No Comment

To exceed the defense is to become the enemy we claim to fight.

I really have no commentary on the present goings-on in our Country (at least as far as those issues hugging the headlines at the moment).

Sometimes, you have to draw back from these things to see them from perspectives far from the maddening crowd. It all seems so confusing right now.

One thing is for sure though: If it were that the Executive and the Judiciary is indeed carrying out the beginnings of a constitutional crisis - let us be wary.

Let us be wary for our own good sake's.

Let us not be bitter. Let us not be hasty. But let us be prudent.

Let us be solicitous for the people caught in between - both rich and poor alike - let us care about the way they are treated and let it be a reflection of our finer sense of Justice.

Let us be rightly concerned about the plights of both GMA and the farmers of HL - let us be solicitous for their deliverance - the former from an unjust retribution and the latter from further exploitation.

We are after all, one nation - not two, or three, or four - but one.

---<--@

Running Commentary -

20111209: Mind you, I too pine for Justice to come favor our Republic with the full measure of her virtue.

Now, the Justice I thirst for is not in spirit animated by either vengeance or hatred. [Please see the 3rd Cause.]

The Justice I seek for us, my people, is not the crude give and take rule of the wilderness but the virtue that restores the truth to end all injustices.

We should therefore be wary of a false sense of justice in our midst in much the same way we guard against false hope.

This is what I mean when I say we should be wary.

We should not allow ourselves [our hearts and our minds] to be drawn into a meaningless sense of division but stand steadfastly on the strength of first principles.

It is not fair having to have to choose between two co-equal branches of the one government we have entrusted to carry forward the singular vision of our one Republic peace.

While, it is true that the Supreme Court's most recent decisions seem to be leaning somewhere suspect it still remains that those decisions still are decisions of the Supreme Court.

Man can not live without order. Law is necessary, even laws that are broken and evil, because where there is no law, Man can not long endure.

It is to this order, this nascent Constitutional order, that I perceive the real damage of the current divisions engulfing the Executive and the Judiciary is being received - subtly, with consequences that are very difficult to foresee.

I still do not doubt the President's sincerity but his methods of late especially as regards this row with Chief Justice Corona seem to wax less than the nobility of his intentions.

Therefore, may both the Executive and the Judiciary work together to decisively put an end to their disagreements and present to us, the people, a united will and a common vision.

20111212: If it was that the 2004 elections were indeed hi-jacked, we have a lot more soul searching to do as a nation than I previously thought... I think about it and leads me to a place so dark and so deep i don't want to go there just yet.

Does this mean we might still be in denial as a people as regards to how sick and impoverished our one Republic truly is?

Does this mean it hasn't yet completely dawned upon us how far-reaching and broad our responsibilities to each other is to see our nation through this long night?

20111214: I've been reading some really polarizing articles on the impeachment of Chief Justice Corona - minds out there seem split, conflicted between their condemnation of one or the other (President Noy or the Chief Justice).

I think this is why due process should take its place. Because if we do not see this trial to the end, we - the people - will never know.

It is this ignorance that is dangerous.

Furthermore, I sense something is off about they way Chief Justice Corona delivered his most recent speech - it was as if he was digging in for a fight - but a fight with whom?

On the other hand, President Noy is taking great pains to frame his arguments even at great cost to his political capital, working and thinking hard to clarify his position amidst words like dictator, enemies of the court, and Hitler.

It might not be anger or hatred (or revenge) that we are presently seeing from our President but sheer determination and history might recognize it as such.

In any case, due process must take its place...

20111215: Define independence. Independence from what? I think what our Country needs is a new generation of citizen-servants!

---<--@

I want you to bear - into your heart and mind -

that old familiar Flag - our Old Defiant.

- selah -

We can not be the Country we weren't meant to be,

my brothers and sisters of the Promise.

Therefore,

we have to be better than that

if for no other reason than because

we deserve better than that.

Salutation #73

If you love something, make sure you can defend it.

(Peace is Prologue)

These were the days,

my brothers and sisters of the Promise,

when our nation was still a leading light in our region -

those days have now passed away into today

when all seem dark and the night is deep...

But you know now as well as I do

that the 'morrow for our land is not so far away

- each of us know it by heart how to get there -

what we must decide upon today is how to get there

- together this time.

For there is no getting into the morning

for our Land of the Morning - without unity -

and this unity is our peace

- a pledge to both heaven and earth -

that we belong.

---<--@

Sinag Tala

Sisikatan din tayo ng sinag araw - bayan ko -

kapag isa na uli ang ating puso at buo na uli ang ating bukas.

Pero bago ang lahat - habang madilim pa rin ang gabi -

ang sinag tala muna ang dapat nating malaman at masilayan sa isa't isa.

'Pagkat kapayapaan ang tunay ang himig ng Pasko

- ngayon at magpakailanman ang katotohana'y laging ngang ganito -

sana'y mapagnilay-nilayan natin ito.

---<--@

Maghari po sana ang kapayapan ng Diyos sa lupain ng Pangako.

God Encompassing God

PREAMBLE of the 1987 Constitution -

"We, the sovereign Filipino people,

imploring the aid of Almighty God,

in order to build a just and humane society,

and establish a Government

that shall embody our ideals and aspirations,

promote the common good,

conserve and develop our patrimony,

and secure to ourselves and our posterity,

the blessings of independence and democracy

- under the rule of law -

and a regime of truth, justice, freedom, love, equality, and peace,

do ordain and promulgate this Constitution."

- selah -

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!

---<--@

For God is a God of relationships;

the singular Source of all true belonging -

seen and unseen, all of Sacred Life come together in Him.

He is the LORD, He Who is, and there is none but Him;

the one Sovereign of all the nations of the children of Mankind.

---<--@

ADDED: 20130526Sun

We enter into the mystery of the Divine Unity to be alone with the Alone.
We enter into the mystery of the Holy Trinity to be intimate with the Intimate.

And we who are called to be witnesses of the Redeeming Love of Christ 

are called to be alone with the Alone AND intimate with the Intimate.

Let us reflect on the number 1 as the number for perfection: with the Father, Son, and Spirit as the perfect unity of order, purpose and relation - the God Who is, the LORD Who Loves us all - one God, in Persons three. Happy Holy Trinity Sunday 2013.
---<--@

Salutation #72

If only we knew, O my people -

if only we knew how complete we are;

how illustrious and noble the spirit of our nationhood,

how dignified the purpose of our coming together,

how blessed the nature of our one Republic undertaking -

if only the truth about us were not veiled by the darkness

we would all be one heart and one mind.

- selah -

(Freedom is to Know)

God bless the Philippines!

The great challenge we face in our time

is not the waging of another world war.

The great challenge we face in our time

is the winning of a lasting peace for our world.

Peace is the challenge we face

- my brothers and sisters of the Promise -

and it shall demand from each of us

a deeper and more profound sense

of moral courage and determination

- at par with the timeless virtues -

of all those victorious generations

of times and places past.

This is our time.

Lest we forget. Lest we forget.

Therefore,

a nation at peace with its own truth

- arrayed across our generations -

into a single endeavor of Country at one with its own heart

shall be our greatest and surest guarantee

of safe passage into the new age

beckoning before us.

A nation's motion is the motion of Country

and the soul of Country is in the life of its nation -

- each can not be without the other -

and both must be decided upon

- by each of us -

today while it is still today.

Freedom is to know.

---<--@

Remember - 

War is not the test,
O nations of the children of Mankind...
War is the tutor.

Allowed only for a time.

Peace is the test.
And to pass this test
brings success.

Real Stars

Some stars are fake, some are real -

of the fake ones, the heart can feel,

because of the real ones,

when one can tell -

it's their nearness to our earth

that makes it sell.

Real stars shine with a warmth

that often reaches us

and are full of genuine concern

but fake ones really don't connect

as much as we would like,

their light is not as warm and comforting

as far as the heart can tell

they could be as far from our earth

as heaven is to hell.

---<--@

Endless Blue Sky Sunshine

"Change your thoughts and you change your world."

- Norman Vincent Peale

Live your truth responsibly!

Speak it like you mean it.

Share it like you love it.

Keep it like you really care,

gripping it not with your hands,
but embracing it with your heart.

Nurture it as if it were yours
knowing always to be thankful
to the one God of Whose Reality
is the one Truelight you reflect;
the one LORD by Whose desire
you are called to become you.

So strive with courage and heart
despairing not, dear Starshine,
but being always of good cheer -
you are beautiful without effort!

So be like all hope is become;
walk like you're never forgot;
dance like you are truly alive;
sing like the world cares not;
smile like worries have an end;
laugh like each moment is free;
breathe like your prayer begun;
shine like you belonged forever!

By sweet surrender to the Light
be the gold of sunbeams sharp
against the darkness of the Night
flying upon the wings of eagles
into the blue of an endless sky.
---<--@

Salutation #71

Again the LORD's messenger called to Abraham from heaven and said:

"I swear by myself, declares the LORD, that because you acted as you did in not withholding from me your beloved son,

I will bless you abundantly and make your descendants as countless as the stars of the sky and the sands of the seashore;

your descendants shall take possession of the gates of their enemies, and in your descendants all the nations of the earth shall find blessing - all this because you obeyed my command."

- Genesis 22: 15-18

(An Abrahamic Prayer)

LORD God,

We humbly implore Thee:

help all Thy Muslims,

help all Thy Jews,

help all Thy Christians,

help us in all Thy nations, dear God -

help us to find each other in the dark.

Incline each our hearts

unto Thee, O LORD,

our one True Light.

Refresh our spirits!

May we be as a people

after Thy own Heart, O LORD,

all Thy numberless stars,

guided by the light of Thy Peace

and blessed by Thy will of good

for all Mankind.

Forsake us not, O LORD,

lest we perish in the darkness.

Fulfill in us that promise

Thou swore to our Father Abraham,

that promise Thou hast made of old,

O LORD, that Thou shalt lead us ever onward,

that Thou shalt guide us

toward the building of a better world

for all Thy nations.

By the light of Thy own faithfulness,

O LORD, bind us together

in the unity of Thy own Truth.

Establish Thy Holy Presence in our hearts

as a revelation upon the nations,

that Thou art God, O LORD,

He Who is, the LORD!

And let this be as the dawning

of Thy glory upon the earth.

AMEN.

---<--@

Therefore,

may our understanding of Peace

- be blessed with abundance -

by the one LORD of our nation

and of all nations - the God of Peace.

May our will be directed by God

to the truth that we are one nation,

- brothers and sisters -

in the singular labor of peace

and peace which brings

true prosperity, happiness,

and the realization of our nationhood.

May our common salutation of Peace

be a reflection of the fullness of this knowledge

in our heart of hearts - that -

as children of the Promise,

we are all born to that one promise of old

that God made to our Father Abraham

that we shall be a blessing to our nations.

Let us be as a light unto each other,

ever as the numberless stars - that -

in the darkness of these times,

shines steadfastly the way forward

into a new age for our one Filipino nation

and for our one family of nations

- a new age of Peace.

Salaam. Shalom. Peace.

Under our one Republic sky,

my brothers and sisters of the Promise,

we are but one House - one lineage of victory -

for this House doth serve the LORD,

O my nation - forever!

---<--@

Love Gives

IV - Love Gives -

The giving is the gift.

Inasmuch as the heart understand thankfulness

so too shall the soul value the importance of gift.

Therefore,

let generosity rule thy heart

for the art of giving is difficult

and the way of receiving

even more so -

- selah -

Every joyful giver knows how it is to be thankful

for every true giver is always a true receiver first.

---<--@

Love Shines

III - Love Shines -

The Love of God is as bright as Day

and the heart of Man pines for its fullness.

The heart of Man awaits the coming of the LORD

like the Darkness awaits the dawning of the Light.

For we are the image of God

in each of ourselves,

the likeness of our Creator -

God fills us with His Love

and our hearts come to life in Him.

God comes to us

and He becomes God to us

by the Love we choose

to receive from Him.

For all of love is a giving;

a freedom that begins with God

and ends again with God.

It clothes us with the dignity to be

and empowers us with the grace to become -

the love of the LORD in each ourselves;

a limitless and omnipotent grace.

For the Lord Christ is the Light

and to Him belong the fullness of the Day.

- selah -

We are the love we give away;

what light we shine unto others -

For all of love is a giving.

It is a freedom.

We become all things by the love we freely give -

a reflection of the self that is shed as a light unto others.

The more we give

the more we become

the image of our true selves.

The less light that we shine

the less brightly we stand out

in the midst of the darkness.

A friend becomes a friend

by the reflection of the friendship

he or she offers to others souls

not unlike him or herself.

A father clothes himself

with the dignity of a father

by the light of the love

he gives away -

A husband clothes himself

with the dignity of a husband

by the light of the love

he gives away -

In the same way,

wife becomes a mother

and a mother, a sister,

and a sister, a friend.

---<--@

Love Happens

II - Love Happens -

If I myself can not accept you

- for who you really are -

then, who am I?

If I myself can not accept you

for what you have done or have failed to do

- whether good or bad -

then, what is good and what is bad?

Am I not only a reflection of the love I offer?

If I feign love, I am unsure.

But if I am true,

I will see you - for all that you are.

And I will say, "yes indeed!"

Beauty is when love is in the heart.

---<--@

Love Dares

I - Love Dares -

Can you hide it when you are in love?

Would you be a fool and feign affection when there is none?

For love is like a song that must be heard!

When love sings, there is harmony and it knits every word.

When there is no love, there are only words and no rhyme.

When a fool sings, it is without meaning.

For only a lover can sing to the heart.

Love is wise that makes itself vulnerable.

So when you are in love, make sure to let thy beloved know.

In the midst of the din and the haste

of thy everyday living, let thy beloved know -

with words but especially without, sing her a song.

Let thy beloved know of thy love -

let the whole world hear of thy sweet, sweet melody

and everything will soon fall quiet as your hearts begin to sing...

---<--@

20111111

(NOTE: I often use this double reminder below to remind each of us of the deeper underpinnings of our sacred remembrances - external as well as internal in their manifestation - being both temporal and eternal, corporal and spiritual.)

Lest We Forget. Lest We Forget.

Peace, I salute you.

Today is commemorated Veteran's Day in the USA and Armistice Day in Europe, including Australia, New Zealand and others.

It is a day of remembrance; a solemn day, a blessed day, a day of days. It is a day of common military remembrances and is therefore, a day of peace.

My fellow Filipino brothers and sisters of the Promise, I know for a fact we do not commemorate November 11 here in the Philippines but we should at least try to learn to understand what makes this day valuable to the sacred remembrances of many nations - for we are part of just one family.

In doing this, we are not only being generous - to ourselves and to our other kinder nations - we are being responsible - for ourselves and for our other kindred nations.

- selah -

Therefore, I write this here today to formally and officially remind us that, however dark the past may have been for all our nations - without exception, we belong to just one family.

Indeed, the past has been terrible and dark: For the spirit of War has deceived us all.

The truth is that all our nations, however great or small and however diverse our distinctions, belong to only one true belonging - so let us remember this today - that we are truly only one global community and let us try to meaningfully commemorate our peace with each other as nations - dreaming together this time.

Let us remember that our Philippines is - and shall forever remain - integral to this one family of nations - represented by our United Nations institution.

Let us say, "I remember you, my brother, I remember you, my sister - mabuhay!"

Let us say, "I remember, I remember."

---<--@

Shifting Paradigms -

When we talk about remembrance we essentially speak about the substance of our inspiration.

This is why we should be wary of evil inspiration because the source of all evil inspiration is false remembrance.

You only have to shift your focus to see that the night sky is so full of stars...

(Photo courtesy of Harmony Lovelife and Haragan Makamandag - Go 1ID 35IB!)

Our brave soldiers - who can bear not to love them...

Despite all the controversy (and these days it seems controversy is everywhere), in the darkness, above the fleeting clouds, they are there -

standing steadfastly,

preserving our best military traditions,

shimmering with virtue and valor,

ever ready, ever faithful,

ever hopeful for better, kinder days,

guarding our better tomorrows -

Therefore, I do not choose to believe in controversy.

However deep the night goes, I choose to believe in you

(for I believe in Justice and the good fight)

I choose to believe in our better selves -

and as sure as I live and breathe today,

the morning will surely come

for our beloved Land of the Morning.

Go team AFP - go PA - mabuhay!

---<--@

You only have to shift your focus to see that the night sky is so full of stars...

Often, when all that we care to remember

is how huge the darkness and how frail and tiny the light,

we weep bitterly unto despair

and completely forget

which one is pure substance

and which one is pure illusion.

Be inspired about the right things and they will produce in you, the right things.

Be inspired about the wrong things and they will produce in you, the wrong things.

So do good and abhor evil by doing good. Do not be by evil inspired.

For even if you fight evil through its own evil inspiration in yourself, it shall eventually consume you.

---<--@

It is not the severity of Justice but the certainty of Justice that deters good people from becoming less virtuous than they should and evil people from becoming more criminal than they deserve.

---<--@

Love your Country.

Your Country is the land where your parents sleep,

where is spoken that language

in which the chosen of your heart, blushing,

whispered the first word of love;

it is the home that God has given you

that by striving to perfect yourselves therein

you may prepare to ascend to Him.

- Giuseppe Mazzini

---<--@

Mabuhay po tayong lahat! Salaam. Shalom. Peace. God bless us all.

...the brightness of thy Banner undiminished in triumph waves, the glory of thy stars and sun are lights that shall ne'er fade...

P.S.

Today I also commemorate 2 years of recovery. I am so glad to say, this is a battle I now know I can win. I thank each of you for your prayers and your support! (You all know who you are.)

20111110

The National Peace

Hi there!

You know as well as I do that I am (as well as you are) fully committed to the peace of our Philippines.

Now then, my brothers and sisters of the Promise, restoring the native peace of our beloved Country is not just about fighting and negotiations.

Though we hear so much about it in the news, the peace that we speak about here - when we talk about peace - is much, much more than that...

You'd be surprised.

The peace we desire does not require every one of us to possess a soldier's heart and acquire a warrior's skill.

Winning the peace for our Philippines does not require every one of us to become involved in politics or any of those high-level, hush-hush things that seem beyond the power and scope of the everyday, ordinary Filipino on the ground.

99% of us are not directly involved in the peace process. We are the other 99. This is so since, the political peace is distinct from the national peace.

So let me be clear on this - peace is essentially all about relationships.

To impress upon the nation, our conviction of the right things, as ordinary citizens, we must each understand in the broadest sense that our civic peace is all about loving and caring - all things and all persons both great and small - as well as each those places in time and their associated memories - families, friends, compatriots - least to great - which is everything that connects us together across our generations in one timeless, seamless remembrance.

Remember when I told you that a Filipino is a kind of love and this love binds us together into one nation? Well, its true. Its not just a romantic myth, its a basic fact of our national life.

Truly, we are to love our our own and others like our own...

So from today, we're also going to talk about love... (And I might even begin a new series of open salutations just about love - love in all its wondrous forms - from the romantic to the practical, from the sweet to the bitter but necessary kind - especially that love which must be between Man and Woman.)

I - Love Dares -

Can you hide it when you are in love?

Would you be a fool and feign affection when there is none?

For love is like a song that must be heard!

When love sings, there is harmony and it knits every word.

When there is no love, there are only words and no rhyme.

When a fool sings, it is without meaning.

For only a lover can sing to the heart.

Love is wise that makes itself vulnerable.

So when you are in love, make sure to let thy beloved know.

In the midst of the din and the haste

of thy everyday living, let thy beloved know -

with words but especially without, sing her a song.

Let thy beloved know of thy love -

let the whole world hear of thy sweet, sweet melody

and everything will soon fall quiet as your hearts begin to sing...

---<--@

II - Love Happens -

If I myself can not accept you

- for who you really are -

then, who am I?

If I myself can not accept you

for what you have done or have failed to do

- whether good or bad -

then, what is good and what is bad?

Am I not only a reflection of the love I offer?

If I feign love, I am unsure.

But if I am true,

I will see you - for all that you are.

And I will say, "yes indeed!"

Beauty is when love is in the heart.

---<--@

Often when all that we care to remember is how huge the darkness and how frail and tiny the light, we weep bitterly unto despair and completely forget which one is pure substance and which one is pure illusion.

---<--@

Mabuhay ang Pilipinas! God bless us all.

Yes to NO Political Graffiti!

Salutation #70

The Peace of the LORD be with us all.

Be wary of those tired old conventions of past things -

for the LORD is not a God of divisions!

Nor is thy God a maker of lies and a sower of confusion.

For the LORD God is but one God alone -

nothing rises out of the darkness into the unity of God

that does not lead to the Truth.

You have the written Word of God in thy Scriptures

as well as the Word of God unfolding in thy present reality -

see from the witness of history where the will of War has taken thee

and discern from the faithfulness of God where it shall all lead.

- selah -

(A Call to Remembrance)

O MANKIND, my nations,

saith the LORD, our God,
where is thy one heart?

The heart that yearns
to be one as I AM one.

O ye believers, listen:
Have thou loved the other?

Have thou seen through

Babel's confusion?

O ye peoples, gather about!

Return to Me, O my portion,
come and learn again My ways
for My ways lead thee to life
and My Peace is thy only path.

Know ye the Truth

and I shall set thee free.

I am the LORD, thy living God:
Behold! I am but one God alone,
worship Me not with thy divisions!

Serve me not with wars' ambition
but turn away, O stars of Abraham,
and serve the life of My creation.

---<--@

Terrorism is a crime not a cause.

---<--@

Promise of Old

Never Again!

Peerless

O LORD!

Thou art One -
Peerless and Inaccessible.

Thou art Being -

Infinite in Perfection.

Thou art Beauty -

Unsurpassed in Wisdom.

Thou art Good -

Wondrous in Power and Might.

Thou art Strength -

Ready and Able to Save.

Thou art Will -

The Fullness of Compassion.

Thou art the Truth -

Thou art God,

Thou art God,

Thou art God,

Irresistible is the Sound of Thy Name

who can withstand Thee?
---<--@

"This is my Name forever

the Name you shall call Me

from generation to generation."

Prayer to God as First Defender of the Republic

Look upon us this moment,
O LORD, God above all things,
and abide with us now
in our necessary struggle
as First Defender of this Republic
to obtain for our people
the remembrance of Thy peace
and the blessings of Thy freedom.

Bless our one Filipino nation,
O LORD and Giver of all good things,
each and every Filipino heart,
that yet believes with conviction
in this endeavor of Country
that we may by our own willingness
be transformed by Thy abundant mercy.

Tarry with us in the darkness
O LORD and Sovereign of all nations
help us, teach us, bless us
that we may prosper in Thy sight
and in Thy grace and in Thy counsels
remain secure in Thy commandments
walking upright in Thy ways
that we may become the light
that You want this nation
and every nation to be
upon this, our midnight world,
so much in need of Thy presence
like the daybreak twilight is
so much in need of Thee.

For us, Christians, we must add:

This we humbly implore
in the Name of Jesus Christ,
our most loving Lord and Savior,

AMEN.
---<--@

For all the rest:

This we humbly implore,
O LORD and one common Creator
of all things, seen and unseen,

AMEN.

---<--@

Salutation #69

Do you think hatred cares

what wood it may devour

to keep from burning out?

Nay!

It shall seek to devour all trees

and consume the whole orchard!

For hatred is a dark fire

and shall burn until it is out.

Hate is never meant to last.

But Love is a bright fire.

Love consumes but is never consumed.

Love burns Eternal.

- selah -

What limits War from prevailing over our communities

is the presence of those who despite all the violence and the rage,

continue to hope, pray and work tirelessly for peace in this Country

all those who in spite of this unhappy state

of a prevailing temporal enmity among brothers

have chosen - in their heart of hearts -

to place unity over division for the good of all Filipinos.

What limits the darkness

of the Night from devouring our nation

is the presence of these living lights

who are of the stars of our Father Abraham

and born to that one promise of old

that we shall bless our national communities;

a promise made not by any Man

but of the one God of all Mankind.

(A Message to the Bangsamoro)

To the Bangsamoro -

Peace, I salute you.

I acknowledge each of you,

my brothers and sisters of the Promise,

as you are - and so -

as you cherish yourselves,

I cherish you.

And I tell you no lies.

Because what I want for us is peace.

You possess through your lineages

a distinct cultural and ethnic identity

containing within each yourselves,

a noble and lasting heritage,

worthy of our one Republic undertaking.

I also realize

- there still lingers -

the evil of days past.

I offer you no apologies for them.

For I too am hurt

by the pain of those evil days.

Though I am not born from thy own descent,

I am hurting as you are hurting.

For I am different yet I am the same.

(And I am certain there are many others

who are like myself - a citizen not unlike yourself.)

- selah -

O Bangsamoro peoples,

there are some things we can never undo,

for they are not meant to be undone.

Some pains are meant to bear us away

from the evil of things past.

The darkness of the night

can never flow back into itself.

It may only deepen - if we are not wise -

and darkness that is deep is madness.

If we focus on the pain of our history,

we shall be found forever looking backward

being without a present and without a future.

For the hurt that we witness in our history

- goes deeper and deeper into the darkness past -

but the wound we need to commonly address

must always rise into the present.

Truly, the past can be painful

but we can never heal these hurts

without first letting go of them.

We have a history and also a destiny.

We are one nation - Now.

We are one people

beloved of God and bound

to the freedom of each others' gifts

into one Republic undertaking of Country.

We represent each other's common human hopes.

Therefore,

I will not allow you to be forsaken in the night.

Believe thee with me

we have suffered enough

and the recompense we desire

is a just and lasting peace

for our one undertaking of Country.

This is why I am ardently supporting

a lasting and meaningful peace in Mindanao

specifically to bring to your homelands,

a measure of prosperity and freedom

that is met for you - and -

to bear our Country away, here today,

into a future that is met for all Filipinos.

For we are a forward looking nation.

and must now look eastward to the dawn.

I realize - that -

we shall face many difficulties

along the way - this for is certain -

but a nation is intended by God

to overcome these difficulties.

No one individual, family, or tribe

can master the untamed earth

nor can any human community

short of a nation among a family of nations

- build up the inhabited earth -

and fill the darkness of this world

with living lights.

However,

only a nation united

- as one truth in the heart -

shall prevail over the unknown earth.

Indeed,

we shall do this work of raising a Republic

worth all our sacrifices and common dreams

as one nation - together this time -

one whole sky.

We shall build a shelter of Country

for all our generations - mabuhay!

If we are merciful to ourselves, O my nations,

if we value the life that take their shelter under our wings,

we shall ardently seek peace, one with another.

We shall look to the dawning of the new age and never look back.

Eid'l Adha Mubarak!

---<--@

Catholic Lay Spirituality in the 21st Century

"Duc in altum!" - "Set forth into the deep!"

- Luke 5: 4

This is the Century of the Holy Spirit -

Adoramus te, Christe, et benedicemus tibi; quia per sanctam Crucem tuam redemisti mundum - We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you, because by your holy Corss, you have redeemed the world.

1. To be able to articulate and defend the faith of the Roman Catholic Church:

• To strive ceaselessly to hear ever more clearly God's Word, the Gospel of Jesus Christ, taking that Word to heart and shaping one's life according to it.

• To speak about the faith and even instruct, strengthen, and motivate others, not only non-believers, but fellow Christians as well and to manifest Christ's message by words and deeds and to communicate His grace to the world.

• To lead others - not only non-believers but fellow Christians - to a deeper faith, not simply by our words but also by our deeds, making the Gospel known and more holy through the witness of an exemplary life.

2. To be appreciative of the true value of all of God's creation:

• To learn the deepest meaning and value of all creation, and how to relate it to the praise and glory of God.

• To be appreciative of our own humanity and the mysteries of being human: the body, feeling, emotion, love, sex, work, play, community celebration, art, science, the aspirations of the human mind and the longings of the human heart.

• To work to see that created goods are more fittingly distributed among men and women and in our own way lead to general progress in human and Christian liberty.

• To establish firmly in our hearts the kingdom of God wherein all creation itself will be delivered out of the slavery to corruption and into the freedom of the sons and daughters of God.

3. To be zealous in building a better world for all men, women and children:

• To struggle to free ourselves from the value system of our society - whatever it may be - in order to judge and act by the justice of God and the norms of the Gospel.

• To bear witness to the power and glory of Christian love for the inspiration of others.

• To promote the unity of all Christians and dialogue with non-Christians and non-believers.

• To be dedicated in a special way, with authentic mercy, to the defense of freedom, to social justice and peace, and above all the defense of human dignity, to remedying the different forms of suffering, to relieving the misery of those suffering injustice, working assiduously to change the institutions of society that generate suffering, whether it be economic, psychic, social, moral, or spiritual.

• To pursue a social order marked by justice, peace, and freedom for each human being, regardless of race, sex, age, or other distinction and to imbue culture and human activities with moral value.

---<--@

Refer to Internet Article: Dominican Spirituality and Vatican II Expectations of Lay People with much thanks to God and utmost appreciation to the charism of our Holy Father Dominic de Guzman made present in Christopher Kiesling, O.P.

Heartsong

Man is a creature of possibilities. Therefore, know your limits. But do not allow yourself to be defined by them.

I AM the unsung song

that lives within a dream;
the seed within a soul.

Every infinite universe
embraced from within
the heart of God.

I am the road
not the destiny,
I am the journey
not the destination,
I am the dreaming
not the dream,
I am the becoming,
not the being,
I am the singing,
not the song,
I am the climb
not the peak,
I am what soars!

I begin with a praise -
I breathe the air,
and cry out loud:
Alleluia to the LORD!

I end with a praise -
I lift my head,
and bow my heart:
Alleluia to the LORD!

I am heartsong.

--<--@

The Maiden of the Sea

We are a maritime nation.

How fare thee, dear nation,

my Pearl of the Orient Seas

standing at the threshold

of another thousand years?

O dear island nation,

how came we to know thee?

O Sanctuary of my people,

a love 7,107 islands strong

emerging now from thy sleep,

awaiting the dawn!

Thy past is a mystery,

a deep longing for answers,

who were thee, O nation?

What was our name

from before the Crown

and the sword of Spain?

O dear Country,

our home away from Home

beautiful for thy people

and for thy bay side sunsets

blessed with great riches

and fruits of earth and sea.

O Land of the Morning,

my hope and my patrimony.

O how I love thy sweetness,

all our dreaming together

those days of my childhood,

'twas long as forever

fond for friends and family,

for love of God and Country

I shall soon remember -

O strong Republic,

be faithful for people

prosper thy peace together

strong for for thy faithfulness

and faithful for thy togetherness

now hearken to thy courage,

and aright to thy self!

Arise brave Republic,

become present for our hope!

For God has kept thy secrets,

thy lost memory of times before:

Thou loved the maiden

embraced by the sea!

So young and vibrant,

and promised to thee.

Thy nation to wed thee,

O for beautiful Country!

The people adored thee,

for thy spirit was free;

all the other nations

were so happy for thee.

Have thou now forgotten

that promise long ago?

Return now to the wonder

and never let go.

The night's almost over,

daybreak twilight draws near.

Aright my dear people,

the dawn will soon break.

Our Republic awaits us,

O nation most dear -

Our Land of the Morning

is soon to appear!

O dear Filipino nation,

we are who we are!

Long have the years

kept dear Country away -

through trial and sorrow,

through fear and strife,

through furious battle,

through bloodshed tears,

how long the struggle,

we fought to remain

through every opponent,

our hope overcame!

Night has not claimed us,

we are the same.

---<--@

Salutation to the Holy Angels

O Holy Michael,
by the power of God,
the dragon prevailed not!

O Heavenly Hosts,
by thy swift and powerful ascent
to the unity of the LORD,
Satan and all his fallen angels
lost their place in heaven.

War is vanquished forever!

I salute all the angels of God!

From the least to the greatest -
I salute all the angels of God!
From the highest of Seraphim
to the guardians of the souls of men.
I acknowledge your unseen presence
with due respect to the unseen reality
that hold back the assault of demons
in our poor world and in my poor life.

I salute all the angels of God!
To the angels of my enemies,
to the angels of my friends,
as well as those of my family,
above all to my guardian dear,
my own angel, faithful and true -
who have known me from eternity;
who came to this world at my birth;
who shall fly me away at my passing.
May God's grace see us through evil
with bonds strong against temptation.
May God bless and purify our friendship
into an union of love that will last forever.

I give thanks and adoration to God
For all the angelic hosts of the LORD.
For the battles they fight
and the victory they proclaim
under the banner of the Lamb,
the leadership of Michael,
and the Queenship of Mary,
by the power of God,
on behalf of suffering mankind.

To the most high and sovereign God
who rules all true things
seen and unseen
and turns all things to good
for those who love and fear Him
may glory, honor and praise belong
forever and ever.

AMEN.

---<--@

(produced 20080204)

The Defeat of War

Salutation #68

To use a line from the recent HBO mini-series, "Game of Thrones":

"Winter is coming, we can not afford to fight a war among ourselves."

(The Evil in all evil things)

If guns were the root of all evil,

we'd be fighting these wars

with sticks and stones instead.

If money were the root of all evil,

we'd still be poor for lack of love.

If people were the root of all evil,

why are there still people in this world

so much in need of our humanity?

For God does not suffer evil without a cause!

And if God were the root of all evil,

why do we suffer all these questions?

Alas! There is an Evil in all evil things -

all that in spirit sows diverse corruption in the soul of Man

causing the human spirit to turn against its own self;

inspiring the human heart with adulterous lies

and the promise of empty, defeated things

poisoning both the willing as well as the unwary of soul

with false inspirations wrought by the fallen vision

of the eternal destiny of the nations of the children of Mankind.

This spirit is the spirit of War -

the ancient adversary of all national community;

an emptiness that seeks to consume as if with fullness -

crafting division, sowing discord, scattering peoples,

and devouring generations entire.

- selah -

We shall not be useful against War.

For to contend against it - and therefore, against each other -

is what War desires for us to do.

We are to build from upon these times,

the better, brighter, kinder shape of things to come;

maintain it where it needs, advance it where it should,

defend it where we must, always being mindful -

to never exceed ourselves in our observance of peace.

For the more we build upon our peace as one nation,

the more we drive against the darkness of War - and -

as we press on and away from this midnight of our times,

the more sense of hope we shall meet along the way,

ever the nearer we are to the breaking of the day

- where the new age awaits -

ever shall we also know Peace

in our heart of hearts.

And even if we do not live to see those days,

for we are here to nurture trees whose shelter we shall never use

and to build the foundation of things we shall never finish

- if we believe in the LORD and in each other -

if we endure despite ourselves and prevail in unity and in the Good,

in spite of all these things, we shall,

at the one final gathering of all our nations,

I know, come to a knowledge of these things...

- selah -

O my beloved people -

remembrance is the bond

that binds together our lineages,

our families, tribes and our peoples,

into that one gathering sense

of a self-cognizant identity

that we recognize as our nationhood.

It is in our spirit;

a unity bound by our labors

to obtain from God and heaven,

the vision of our peace - here on earth -

in time - and - unto the fulfillment

of time as we know it.

It is a unity fostered and protected by our one Republic - forever -

and a Republic guarded jealously by the Angel of the Philippines.

If there were a billion of us who belong to this one nation of ours,

endowed by our liberty with the same strength of diversity,

we would each be possessed by the same awareness

of what makes our belongings to each other

a valid and common reality.

We are children of the Promise

and born to this Land of Promise

unto a labor of common dreams

as citizens like unto each other.

We are Filipino

who by any other name

is what binds us together

as this one Filipino nation.

And this sense of belonging applies

so long as we exist as a people

together in time (our generations)

and across dimensional space (our families, our tribes)

so that if there were only two of us left,

it would still be the same truth.

Therefore, as a nation, when we forget,

it is worse than when we knew nothing.

For when we knew nothing,

there was nothing to forget.

But when we forget,

we are always divided against something.

Worse, it is always something

we should never have forgotten.

The War in Heaven is in the heart.

---<--@

"Ang bansa nati'y hindi nabubuhay dahil madilim ang gabi."

Never Again!

Revelation 12: 7-9

O Holy Michael,

by the power of God,

the dragon prevailed not!

O Heavenly Hosts,

by thy swift and powerful ascent

to the unity of the LORD,

Satan and all his fallen angels

lost their place in heaven.

War is vanquished forever!

The one Code

REMAIN TRUE -
to our peerless LORD
to the one God
of our Father Abraham,
the one common Creator
of all common creation,
seen and unseen.

To your own sacred remembrances
and the memory of your peace
with God and with each other.

To the overcoming of your War
and the advent of your hope
at the dawn of our new dreaming
as nations together.

To thy own universe within
and to the riches therewith
those treasures that
neither thief nor tyrant
can deprive.

To thy own calling
to serve in the way
of virtue and of peace
and to thy own ascent
upon the one mountain path
whereupon all good things
find their meaning and merit
in the prayer of the heart.

To thy own labors
upon this necessary life
and to the hardships also
that this inhabited earth brings -
May you be satisfied
knowing in your heart
what you truly strive for.

To thy own endeavor of Country
and to the trust of thy own nation
may you embrace with your embracing
these wholes upon wholes
as far and as wide as you could
and with courage
and steadfast persistence
bring all your love
as near as it takes you
to the one Love
that unifies us all
with the one LORD of All.

To our Lord's poor
and to each other
as keeper and as friend -

May we all remain faithful
from always to always
until the final gathering
at the end of days
and the beginning
of all things new.
---<--@

Salutation #67

Therefore,

as a nation - when we forget,

it is worse than when we knew nothing.

For when we knew nothing,

there was nothing to forget.

But when we forget,

we are always divided against something.

Worse, it is always something

we should never have forgotten.

(Preconditions to the Peace Process)

Peace, I salute you.

This is for all our peacekeepers

on the ground of our Land of the Morning

- military as well as civilian -

Muslim, Christian, and Lumad

who are all Filipinos to the very last

and brothers and sisters of the Promise

who continue to hold on to the civic peace

as citizens and human beings, one to the other,

as well as to all our peacemakers

met from across all the sides

of the one common negotiating table -

Peace is prologue to national prosperity!

But there are preconditions to peace.

For peace without clear preconditions

in a conflict involving armed struggle is futile.

For the spirit of War must first be bound by law

and the evil of war formally recognized by all concerned

- in order to strengthen the peace process -

and to effectively break these seemingly endless cycles

of violence and retaliation.

First of all,

there should be no question

about the legitimacy of our one Republic of the Philippines.

To question this is to question the necessity of the entire peace process.

It undoes the ground - upon which -

the parties to the one peace process

are working to build, through all adversity,

an enduring monument to the triumph of our nation.

These are preconditions to the peace process

of which there must never be any doubt.

It is therefore,

the initiative of the lawful government

of the one Filipino nation to pursue or not to pursue negotiations

according to common good of the sovereign Filipino people.

The GPH is not an equal party to the process.

It is the initiating party and let us always remember this:

The GPH is the significant party - the most responsible party -

without which this conflict shall continue unabated.

Foreign mediation is only supplementary and not central to the process.

Our peace process is therefore,

something that is begun by the incumbent Chief Executive

as a rightful exercise of the mandate accorded to his (or her) Office

by the electorate of the nation.

It is therefore,

the prime responsibility of the GPH

to set clear goals and common expectations - as well as -

to be unyielding in the implementation of the mechanisms

that will ensure that every goal is sufficiently met

and every expectation well-founded

and ultimately proven.

There should be adherence to the singular vision of peace.

There should be justice in its approach - in spirit as well as in form.

There should be an ever growing reciprocity of trust.

Indeed,

there should be absoluteness of intent

- to succeed in the attempt -

as well as an unyielding sincerity

- being one without guile or mental reservation -

among the sides from across the one negotiating table

who represent broader interests from among their constituency

as well as carry the common appeal of the one Filipino nation.

There should be continuity and solemn remembrance...

It is the spirit of War - first and foremost -

that must be identified, weakened, rejected, and removed

prior to the obtaining of the vision of the political peace.

There should be universal acceptance

of the foreign nature of the spirit of War

and a common rejection of the manifold evils

it both inflicts and inspires in the nation;

evils made plain and manifest

to our common witnesses

by these unending cycles of pain and loss,

endless battle, poverty and exhaustion -

a sure lineage of ignominy and defeat - for any nation.

There should be a broader understanding of the national peace...

Indeed,

there should be citizenship with fidelity;

a faith among each ourselves that in the end,

the bottom line is that we are all Filipinos to the end

each being individually gifted by God

with one particular nationhood

- the grace to belong -

to a nation that is our nation whatever the name.

Therefore,

there should be a proper well-regard

for the crying needs of our common peoples

and a just and abiding recognition - in all of us -

of the value of the life of our nation.

There should be purity of arms...

- selah -

Now,

particularly speaking

- in the aftermath of recent events -

I think our President Noy

who is our legitimate Chief Executive

and elect by a quorum of the electorate of the nation

has sacrificed enough personal credibility,

spent enough political capital,

and has shown enough good will and good faith

to merit a show of reciprocity from the MILF:

They should surrender the murderers of our troops.

- selah -

And o

ur AFP

should be just as fearless

in launching a formal review

of the lapses

that has led to the incident at al-Barka.

19 is too much...

---<--@

This is my personal appeal to you -

My brothers and sisters of the Promise,

Let us not allow this recent outbreak of violence to shatter our hard fought good will as Filipinos and human beings, one to another, nor steal from us the bright future we all aspire for and truly deserve - the politics of division, once it has exhausted itself, shall look to us for help and consolation.

When that time comes, if we too have lost our guidance - what then?

If we do not hold our ground against the rising of the tide, whither shall our Country be found at the flowing of the tide, when the darkness recedes once again?

If the stars themselves become lost in the midst of the night - what then?

We shall truly be lost.