To the Class of 2012

Starshine, this is for you - if not today, tomorrow.

(You know, for days now, I've been going through what to say to each of you - Class of 2012 - in my native Philippines in particular and across to our kindred nations in general. 

As you know, the year 2012 is a momentous year - it is a year of crossroads and expectations.

I wanted to say something formal, something meaningful, something from me to you. But for days now, I've been struggling to put the words down for you.

So here's what I am going to do - I will speak extemporaneously. 

I will make this message a personal one.)

---<--@

First of all, congratulations! 

Whatever stage in your life you are now witnessing the beginning of, you totally deserve it!

So own up to it - embrace and accept this victory you have gained for yourself - appreciate the moment - humbly, deeply, with gratitude. 

Do not forget to review the virtues that brought you to this moment and make a memory of them as well, praise the LORD for His enabling grace that God may multiply your successes.

Plant your feet firmly upon the ground of the truth, as they are made plain, present and manifest to the eye of thy heart, and rise upon the wings of thy prayer towards God and the realization of all thy hopes. 

Dear Starsine, commencement exercises imply by their very essence - a beginning. It is a way for you to remember well a great milestone in your life. For life is lived in stages, each leading to the other. 

Thus, however long each of these phases, good or bad, seems to each of thee - every ending continues on to a new beginning. 

For it must. 

Therefore, forward looking is what you must always be. Remember, your youth is in thy spirit and learning is forever.

Looking back will serve only to embitter thee. 

Indeed, there were good times (as well as bad) and necessary farewells, but the past (as it was precisely experienced by thee) is not a place in which we can visit. 

Long for good times and reunions but align these longings with the flight of thy hopes; anchor them not onto the sinking of the void.

The past, once it is lived, is forever no more - everything is in the Now. It is here in the Now where constant remembrance dwells, to carry all true things forward and across into tomorrow.

In this way, all true things carry all true things into the reality of the present time. In this way, we carry each other by each good ideal we represent and by each good thing that we do.

You must always remember this - those places in thy past are places still and the people in thy past are people still regardless of the intervening years. Time is allied to the meek and the humble. 

Come alive to the reality of unseen things!

Bitterness is not for thee, precious Starshine, it is for those who refuse to learn and to move forward into forever. It is for those who stubbornly seek to strive alone and without counsel; entangled in the snares of their own making - theirs is a useless, seasonless, tasteless, flightless existence. 

You are to love them anyway, pray for them especially, and be a sibling to them still.

Be spiritual. Do not be divided in thy heart. Be whole. 

Exercise a prudent discernment and let go of the past times and past hurts without letting go of all thy past loves - for verily, love as it pertains to itself knows of neither limit nor time. 

Be brave enough to carry all that you love into thy present and therefore, into thy future and you shall make of yourself, by the grace of God, both wise and happy, in that order.

Yea, uncertainty.

I want you to savor it.

For this uncertainty exists for each of you.

There is an air of uncertainty - here - that surrounds and permeates each of you, Class of 2012, like an invisible embrace. It is the atmosphere of your expectations. Remember always, it is yours.

This uncertainty exists for each of you, because you - and only you - can muster the courage, virtue and determination to break through its infinite layers and discover your own powers of flight.

For whether you know it or not, this air of uncertainty is the air you breathe to give texture and shape, feeling and intesity to your own dreams and life to your greatest ambitions.  

This is the breathe that transforms - The breathing of the brave. 

It is the aspiration of hope that propels the cycles of faith and love to empower with reality those prayers that move the arm that moves the mountains.

Therefore, may your prayers bless your spirit with the strength to rise above the challanges of these times.

No one has the right to burden each of your life with expectations than your own indomitable spirit. So know yourselves. 

Present yourselves before God lovingly. Be true. Be happy. Be always in love. 

Be peacemakers.

---<--@

Dreamer of Dreams

Generation X

Generation Choice

TO ALL MY PEERS,
Salutations of Christian peace

and common good will
to our Generation X.

It seemed as if it would never come

But now the world awaits

What virtue we shall impart

To the nations of whose hopes

We shall soon inherit.

O my generation!

What distinguishes us

from the past?

Is it the hurt,

Is it the lack,

Is it the want of heroes' fire?

Who are we

and what defines us

as a generation?

We are here.

We are here now.

What shall soon define us

is not our past.

What shall soon define us

is not in the future.

What shall soon define us

in the eyes of heaven and earth

is our being here now

our being here in the moment

our being present for the peace.

O my kindred spirits,

O my generation be aware

of the wide, awakening twilight

of the time, times and a choice

at this void at the threshold

of the third Christian millennium

a space between our common human hopes

for peace and a better world

caught between tears and shadow

and God's infinite ocean of mercy.

The reality of our times exist

between the autumnal dusk of faded Eden,

this midnight world of war,

and the springtime thawing

of the new dawn from on high,

that bright new morning of peace,

before the noontime reign of Christ,

the Splendor of the Truth

and the Sun of Righteousness,

arising here in the wintering of our times

in the glory of God the Father,

the one common Creator of all mankind

on behalf of suffering humanity

and our poor world.

We must begin today
what no other generation can.

We must quicken to truths
that no lie can ever deny.

We must open doors
that lead to new horizons.

And we must shut the gates
so that no one may be left behind.

This is our time.

---<--@

(Produced 20080420)

Allied Generations

Salutation #113

Those who live to nurture
the tree of the desolation of war
- shall certainly eat of its fruit -
and the fruits of war is plain
and bitter forever.

Therefore,
let us return now to the native peace of our nations -
that we may eat of the fruit that sustains our humanity;
that we may be a support to each other as citizens;
that we may be a blessing to each other as nations;
that we may reflect the glory of the God heaven on earth.



(The Tree of the Desolation of War)

THERE WAS ONCE
an orchard filled with trees
of many kinds.

All of the trees in the orchard
bore good fruit save for one.

There was a tree
at the center of the orchard
that bore no fruit at all.

It was the largest tree of all.

It was also the most ancient of all.

It's great and lofty branches
overshadowed a third of the orchard.

It blocked out much of the sky.

And it drew up nourishment
from the soil meant for other trees.

Now,
the number of trees in the orchard was fixed
by the owner from the beginning.

To each tree he assigned
from among all of his laborers in the field,
a custodian.

For the owner had much property to tend
and not enough workers.

To each custodian in the orchard, 

the owner assigned a specific yield. 

And for this yield he gave a specified time.

He then left to find more workers.

- selah -

The trees are our nations. 

The great tree at the center of the orchard 

is the desolation of war. 

The custodians are the angels of the nations 

who are the keepers of our sacred remembrances. 

The owner is the LORD, 

the one Sovereign of all nations. 

And we are the workers.

But the custodian of the desolation of war 

is the great serpent of faded Eden. 

And he bids us 

- constantly - 

not to tend to our trees. 

At the very door of our hearts, 

the enemy of all human nations 

calls us not to serve
and to commit adultery
against our own humanity.

Time came 

and a great darkness fell upon our nations: 

The great cycle of the one celestial season is turning: 

Winter now approaches our time on earth.

Let us then work 

to complete our own remembrances 

with autumn leaves shed 

not so much for winter's sake 

but for the spring.

Let us turn away from the darkness.

Let us tend to each our own trees. 

And bear the good fruit of repentance.

Let us fight for the Causes 

- that have forever established us -

a free and human nation: 

Sacred Life, Law, Justice, and Benignity.

Let us compete in virtue 

- as citizens to each other - 

and produce for God and for each other 

a yield of good works, ten-fold, 

a hundred-fold, even a thousand-fold!

Starve out the serpent, O my nation! 

And let our generations prosper far into their years...

Born to the Morning: 

This is our land and Now is our time.

Because now is the time for peace.

This is our time.

---<--@

It is human to fight for right causes. It is not human to fight against Justice.

It is human to know when to stop fighting. It is not human to forsake the cause of Peace.

It is human to hope for self and for others. It is not human to despair of either self or of others.

It is human to fight for love. It is not human to fight for hate.

For when we fight for love, we defend. When we fight for hate, we only fight.
---<--@


Lightning Preceding Thunder

Generation Y

SALUTATIONS OF PEACE
and common goodwill to you, 
our precious Starshine.

O precious child, O little lambs!
Think not your life to be uncertain
life is indeed full of uncertainties
but let this not burden your minds
nor make your hearts anxious
for it is not life that is uncertain
it is time that is uncertain
but life is for always.

For the life of man is in the soul,
made in the image and likeness
of our one common Creator,
and the soul of man is spirit
for God is Spirit
and our God is a God of life:
He is for always.

Time is uncertain
because the Truth is veiled
and all of heaven is in mourning.

There is much despair in our world today -
too many people are bitter,
too many people live in fear,
too many people are dying...
without even truly beginning to live.

Too many hearts have been hardened,
too many souls have turned away,
too many minds have become blind...
without even beginning to truly believe.

Too much lies, the language of war,
have twisted the tongue
of our nations.

Too much war, the scourge of life,
has plagued the memory
of our peoples.

Evil has taken a prominent place
in the hearts and minds of many;
like a dark star that rises
Wormwood ascends from sin to sin
in the Sacred Sanctuary of the soul
to eclipse our Eternal Daystar
turning our poor world into midnight
in the inward seasons of the celestial sky.

Every generation of every time and place
must confront the evils of their present time:
this darkness is that evil that we must confront
it is a spiritual darkness, a beast of War,
a reality that prevent the ascendant Peace
and deny respite not only for our suffering peoples
but for our dying world itself.

Our generation and yours
along with those elder generations
still here for us today by the grace of God
has been commissioned by Christ
to arrive in this time and place
to shine and lead the way
out of the darkness of war
and into the new morning from on high;
a new era of peace and renewal
for our planet and her peoples.

Never be ashamed of who you are:
You are a child of this dawning
a vanguard of this twilight awakening
that is the truth that no lie can ever take
this is the fight of your generation
and it is also the fight of mine.

O numberless stars
of our Father Abraham!
Shine for sacred life
and be present for peace.
For if we do not do this
though our actions are but
a tiny drop in the eternal sea
it will yet remain undone -
what will the future of our world be?
What will the succeeding generations
think of us who left for them a desolation?
Are we not all a part of this one world?

Nay, we must do this,
we must stand together.
In our hearts first
and then outward
into the tremendous world
of our common human hopes.

So be brave,
dear Christian soul
and remember,
from always to always,
we belong to our God and to each other:
One whole communion of Saints.

Life is hard indeed
But life is not impossible
nor is life evil.

So never fall into despair.
Because we are Christian,
O little flock, O little lambs,
there is always, always hope
because we are here now:
We are here now
in the Name of Jesus Christ
on behalf of suffering mankind.

Heavy indeed, precious Starshine,
and troublesome are the burdens of this world
but the burdens of this world
are the burdens of this world
they are not our burden
our burden is to love
and love all things well
neither exceeding nor holding back
according to our individual vocations
what promise we have in Jesus Christ.

Our Blessed Lord Himself said,
"the truth shall set us free."
Therefore to accept
Jesus into our hearts
is not a form of slavery
as the world would have us believe
for indeed His burden is light
and His yoke easy.

For who is our Lord but our Life
and this Life is the Light
of the human race.

This Light is Truth unveiled.
It is life endlessly abundant
and joyful complete -
it is heaven rejoicing greatly;
our risen Savior's shining glory.

So when you are in doubt,
O little flock, O little lambs
Just be true to the things that are for always
as God, your inner life, and your baptism,
family, friends, and friendships.

And be of good cheer,
and let our Lord's Peace keep you,
for our Peace is not a parting of ways
as Christians we never say goodbye
save for grievous sin.
We say, "Peace and Godspeed" -
it is my hope and your hope together,
it is our Lord's hope in you and in me;
our gathering together in eternity.

Jesus Christ loves you, O little lambs,
the Immaculate Mother of God loves you,
all the Angels and Saints love you,
all the Holy Souls love you,
all of Holy Mother Church embraces you
with an everlasting love.

Precious Starshine,
the things that really matter in this life
can not be perceived by human eyes
so liberate your minds from
the vanity of external things.
Penetrate deeply into this world
But never let the world master you.

All we have to do to shine
as the countless stars of Father Abraham
is to turn away from the darkness
live in loving repentance
and walk into the one Light
into the welcome arms
of our risen Savior bright.

Build like natives.
Live like pilgrims.
Love like Christians.

This is our time.
---<--@

(produced 20080407)


Allied Generations

Love is a Healer of Wounds

Unless the heart of Man is made whole -
it remains in darkness, divided against itself.

It shall see not. 

Neither shall it be seen.


(Our Blessed Lord and Bartimaeus)

Love is a Healer of Wounds!

And -
the deepest wound
in the life of our Mankind
and that which causes Man to suffer
- the pain of death -
is the wounding in our spirit
that have divided us
(against God, against each other)
in our soul.

Now,
the deepest of wounds
- require -
the deepest of love
and this wonderful, healing Love
is given to each of us
here and now
- to freely accept -
by the Father
through Jesus Christ
the Lord -

the one Redeemer

of all Mankind!

- selah -

May our Lenten Journey be
a healing experience.
---<--@



For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him might not perish but might have eternal life. (John 3: 16)

Our Exemplar

JESUS CHRIST is our Exemplar:
Our Path and our Destiny.
He is the Second Person
of the one Triune Perfection -
The true and everliving God -
Most to be adored
Yet so little known
By needful men.

He is the Eternal Word of God,
Beloved Son of the Father,
Eternally begotten, not made;
True God from True God,
Infinite Truth from Infinite Truth -
One with the Father and the Holy Spirit -
Through Him all things came to be,
The Splendor of all living creation,
The Light of the human race.

And this Light shines in the darkness
and the darkness has not overcome it.

Though immortal and invulnerable
out of love for suffering mankind
He went down from heaven
through the obedience of our Lady
and the love in her Immaculate Heart.
He was conceived by the Holy Spirit
and was born of the Virgin Mary.
He is True God and True Man.
In His Sacred Humanity,
He is True Man,
like us in every manner
save for sin.
In His Eternal Divinity,
He is True God,
unlike us in all truth
save for grace.

He constantly yearned over us
living in solidarity with sinners.
He lived to serve the least of men
desiring that all men be saved.
He lived and walked among us
examining our hearts and our ways.
He called each of us by our name
and made Himself available to all.
He called us to live a life of repentance,
to worship God in spirit and in truth;
and he gave our hearts, our hope -
and he gave our hopes, His Heart -
with the courage to overcome
the darkness within ourselves.

By our common Christian baptism:
He rekindled in our hearts
The sanctifying fire of Divine Love.
And called us out of this world
to belong forever with Him
as one Covenant family of God.

He illumined the darkness of our minds
by the Light of His own perfect human life.
And taught us His timeless counsels -
to be meek, humble, and contrite,
to be chaste, holy and upright,
to be like God, our Father in heaven,
giving us His new commandment of love
by which heaven and earth shall know
that we are His disciples.

He grieved much for our sakes
and prayed assiduously for us.
He lovingly offered for us
His own Body and Blood
and instituted for us
Our common Eucharistic meal
that would feed our souls,
as our new manna from heaven,
and sustain us for the journey
across the void of exile time
through the bitter portal of our death
into the promised Kingdom of God,
Our one, true Country.

His Peace is a promise
that He will be with us for always -
His Light will see us through this darkness,
His Truth being both our Path and our Destiny,
and His Love will not let us perish in the end.
For His Peace is a promise indeed -
that He will see us through to better days -
into a place without war and tears,
into a better world without sin and suffering,
into a time of everlasting life and of joyous peace
lived in the timeless embrace of the vision of our God.

He sent us His Holy Spirit
to guide and to fortify,
to serve and to strengthen,
to shape and to sanctify,
and protect from the gates of hell
His Militant Church on earth.
And illumine for all of us the way
along the hard and narrow road,
up the difficult, high mountain path
of universal truth and Christian virtue.

He lived for the truth,
He spoke nothing but the truth,
He is nothing but the truth,
and died instead of mouthing the lie
that would deny Him His Divinity.

He became vulnerable
to suffer with our suffering
and embrace our human condition
giving true meaning to our living.
He became mortal
to die with our death
and transform our fallen nature
giving true meaning to our dying.
He was betrayed and abandoned by His friends,
and suffered under Pontius Pilate.
He was rejected, slapped, spat at, mocked and scourged,
punched, tortured, crowned with thorns and beaten with reeds.
He was made an object of contempt
and though innocent
was treated more guilty than a murderer.
He was unjustly condemned to die
a horrible and ignominious,
slow and lingering death by crucifixion.
He was made to carry His heavy, wooden Cross
and amidst a jeering, shouting crowd
was dragged violently through the streets of Jerusalem.
He was stripped naked and was nailed to the wood of His Cross.
He was raised up and made to hang in unthinkable agony,
upon that lonely mount of Calvary;
an object of scorn and ridicule to His own creatures,
suspended between heaven and earth
like a bridge between the world of God and the world of men.
His Sacred Humanity, bloodied and bruised beyond recognition,
He did reveal to us the depth of his hunger for us.
He did thirst for our love.
He wept out of sheer loneliness
and looked down in sorrow
upon the grieving faces of His Mother, Mary,
and his beloved disciple, Saint John.
Out of love for His Mother
and out of mercy for us,
He entrusted us to Mary
and Mary to us through Saint John
at the foot of His Cross.

His most loving and Sacred Heart,
a most loving Heart that has loved us so much
yet in return is loved so little,
was emptied out for us.
He bore for all mankind the terrible wrath
gathered up for all our sins past, present and future.
He bled His Sacred Blood in profuse torrents
to wash away all our iniquities
until finally
He cried out in abject grief
and utter desolation
to His Father in Heaven,
commended to God, His Spirit
and died of a broken Heart.

His broken Heart was then pierced
with a lance
and It flowed with the water and the blood
that sealed forever the new and everlasting Covenant
between God and man.
It is said that our Holy Mother Church,
as Christ's new Covenant people,
sprang from His wounded side.

Alleluia, O my soul, Christ our Savior
Has paid the ransom
For the sins of all mankind!

Our Blessed Lord gave to us the gift of Himself
out of His perfect obedience
to the tender mercies
of the Father of all mercy
and His infinite love for us,
miserable and wretched sinners that we are,
until He was so completely
and utterly spent
that even though He was God
and He is God
and God being infinitely rich
and powerful beyond measure,
as Saint Augustine said -
He gave until He had nothing left to give.

Indeed, He loved us all without exception
and cherished us each without measure
right to the bitter end.
He forgave His tormentors
for He loved both His enemies
as well as His friends.

In so doing, our Blessed Lord
and Holy Redeemer
completely transformed
our common heritage
by His life, Passion, death and Resurrection
from one of everlasting death
into one of resurrection unto everlasting life.

Glory to God in the highest!
Peace to all men of goodwill -
Adoration to Jesus Christ -
Our Beloved Lord and Omnipotent God;
Our Blessed Savior and Loyal Friend;
Our Divine Master and Celestial King;
Our Eldest Brother and Faithful Helper;
Our Light and our Truth;
Our Resurrection and Life;
Our one true Shepherd,
Our Pledge of Victory;
Our Prince of Peace;
Our Hope Everlasting;
Our Eternal Daystar;
The True Morning Star;
The First of our First Magnitudes
Our Everything and our All.

He is Jesus Christ, our Exemplar:
Our Path and our Destiny -
True God and True Man,
Son of God and Son of Mary.

(And this I most solemnly confess
as most sincerely mine own,
with all the Christian truths
of my Roman Catholic Faith,
in silence and in words,
alone or with others,
in thought and in deed,
in time and in eternity
by the blessed
and thrice-holy Name
of the one, great Triune Perfection:
The Father,
The Son,
and the Holy Spirit -
One God and LORD forever!)
---<--@

(Produced 20080309)


"Man is the Way of the Church and Christ is the Way of Man."

- Blessed John Paul II

Salutation #112

"If the veil of time were withdrawn

and the Kingdom of God stretched forth

- in plain view before thy sight -

if the LORD does not incline thy heart unto Him,

O Man, thou still would not be able to believe."

(The Story of Being Special)

The LORD God

created all living beings to be unique

- Angels and Men -

the LORD created them,

seen as well as unseen, We became.

And All of us are made to be special.

But the Devil and his angels, they said,

"since the LORD God willed

that all living beings are special - then -

I must be special".

And so was division in heaven sown.

For the Devil and his angels

- undid in themselves -

the life that the LORD God

- in each of us -

did bestow in abundance.

They cast themselves into the void.

But the Holy Angels of the LORD said,

"as the LORD God willed

that all living beings are special, then you,

O my beloved, must be special".

And so they were in God gathered.

For the spirit of the world is a scattering spirit.

But the Spirit of God gathers together.

- selah -

You make me special, beloved of God,

and so I am. And so you are, alleluia.

---<--@

Love Surprises

V - Love Surprises -

YOU ARE my waking dream,

everything that makes my everything complete.

You are my ordinary miracle,

everywhere I am, you were there, always with me.

Yet I was asleep to the wonder of you...

And then -

I wake up to the realization:

You are nothing like my illusion!

I love you for no reason.

I have loved you for a million seasons!

I love you, I just do.

- selah -

In my youth, I dreamt of you -

the shape of your face,

the look of your eyes,

the flow of your hair,

the curve of your smile,

the feel of your skin,

the fragrance of your smell,

the grace of your laughter,

the beauty of your mind,

the music of your voice,

the comfort of your warmth,

the peace of your company...

Alas!

The law of the heart is this -

my darling, beloved of my heart,

when you came into my life

in God's own time, by and by...

I understood -

Love writes the rules, not I.

Love surprises,

the most beautiful of reprises!

Relationships not random but made;

moments that far into forever fade.

Such sweetness... joy and gladness!

Brightness, kindness, beauty...

timeless.

---<--@

(A composite of my life's experiences with the mystery of loving...)


May you always be in love.

=^.^=

View in Review 20120324

We have got to buck up and support a pro-human rights stance in Syria.

We have to confront North Korea at the strategic level in a way that is clearly defensive in stance. (That missile is aimed at the route of least resistance and speaks volumes to my ears about the state of our own readiness.)

The DPRK's language is often symbolic and belies its intentions in a manner which is seldom direct. It is an unspoken language, however, always consistent with the spirit of that Country.

Thus, its not the satellite in showcase here, its the launch modality.

This threatens us only indirectly at this time however. Whether we respond or not (more importantly how to respond or how not to respond), must always be calculated to mitigate the threat that this becomes direct.

We must bear in mind and heart we belong on opposite sides of the 38th parallel and historically always have.

We have to be able to state a clear, cohesive, long-term plan of non-aggression, dialogue and de-escalation in the Spratlys as an integral part of the ASEAN regional community, with our allies in principle, and with China as an integral part of a continental whole (Asia).

We have to be both clear and consistent on what is ours (which can be jointly developed as a sovereign part of our Republic) and what is not ours (which can be jointly developed as part of a common trust territory solution).

War, in our age, can no longer be confined to particular regions, with specific or area combatants.

In an age where we, as the (free nations of the) one human race, are becoming closely related as a global community, conflagrations of any size shall be the concern of all our nations.

As in a forest of tress, War is the peril of all. (For War presents to our civilizations a threat as existential as fire is to wood.)

We have to stand on our own principles, clearly stated in our Constitution.

We have to be able to expound on these and understand them in depth from first principles.

It is from these principles that we may obtain certainty in a time of uncertainty.

It is upon these principles, we must return in order to build for our own generations the beginnings of an enduring, better capable, forward thinking, one and faithful Republic.

It is from an abiding understanding of these principles that the re-discovery of the truth that fills our nationhood with substance is made possible and this will fuel the rejuvenation of our great and noble society.

- selah -

Where does it all begin, my nation? At the heart - that is why, my brothers and sisters of the Promise, I can say to each of you, "we already have everything we need".

Now, if we should criticize each other, let it be. BUT let it be done so always with a sense of civic affection and indivisible loyalty to the nation.

Let it be understood by each Filipino that in the end, when push comes to shove, we will all fall onto but one belonging - to the last!

And that ultimately, we love each other for being Filipino, just for being Filipino.

---<--@

Salutation #111

(The concise meaning of -)

"SACRED LIFE is all of life, plant and animal, above all human life."



(The 1st Cause: The Cause of Sacred Life - God)

The Cause of Sacred Life is the Cause of God.

This is the 1st of the Four Faithful Causes;
the Cause for which all the other Causes exist:

Sacred Life is the All of life, seen and unseen,
- as well as -
all of life's distinctly individual relationships
- with and to -
the LORD, our God, the one Creator of all of life, first of all
and then to each other -
Angels first, then Man, then animals,
then trees, then plants.

It includes both being (dignity) and becoming (potential)
especially in the visible realms of Man.

To this Cause belong
the exercise of Christian charity - as a sacred duty -
which is compassion, kindness, and mercy tempering
truth, common humanity, and justice in that order.

It bids all human hearts - Love first, all else follows!

Because Our God,
O my beloved of my heart,
is a God of relationships.
---<--@


The Circular Relationship of the Four Causes

Salutation #110

(To the Cavalier Class of 2012)

Be peacemakers.

Your future greatness

shall be measured not by thy prowess

in the field of combat alone.

Though battle shall always be

an inescapable part

of your selfless service

as soldiers of our Republic,

I would that you frame

the diligent strides you take

in every field of battle

(within as well as without)

always in the larger context

of the arena of peace,

wherein we are all engaged

as a nation among one family of nations

that you may always maintain

a clearer perspective,

being well above the storm;

that you may never lose sight

of yourselves as you truly are,

being over War.

In this way

may each of thee gather renown -

as vanguards of the new age

that is now before us;

faithful sentinels of that promised morning

and watchful guardians

to all the generations of life

to come.

Go now and lead the way across!

Peace, I salute thee.

Mabuhay po kayong lahat

at mabuhay po ang Pilipinas nating lahat!

---<--@

Threshold

Salutation #109

A scorpion can be rendered harmless BUT only without its sting.

In likewise manner, irreverent humor can be made to be funny BUT only when it is free of direful contempt.

BE MINDFUL of the comings and goings of thy heart!

(Noynoying)

NOYNOYING is nothing more

than a reflection of how harsh we can be

(meaning it is a choice made

and one which can be unmade)

toward each other.

Come alive to it and listen,

those of you with hearts to listen!

We elect a president

so that we can mock our own choice?

If the voice of the people

does not emanate from the heart of the people,

where are we?

Who is this people?

If the voice of the people

is not accepted by the same people

as an able representation

of the will of Divine Providence

in our Country - then -

Who defends our choices?

Instead of building up, we tear down.

Is this how we wish to utilize our hard-won freedoms?

Where is the spirit of our remembrance in all this?

So what if President Noy isn't doing a stellar job at the moment?

Is this entire Country run by just one man?

Does one man sow and reap, pasture and tend,

sew and rend, buy and sell, nurture and raise,

counsel and lead, labor and toil, craft and teach,

paint and color, love and serve, laugh and play -

here in this, our one Republic of the Philippines?

To each of us is entrusted the responsibility

to better govern ourselves as individuals - and -

as citizens to serve each other freely in the nation.

Are we not a nation of millions?

Are we a nation (among nations) truly fit

only for the cruel yoke of a dictatorship?

NO, my beloved people,

we should never again tempt fate!

The person of every President belongs

- to the one Office he or she represents -

do we judge the person with the Office

or do we judge without understanding?

To where or to whom

do we properly owe this irreverence?

Let us ever be aware of ourselves as ourselves!

- selah -

I think those people

who spend their time

crafting clever mischief

- like "Noynoying" -

are lot worse.

In a democracy, we all must pull together!

We must pull together

so that even the most lackadaisical soul

shall feel the fervor of our will of Country

- and feel it so strongly -

so as to be inescapably inclined

to bend to the building of the times!

And what of other nations?

In their eyes,

this "Noynoying" must appear to be

the very judgement we heap on our own selves.

And what of the eyes of heaven and God?

For the LORD requires

compassion and kindness,

and mercy tempering the truth.

Christ Himself spoke of it!

- selah -

Indeed, we have a long way to go.

(But we will get there,

my beloved brothers and sisters of the Promise,

we will reach that promised shore - together this time.)

Mabuhay, God bless the Philippines!

---<--@

Laughter Does Not Defeat

Salutation #108

Honest labors bless.

Dishonest labors curse.

Clean money brings happiness.

Poisoned money brings only death.

(Law and the Real Economy of Nations)

THERE IS a vastly distinct

- yet subtle -

difference between

an economy that is real

and one that is false.

- selah -

A real economy

is one founded on the labors

all nations ought to work -

the labor of common human needs!

It is the work

of building up the inhabited earth

which in turn sustains the life of the people

and bring together all our generations.

In a real economy

- virtue is currency -

and grace, free and divine,

an integral part

of the national economy.

It is always

- a labor of hope -

(and so, ascends to the LORD)

and is the soil upon which

every national vision

is planted.

From out of this soil,

every particular tree of Country,

ordained, endowed and commissioned by God,

grows and reaches out to heaven -

and destiny.

A false economy

is one that takes away

from the strength and the vitality

of the real economy

that ought to animate the spirit

of every nation's dreaming together.

It is not the opposite

of a real economy

but a false version of it

and one that may offer

the external appearance

of similar fruit.

(A real economy

that from all outward appearances

appear to be at 100%

may only be, in fact, at 40%

because of the 100% false economy

thriving within it.

It is never as clear cut as -

real economy = 40%

false economy = 60%

total economy = 100%

The discernment of the Responsible State,

the vigilance of all its concerned government institutions

underpinned by the skill and will of the citizenry

especially first responders in law enforcement

all have a necessary part to play -

for all these individual actions contribute

to the over-all workings

of a healthy national economy

- which in turn -

shelters the person

and promote the well-being

of all.)

All species of criminal activity

and all those activities (as a whole)

that exploit the hope of the people

and take undue advantage

of the common human needs

that ought to be entirely protected

- by the Sacred Trust -

of every nation

produces diverse structures of evil

(social in nature

and organized as far

as it is allowed

by it own host nation)

that, each in its own ill-turn,

feed into these false economies

that steal away (like a host of parasites)

the time, talents, and the treasures

of Country.

It is always a work

wrought in lies and false hopes.

It is always an endeavor

supported by vice and brute force.

And it ultimately leads the people

into emptiness and despair.

For

despite all outward appearances,

all false economies are possessed

of no vision, no promise,

and no victory.

To join with it then, is futility.

Now,

it is one of the essential functions

of Law to draw a line

- clear and straight -

between a real economy

and a false economy.

RA9160 requires that we draw that line!

---<--@

RA9160 is the Anti-Money Laundering Act of the Philippines.

Common Human Needs

Salutation #107

A COMMUNITY DEPRIVED
of the feminine expression is barren and desolate.

It knows of no hearth,
no home, no place of rest...

no company to renew,

no heart to come home into;

no cheer to grace with solace,

no warmth to bless with courage;

no gaze to remind of beauty,

no love to bear with injury;

no touch to soften the harshness,

no fire to tame the wilderness;

no peace to prosper life,

no strength to ward off strife.

---<--@

(Woman)

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.

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.

- selah -

Truly, truly,
each human relationship, no matter how humble,
have a lasting impact on individuals.

For these are the bonds
that God deigns to place in our way
not to entangle our spirits
and create more brokenness in our lives
but to liberate us
and allow us to freely enter
into the Truth with Him
and in Him.

Community is the LORD's way
of enlarging the love kept in our souls,
because our God is a great and good God.

We can see this in the way
God created the first community
in Adam and Eve.

Let us ask ourselves
how instead of reprogramming Adam,
which was not beyond the LORD's power to do,
why did our God choose to bless him
with a partner in Eve?

- selah -

Relationships matter
just as much as individuals -
each creates and recreates the other
and does so in a way and a fashion
that only the LORD can generate and perfect
with our willing cooperation.

One who seeks maturity
and longs for wholeness in the self
should always tread the holy ground of relationships
(either thine own or others like thine own)
carefully, gently, and with love.

- selah -

This is why

it is important for us to celebrate

International Women's Day -

We must ever be reminded

of this fundamental community of Man and Woman

and must always live in remembrance

of this most vital of all human relationships

- established by God Himself -

which forms the nucleus of every human family.

The success of any nation depends on it.

The ultimate destiny of all Countries is shaped

by how deeply we understand its truth.

Man and Woman

together form a common bond

and this bond guarantees

not only the order of our generations

but the quality of our everyday human living.

Man and Woman

together form a common witness
for the universal example

of the peace of their marital togetherness

- safeguards -

not only the transmission of human life

but the divinely ordained purpose

of the nations of the children of Mankind.

---<--@

Think about it -

I once thought that Filipina hair

was just plain black hair and that was all.

Obviously,

I was not at all in love

with my Philippines then.

I never really noticed

that our women sported not just plain black hair!

Framed by the warm light of our tropical sun,

our women's hair is actually cast

- in many subtle hues -

in darkest shades of golden brown.

Subtle, not obvious -

and pretty but

- only when -

love is in the eye of the beholder.

Exactly in keeping with our conservative nature.

As far as I am concerned,

all our Filipinas are princesses.

Beauty being what it is, inherited.

We should work to make sure

- this Country of ours -

is more a suitable place for all our women!

---<--@

March 8 is International Women's Day.

I love my Miyang. PERIOD.