For hope is upon the earth, in a constant state of subtle transformation, rising and falling as all things ascend to God, in steady cycles of loss and fulfillment.
When black is used to remember death, it is not used to signal the finality of death, but to remind us of the hope that is invested in death - for black is also the color of the expectation of life.
- selah -
Justice for Given
This hurt is bigger than UPLB...
When God made Woman, the LORD fashioned her as a companion to Man; a faithful helper, equal in dignity and promise, without which Man shall never be complete as himself. For there are no creatures upon the earth like Woman is to Man. From this new community God fashioned out of Man in Woman comes the lineages of all the generations of the children of Mankind.
The truths established by God in the story of the joining of Man and Woman form the common foundations of the institution of the human family.
It is the strength of the family that determines the strength of the nations unto which the preservation of both human dignity and human promise is universally entrusted by God for the sustenance and protection of all our generations to the very last of our generations.
Why do I say this? Because the ripples felt by the stealing away of the promise of Given Grace Cebanico touches exactly those truths. When the criminal case is presented, it shall be animated by the fact that this crime affects all Filipinos.
When the dignity of Woman is left unprotected and her promise is left undefended, Man is not elevated but diminished. When Man and Woman exist in conflict with each other, no nation will hope to survive the test of time. That is the truth.
I am saddened by the loss of one so young and promising because we can never take back what she stands for - there shall always be a missing life that our nation has to account for in time as well as before God in Eternity.
For us as one nation, my brothers and sisters of the Promise, the pain of this crime shall never go away but we can as a Republic work as one Country to assist in the healing and recovery of Given's family, pray for her soul, convict the transgressor/s, and protect our community from this evil.
This is why Justice for Given is vital. May she find her way back to God and through God to our Home in Eternity with the LORD. The only way that remains to show our love for her now is to expedite her final hopes on earth.
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To all my Roman Catholic brothers and sisters, let us please take all of this to God in prayer especially at Holy Mass today.
Mabuhay ang Pilipinas! God bless us all.
Peace be with you, Given Grace - via con Dios -
taken so young, now young forever.
You hope is now our hope.