

20110718

Salutation #38

(Purity of Arms)

Peace can not be won by arms

but by remembrance.

Our Republic undertaking of Country

is never ennobled by the strength of arms

but by the purity of our arms.

So if we are too hasty to bear them,

if we mistake one path for the other,

my honorable compatriots,

Providence Itself will grind us

into dust and ashes.

What Divine Providence defends

and what our Nation chooses to defend

through our common Republic endeavor

(especially through its military arms)

must be one and the same

- Benignity, Harmony, Unity and Sacred Life -

that Almighty God may restore freedom

to our one Republic as a whole

- that the Peace of our one Republic undertaking -

may likewise restore

its own native protections

upon the virtues of our people.

So let us be aware -

Every nation in the world of our present day

- from the least to the most responsible of nations -

is emerging from a deep darkness;

our world as a whole is questing for this Peace.

What is unique to our present time right now,

is not the perennial nature of armed conflict

- within and between our nations -

but the sharp contrast drawn

by the sheer weight of collective human history

between the presence of War and the absence of Peace.

That we may as one nation among a family of nations,

urgently know that -

by our arms, War is delayed.

It is never hastened.

Lest we forget. Lest we forget.

---<--@

Salutation #39

(The Necessity of Soldiering)

They say,

my brothers and sisters of the Promise,

that the most ancient of professions is prostitution.

The most ancient of professions is soldiering.

Of the two,

my honorable Filipino compatriots,

soldiering have always existed out of a necessity

- temporal in its mission, Eternal in its scope -

to defend the necessary Peace

that, in God's own turn, work to preserve

within our Republic undertaking of Country

the promise and dignity of our nation.

Prostitution only seems ancient because of our neglect

- the utmost width and profound depth of it -

to constantly fulfill, each in our own times and places,

the promise we bear as citizens to each other.

- selah -

They say,

my brothers and sisters of the Promise,

that the most ancient of professions is prostitution.

The most ancient of professions is soldiering.

---<--@

The above Salutations - taken together - form my official entry into the AFP writing contest in the Team AFP facebook page.

Go Team AFP! Go Army!

Adversity Tempering Hope...

The senate hearings that exposed to the greater national dialogue the prevalence of the cultures of corruption and betrayal in our AFP is disheartening.

I could not help but feel sad about the whole thing - a necessary process, mind you - but these are sad days indeed for our military services.

It is painful to watch.

Being sad however is a far cry from being in despair.

I am of the conviction that it is normal for one to feel sad about these proceedings who loves the Filipino profession of arms. What is not normal is to feel bitter about it or to grieve as if our AFP institution is beyond all hope.

Our Republic is not dead yet, my honorable compatriots.

You know this to be true who can feel its spirit stirring in your heart, calling you to care and to start believing again... in ourselves as ourselves.

---<--@

Why do I care about our AFP?

It's not complicated.

I am a citizen of this Republic endeavor. I understand it.

When I say, I love my Country, I mean it. I love my Country with a love that is not vague. I love my Country with a heart that is able to see by the light of my faith in God and in my fellow Filipinos the profound riches of the great destiny that the LORD has entrusted to our keeping.

I intend to cherish this gift and protect it from all takers.

I will defend this love as far as I am able, together with all my fellow citizens, utilizing whatever talents God has given me, because I understand - despite myself - with an unfaltering conviction that If I lose this love, I stand to lose everything.

---<--@

Mabuhay ang Pilipinas! God bless us all.

A Prayer to the King

20110717

THE 21ST CENTURY shall be a century shaped by the decisive strength of our civic convictions on human rights issues. The more decisive these convictions are, the clearer the way ahead shall appear for our nation/s.

Bear in mind and heart, my honorable compatriots, that the 19th Century was the century of chemistry; the 20th, of physics; the 21st, as we shall see, will be one of biology (or to be more precise, Sacred Life).

- selah -

Salutation #37

(Silence, Self-Expression and the Human Potential)

PEACE be with you, Starshine -

Man is an expression of the language of creation.

We are, therefore,

creatures meant to find our own unique ways

to express the creative ideal in ourselves.

To cultivate and nurture our talents

and bring it out into our nations and into our world.

And there are many means and mediums

for adequate human self-expression in our visible universe.

Indeed, our ways of expressing the language of God in ourselves

is as wide and varied as our own individual uniqueness

- and even so -

there shall always remain more than enough room

in all the realms of creation, both seen as well as unseen,

for every free expression of the human potential

- in all its limitless forms -

BUT only for the work purposed for and to our humanity

by the will of God and the common needs of our Mankind.

If there is a perceived lack of these, Beloved of the LORD,

if the wonderful boundlessness of human expression is at present

seemingly constrained and constricted

- in our times and in our nations -

we must understand it is not yet

due to the lack of a necessary technological progress

in the craft of the sciences of Mankind

- as many are inclined to think nowadays -

because until we have learned to examine first

the progress of human potential in our communities

as nations among nations

as well as our own potential to express the creative ideal

as citizens to each other

as a way of giving expression

to the language of creation in ourselves

as individuals and as nations under the LORD

what knowledge we may obtain from our sciences

will only prove futile and deeply frustrating

in the constant pursuit of happiness.

Because creation is not an event

- it is a process -

and this process is a continuum

that began as One and shall end as One.

It requires the consistent development of the human element

as a free and active expression of the boundlessness of itself.

For the human potential

and its free and adequate expression

- in ourselves and in our nations -

is the only potential singularly capable

of producing and sustaining for all of visible creation,

through the Providence of God

and the free and necessary actions

of the willing instruments of the LORD

- physical, spiritual or both -

the allied Peace of the one family of the nations of Mankind

which is the governing principle of the Providence of God

as it is established by Him in this realm of the visible universe.

Left largely unrecognized and under-developed,

all forms of civic order and value will soon be forgot,

and our world shall be imperiled.

Hear me now, Starshine -

happiness is a gift gained by the labor of individuals

from the necessary field of a community of individuals.

So if you will to save the dream for one, as they say -

you must go and save the dream for all.

If we can not as citizens agree

on how to be a human being to each other,

the earth itself will rebel against the labor of our nations;

the silence of our skies will fall into utter meaninglessness

and all the Sacred Life of our planet will flee us.

Time will cease to flow

from the timeless in the human heart,

remembrance shall wither,

and all of human history shall seem

an unremitting retreat

into the darkness.

To the everlasting regret of all.

Now,

because of our human need for the human expression,

- we seek -

and from our seeking, we labor.

There is much noise in our world because of this - and -

amidst all this clamor of living life

- be it good or bad -

it is quite easy to lose ourselves entirely

in the pursuit of everyday living.

Amidst this is Silence.

For what is important to all human beings,

Beloved of God and citizen of all common creation,

is not always what one can see

or hear with external senses alone.

The most basic of human citizenship, precious Starshine,

is a sense of belonging to the one whole of all creation, seen and unseen.

From this all other citizenship draw their legitimacy.

To lose sense of this belonging is to fall away from Sacred Remembrance.

Because there are larger expressions of reality that yours alone.

All are aligned towards one manifest purpose.

The gravity of the last 2000 years or more

will instinctively attempt to paint in your mind and heart

a different picture of ourselves,

as human beings and as human nations

- inhuman, divided in the Heart by the spirit of War -

but the visible universe itself will witness to all human hearts

that there are no divisions in creation, there is only true belonging.

This is an integral part

of the universal patrimony of our humanity as a whole.

We are one whole one with all of creation.

It is part of our being human.

Something that may only be understood in the Silence.

When we are silent,

we are inescapably met with a motion to cease and desist

in the necessary work of finding ourselves,

and for a moment, even only for a single moment,

something seem to beckon our hearts to pause

and to leave the noise and the haste of this realm of creation.

Inwardly, we move toward the timeless, towards a realm of absolutes.

This can only be a choice.

It dawns like dew upon the heart, certain as certain can be,

inclining the free will of Man to bend to its beckoning.

But it is never a choice begun by Man.

So when we are silent, precious Starshine,

we are only silent in response -

to God and the Sanctity of All that is in the LORD.

It is this choice to respond

- to the Sacred Silence -

that is singularly ours to make

that we may each begin again anew

the communicative union that work to continually realize

the expression of the creative ideal in ourselves

(in God and with each other in Him).

Truly,

prayer and quiet thoughtfulness

form part of our authentic human freedoms.

Silence itself is an absolute.

It dawns upon our realization as dew is distilled upon the heart.

It is a medium of things that exist

beyond the totality of all human experience.

Here in exile time however, it has a false image.

For there are two human choices that open the way to silence.

But only one leads to Peace.

The other leads to sin.

For as far as the freedom of Man is able,

our souls must be led to reach out

to the only other freedom

that reaches out to us - the freedom of God;

the singular source of all our freedoms.

And the exercise of Silence, in its own due season,

tempers our hearts tactful to the truth of these things.

For there always shall remain in Man,

something that resists human expression,

something permanent, something sacred,

an accolade to remembrance...

When we are silent - in those times, O my heart,

let us be mindful of that initial choice to respond to the LORD

that we may know by Whom our silence speaks.

That our silence may never bend

to the evil in all evil things.

---<--@

Mabuhay ang Pilipinas! God bless us all.

Service is a call (not an ambition)

"First They Came for the Jews"
By Pastor Martin Niemoller

First They came for the Jews and I did not speak out because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for the communists and I did not speak out because I was not a communist.

Then they came for the trade unionists and I did not speak out because I was not a trade unionist.

Then they came for me and there was no one left to speak out for me.

Salutation #36

(Exhortation to America for National Unity)

You are either American by birth or by deliverance -

either way, shouldn't you be grateful that you are?

When you came forth into your Country,

when the Providence of Almighty God

called you forth into citizenship with your Nation

you were either Democrat or Republican,

black, white, yellow, red or brown -

do your still remember this?

And does it matter to you now

whether you were born into America

or you were graciously adopted by her -

you were just a soul in great need

of the love and strength of human community.

You needed a place to grow up in.

You needed a place to shelter away from.

You needed a place you may build your dreams upon.

You needed a home away from Home - for you.

Now you have come this far only to forget

that with divisions you spurn her love.

If a Filipino like myself can have a feel

for your sense of Country, how much more you -

dear American soul, friend to my Friend,

and kindred to the peace of my own Nation?

I spent a little over 8 years

immersed in your undertaking of Country, America.

I was there with you at the close of the last century.

I felt your trepidation as we counted down the Y2K clock.

I felt the relief that came after.

I felt your insecurities at the start of the 21st century.

I saw it come to a head during the presidential elections of 2000.

I felt your growing distress at the confusion this election brought you.

I admired the strength of your loyalty to your Republic afterwards.

I was there with you during the 9/11 attacks.

I felt the initial haze and the awestruck disbelief.

I felt the growing anger.

I felt the anxiety and the uncertainty.

I felt your cries for justice and I yearned for it as well.

I feared for you, America,

for the consequences of this new war on terror.

For it seemed to me a war with no clear conclusions.

I saw you went to war in Afghanistan.

I saw you went to war in Iraq.

I experienced with you the savagery

of all those videotaped terror attacks on individual civilians.

I felt the thrill of your small victories.

I experienced with you

the bittersweet story of Pat Tillman

and Jessica Lynch.

I felt the pain of your mounting losses.

I mourned with you the loss of Columbia and its brave crew

and felt your helplessness when Katrina hit New Orleans.

I felt your concerns

for the well-being of your citizenry,

even your celebrities - their exploits and scandals,

but especially your unforgotten veterans

and the common folk.

I felt your social insecurities.

I felt your growing racial divides.

I felt the quiet class struggles within you

between the haves and the have-nots.

I felt the depth of the longing in your youth

and the resilient strength of their own dreaming as well.

I felt the frustration of those undocumented workers

who were all lumped into the singular term "illegal immigrant"

as if being a person is a crime.

I was one of them.

I felt the frustration of your traditional sources

of sober civic strength

in the dwindling middle classes

retreating either into walled isolation

or forced to retire far, far away from you.

I felt your own growing frustration,

O elder Republic.

And I grew afraid for you.

For I have long felt your inward fragmentation

long before War cast its shadow on you.

Above all, I felt this need,

this really deep-seated need for a faith

that will restore you to yourself -

the faith that was yours right from the start.

The faith you forgot.

I am grateful for the chance to experience you, America.

And I am thankful to God that I have kept my gratitude.

Therefore,

if there is anything I'd like to see, America -

it is your own faith restored.

You must awaken to new things!

Therefore,

you must work to liberate your soul

from too much materialism -

The Common Market exists to serve

and to prosper the Nation.

So too does the Responsible State exist

for the sake of the good of the Nation.

I promise you it will be difficult.

Indeed, it will be difficult for all of us

as the one family of the nations of Mankind.

But consummate with its hardships are its rewards.

And we are not without help, America,

- we have God and we have each other -

as nations dreaming together this time.

You must understand

in this new age, under this season of heaven -

we are all pioneers now.

-selah -

The spirit of War

- being conscious of itself -

will exert maximum effort

to prevent our entrance

into the door that leads us away

from its unfamiliar reign.

Hence,

it shall be natural for the spirit of War

to strategically pick its fights.

And America,

your own heart of hearts

is one of those choice battlegrounds

and you know it.

The major Countries,

the most developed,

those who are near its age of maturity,

the emerging ones,

the stronger ones,

as well as those decisive groupings of nations -

they shall all be placed against this common test.

We shall be pitted against each our own truths,

tempted to the point of breaking and despairing,

and even exposed to danger.

But through it all,

we shall either only surrender

to the gravity of War - or break away from it -

by our drawing nearer to God,

the LORD and Sovereign of all human nations

and first defender of thy Republic

(and of mine, and of all other orphaned nations).

So may God preserve us all, dear America,

from the evil of these present times.

---<--@

Substance and the American Dream

It is not material wealth that makes people happy, starshine.

Although I will not deny that material wealth greatly improves the lives of people, it is the needs of the people's hearts that must first be addressed to make a way for happiness.

For it is the heart that asks to be happy: It is the soul of Man that wills to contain the happiness he seeks and not the corporal body.

Now, the corporal body desires corporal pleasure and will not be happy by itself with a smile, or a loving touch, or any spiritual blessings wrought in graces or gifts.

What the body desires for itself must dwell only within the limits of its physicality but because it is the soul of Man (in the habitation of his or her heart) that asks to be happy, we all seek for an everlasting kind of happiness.

Ultimately, we realize, in the course of each our lives, that we have somehow fallen in love with the dreaming more than the dream itself, with the living more than the life, the Eternal more than the temporal.

Because the soul of Man, Beloved of God, endowed with the image and likeness of His Creator, is immortal.

This is why it will just not do to fashion the American Dream on material substance alone. The pursuit of happiness is a spiritual striving.

Is it? Can a nation ever really lose its dreaming?

Redefine the dream, I say, and it shall be yours once again.

---<--@

Mabuhay ang Amerika at mabuhay po tayong lahat! God bless all His nations of the one family of the nations of Mankind.

A Just Equality

20110713

Salutation #35

(WYD Madrid - The Peace of Jesus Christ)

We live in a world of contradictions,

a temporal world hidden from the Eternal,

where the One divine reality cause being to exist

and so cause existence to also be meaningful to us

because God is infinitely wise,

incomparably good and full of loving kindness to all His creatures.

We could live in a world of chaos and disorder

where all things and thought in time

float in utter meaninglessness

but the human soul will not do so well

in an environment that is void of spiritual essence.

For like outer space is void of air to breathe,

the soul of a man will suffocate

in a place apart from what God knows is best for us.

So let us praise the LORD and bless His Name!

- selah -

Hear me, Starshine

of the Christian communities from among all our nations!

PEACE, I salute you.

A truly Christian life is a truly human life -

recast in the original purpose of God - in us and for us -

as His image (Love) and likeness (Life) upon the earth,

to be counted among the true living lights of the universe,

the living jewels in the crown of His glory and majesty in all visible creation,

His stewards and co-creators, servants and friends to Him alike;

the preservers of the Sacred Life of all His nations

of the one family of the nations of the children of Mankind.

We are among the many -

as numberless as the stars of our Father Abraham

and allied with the peace of all His nations -

one whole sky.

Rebuild the Church around the Holy Father

and from within thy nations

serve all souls without distinction.

For our Christianity is not a source of division

but of strength for our human communities.

Neither is the Name of Jesus Christ

a source of division, discord, dilution and dissolution

among the nations but of peace.

The beginnings of a better world

begins with Jesus Christ in our heart of hearts.

Therefore,

incline thy hearts to Peace -

forsake War today while it is still today.

As it was before must never be again!

(Refer also to Generation Y)

Viva la Espana!

---<--@

The Separation of Church and State in our Republic

As regards to the PCSO issue, I do not think one can completely blame the CBCP for what happened. Though it is painful and disheartening to witness these kinds of issues, my honorable compatriots, it is better to learn the lessons now than later.

We are not yet as established as other Countries after all. I think what history will remember most about this time is how we managed to pull together to make it better in behalf of those generations to come.

We can not look at another Country (better or worse than ourselves) and with false comparisons fail to grasp the reality that is presently confronting our common will of belonging that we must presently confront as a nation. If we do so, we only allow for evil to flourish again in our times.

Therefore, it is not the weight of these present divisions but our will of unity above all that will matter for us in the long run.

I will refer us to the current topic of our monthly exercise.

And bid each one of us to say a quiet prayer invoking God to preserve us from the evil of these present times.

Let us bear in mind and heart, my brother and sister Filipinos, that the healing of the wounds of this nation of ours depends on the strength of individuals.

No generation is ever remembered for the evils they have failed to overcome. And no evil is ever truly overcome by a nation divided against itself.

My own thoughts on the matter is this -

It is just not right for the Church to accept donations from the State.

There must exist a distinct separation between Church (Religion) and State (but not between God and human reality) in our Republic. Because the Church is not part of the Republic per se (i.e. its three elements).

The Church is for the Nation(s) alone and the Nation(s) for the Church.

All honorable religion, in this Republic undertaking of Country, ennobles our politics not through its direct participation but by its constant illumination in the heart of the Nation.

As the Blessed John Paul II taught -

The way of the Church is Man. The way of Man is Christ.

(Refer also to Human Nation)

---<--@

Our National Golden Rule

The Faux Golden Rule of Old Compliant -

"Whosoever has the gold rules."

This is the rule of Mammon. Its cohorts are War and greed.

The Golden Rule of Old Defiant -

Our rule of gold shall be the will of the God of old for all His human nations -

"You shall love the LORD, O my people, with everything and in everything."

If we remain with this rule, as a particular undertaking of Country upon the earth, not only shall we become rich, O my nation, we shall become rich indeed.

Let this be our National Golden Rule!

---<--@

Christ-centeredness is other-centeredness.

---<--@

Mabuhay ang Pilipinas! God bless us all.

One Nation

Loving Obedience

20110711

Conservation and Energy Independence

I want us to be a forward-thinking nation!

Absolutely speaking, how we practice conservation effectively as a people will affect our energy future.

To what extent we exercise a common ownership of our natural environment as individuals NOW will determine our long-term energy independence as a nation.

Our goal is to go green by 2045.

How we dispose of garbage, how we buy our food, how we go to work, how we treat the well-being of animals and plants, etc. - all these things are directly related to the way we think about conservation.

And the way in which we understand conservation collectively will affect our national policy-making in our Republic with regards to our long-term energy independence as a nation.

It's a free Country so let us be prudent with the way in which we use our liberty.

With regards to energy, our national mantra shall be - "everything is related to everything."

And with regards to conservation, at this late hour, let us also permanently attach the adjective "wholesale".

Because if we do not go all the way today - it will become progressively more and more difficult for us as a nation to achieve a measure of energy independence.

Conservation in the context of the paradigm shift (from War to Peace) in our national thinking becomes a necessary element of our national strategy.

My fellow Filipino compatriots, energy independence may sound highly ambitious but it is also highly necessary. And it is just as well that we think about these things sooner than later.

Later might be one moment too late.

---<--@

Spratly and the Common Defense

The Spratly issue is contentious.

We are getting into the thick of it. But let us not get the notion - here and now - that this dispute is, in any way or form, the primary motivation that informs and impels our will of common defense for this one Republic of ours.

We are to continually develop our defense capabilities (on our own as well as in coalition with our allies) at present out of a necessary love of God and Country as a matter of course.

For we are no longer part of the last great age of War, my honorable compatriots - its paradigm is past. We should learn to discard also the thinking that the defense exists because of a threat that compels it to exist as in the last great age of War.

The defense exists and have always existed whether there is a threat or not.

We are not defending out of a need to shield ourselves from other Countries. We are defending now because building up an effective defense is an integral part of our undertaking of Country and this defense shall be informed by the depth of our belongings to each other and nothing else.

We will defend what we love.

My noble Filipino brothers and sisters of the Promise, do not overextend yourselves as regards to the Spratly issue. Every nation here in our world is broken, each to a degree, and all are War-weary. All present indications are that, if we should exercise patient as well as prudent understanding with all parties involved, this issue shall be resolved not by force of arms, but by the overarching requirements of these present times - this greater season of Peace.

Therefore, I am still holding out for an equitable solution to the dispute in question - a solution that will do adequate justice to the sovereign right of all claimants.

I say "adequate" because I recognize that in such a dispute, one who is skillful in diplomacy must draw a middle course between two evils.

In the meantime, let us focus most of our national energies into filling out what is necessary in our nation to make our one Republic more and more ready to face the challenges of this new age.

We must become aware also that our region belongs to a greater (continental) belonging and that this nascent continental belonging too will flounder divided against itself.

In the thick of this dispute therefore, let us try to place ourselves within our own belongings in Asia to which we are all part that we may at least take notice of the calm of a greater good that exists as clear skies above the storm which is (in this case) this Spratly dispute.

---<--@

Think about it -

It is not Man's nature to wage war, it is War's nature to wage war.

If we bandy about with evil words one to another and in our nations do the same, if we are indecent and respect not the dignity of other individuals, let alone nations, we are sowing the seeds of new conflicts.

But if we speak like Men should speak and not debase our humanity into the level of brutes, all men - rational men and not evil men who have already slept in their souls with War - listen to reason and would try to avoid harming themselves or others like themselves.

Life as a whole is not inimical to itself but sadly, my brothers and sisters of the Promise, we live in an everyday world of contradictions; of lies, half-truths and malice - the veritable atmosphere of hell.

We can ill afford to conform to it and hope to remain human.

---<--@

Mabuhay ang Pilipinas! God bless us all.

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