A Renewal of Hope

I love you, Holy Father Francis

May thoughts of Peace grow in the Middle East.

Saint John Paul II, pray for us and for peace in our world.
Saint John XXIII, pray for us and for peace in our world.

The Nine Common Human Needs: Security of Person and Property

Uncertainty is a root cause of fear in Man. This fear before our Exile was a Fear of Certainty. Both of these fears preserve in them the original intention that Man is to be - as the Angels, a social creature - a loving and faithful keeper to each other.

The former, which is a fear of the unknown - is manifest in each of us as an abiding and mortal fear of our impending temporal death, and exists as a consequence of our Exile.

The latter, which is the Fear - of the God Who Is - the Ultimate Truth - is a holy, loving, and awe-filled reverence that abides in the hearts of those who seek after Him - whom He calls unto Himself - in order to more perfectly love Him, and serve Him, and know Him.

The latter inspires us to freely strive for Peace and Human Community. The former bends the will and the spirit towards an understanding of the latter. The former must lead to the latter and the latter must enlighten the former. That the burden of our civilization may be light. One leads to safety, the other to freedom.

For the LORD, our God and Creator, is a God of Community - the LORD of hosts. He dwelleth in Unity and this Unity is Peace.

One of the main reasons that spur our human civilization forward is our need of a common relief from this fear of the uncertain. For it is painful.

The human spirit itself is driven by a universal thirst for a more perfect understanding of that Fear, which leads to Wisdom, and that Wisdom which is an understanding of the Truth - Truth that to our souls is Peace.

Aspects of this interior seeking universal to all Men and to all Women remain common to all our Sacred Remembrances; a spirituality of Peace therefore, remain as a common teaching in each our most cherished and honorable religious traditions as well - particularly, within our three Abrahamic faith traditions.

And so, in spite of the long shadow of War, we as a people remain yearning for Peace. It is more certain to us than War - in ways we often fail to readily understand.

AT THE VERY LEAST, in the sense that we are all equal partakers of this yearning (for Certainty) in our Nation (and in our world), we hold to an expectation as citizens that each of us may - in common - enjoy, security of person and property -

THAT dignity of each individual human life and the safety of its promise - from conception to natural death, along with each our respective right to private ownership - as a natural right and as a public trust - be duly preserved by the Philippine State.

The value of Sacred Life being already well defined, to further expound on the right of private property, I shall take from a teaching in Catholic Morality (excerpted from the book, Catholic Morality by Fr. John Laux, M.A.)

4. Duties Concerning Material Goods

a) The Right of Private Property

1. Ownership defined. - Not only spiritual goods, but material goods also have been placed at the disposal of man by God. But whilst the goods of the soul and the mind are accessible to all and do not diminish, no matter how many partake of them, a material good can, of its very nature, belong undivided only to one person, and the oftener it is divided, the smaller becomes the portion of those who use it. The right to possess, enjoy, and dispose of any material good for ourselves, to the exclusion of others, is called the right of private property or individual ownership.

2. Private ownership rests on the divine law and, taking man as they are, is necessary for the individual and for society -

a) the Seventh Commandment forbids theft as a violation of the rights of others. If private property were theft, as the French Communist Proudhon calls it, theft would not be a violation of the rights of our neighbor, but the right of the State. But God does not forbid theft as a violation of the right of the State, but of the right of our neighbor individually. In the New Testament parables such as those of the sower, the vineyard, and the fig tree pre-suppose the right of private property.

(As regards to plunder of the public coffers, it is the individual tax payers' right of representation, direct as well as indirect, in the official affairs of the State that is violated.)

b) Private ownership is founded on the nature and condition of man; it is a natural right. Nature imposes upon man the duty of preserving his life, and hence it also gives him the right to exclusive ownership in those things necessary for the preservation of his life.

c) The individual has natural duties to provide for the material needs of his family and the education of his children. But he can not fulfill these duties without the right of accumulating and retaining a variety of these goods. If all men were perfect Christians, then the difficulty would be minimized. But we must take men as they are.

d) Without the right to private ownership there would be no incentive to work and consequently no progress in the arts and sciences.

e) God is the true Lord and Master of all things by the right of creation. But man also, the image of God, can mold and modify things at his pleasure. The fruits of his labor bear the stamp of his personality; and thus becomes their true lord in a limited sense, as God is their absolute lord in an unlimited sense.

f) Under a system of common ownership (Communism) the distribution of labor and of the rewards of labor would destroy individual liberty and make all citizens slaves of the State. Under such circumstances, peace and order are inconceivable.

(As regards the peace process with the NDFP, it is not condemnation of each side our Republic whole must seek but a re-calibration of interests leading towards the beginnings of a common ground vision pursuant and compatible with the reality of the Philippine State, a transformation of the nature of the conflict, and ultimately a reversal of the mindless tides of prejudices and cessation of the cycles of violence that have consumed this Nation for several generations now.

In short, we must together make this Republic of ours work - and, in an imperfect world, labor for the common good of all. Upon our Peace - one, whole, and complete - much depends.)

...

4. Whether we possess much or little, we must always remember that we are only the stewards of what we possess, not the absolute masters, and that we must one day give an account of our stewardship. For as God never gives up His dominion over the gifts of life, so He never relinquishes His right over the gift of material goods.

The fruit of this vision 
in the reality of the Nation is -
An institutionalized, civilian Policing, 
Public Safety, and National Security Service.
---<--@


The Nine Common Human Needs

The Book of the Unfolding

Within
each human heart,
our precious Starshine,
God had placed a little book.

This is the book
written within each thy own heart,
Beloved of the LORD.

The book that contain
the words to each
thy own story!

Words each thy living soul
deeply longs to drink - to the fullest
that thou may know the secrets
that make thee who thou art
forever before thy God.

The Mystery of which
thy spirit aches to unfold
- in its entirety -
unto a world entirely asleep
to each thy own precious wonder.

You know this book,
and yearn to read it out loud...

Because
dearest Starshine -
you must speak it boldly forth
that the truth that lives within
- each thy lives -
out of the darkness unfold,
through the Light of the LORD,
arising brightly forth - as living stars
upon the face of the deep.

- selah -

How then,
may you reveal these words
to the world, Starshine - this little book?

- selah -

Listen to the Word of Scripture.
Drink deeply of the Truth.

Hear the preaching of the Kingdom  -
the Kingdom within.

Find thyself in the wilderness -
in the wilderness of this world without.

Become totally lost to this world - listen,
listen and in seeking what you hear, repent.

Repent, that you may have hope. 
Pray, that you may have strength.
Believe, that you may have faith.

And have faith,
that you may understand...

You must complete this book.

Remember
you are loved,
each of you - as you are,
loved more than you will know.

So as you are loved,
love you must also.

By then - in time,
O Love of Emmanuel,
you shall know how.

---<--@

True Light bestows True Sight

Alive to the Memory

In thy seeking, understand,
dearest Starshine -

To one without remembrance,
a hundred lives is no different
to a million lives.

But to one who is alive to the memory,
to save one life is to save 
the world entire.

That thou mayest remember
to always remember them
- in silence solemn -
by name.
---<--@

Love Decides

VI. Love Decides

There is no perfect person, only perfect choices.

I used to believe
that love and lovers
come by chance...

Soulmate? Happenstance.

But nowadays, 

'tis different for me...

Nowadays, I am convinced
one has to be more romantic...
and also, more free.

- selah -

Love stories,
it is usually assumed, is all about hellos.

One meets a person,
they fall in love, they fall out of love,
then they rise and fall in a lost sea...
until one day... their own love finds them...
Or not.

It really depends...

Because the greatest love stories,
if one may allow, are all about good byes.

It takes a leap. Or many leaps to arrive at it.
But before that, many a fond, tearful farewell...
to the old. 

That the weeping may all be wept...

Sometimes,
the heart has to trust - in the love itself.
The love that you and your beloved
chose to choose.

Which also chose you,
but - together
as one.

And there will be those times,
difficult times, when the heart decides
and then realizes...

Maybe after saying
all those painful good byes,
the heart in seeking for solace
may find - hello,
there is such a thing
as a soulmate
after all!

But perhaps,
not before.

Soulmates...
do not happen at random,
I don't think so.

You decide.
---<--@

Pinky Promise?

The Litmus Test of our Democracy

Elections.

Even the most freest
and the most fairest of them all -
does not keep us free - nor our politics fair.

Entering the gate alone does not build the city.
---<--@

We experience self-determination as an individual right when we exercise it as a national community during elections.  

The right of suffrage also bestows upon our shoulders the responsibility of a mature electorate. This electoral culture is the substance that enlivens and empowers the act of voting. It does not suddenly come to life only on election days. (And goes back into the crypt afterwards.)

It is a living and integral part of our National culture and one  that should be constantly renewing itself as an aspect of our freedom borne and won and gathered together - in Liberty.

Though the choices we must make in secret ballot is per individual - we do not really cast our votes as individuals - we vote as a community of individuals.

Majority rules - Vox Populi, Vox Dei.

But that does not mean the minority suffers. Remember, the majority exists also on their behalf.

The power of the vote is to affirm. 

In an elections, there is no negative vote. We have to remember this if we want to effect a positive change in our electoral culture.

We do not vote people, we vote platforms first.

Therefore, the measure of the virtues of candidacy in a popular elections is not fame or notoriety of person but proven personal sincerity and believability of political intentions.

In this, we do not look for those who only look good by making others look worse. That is the first sign of superficiality.

Of course, politics will at times present moral challenges to the personal integrity of our candidates but this should never exclusively dominate the electoral debate. Partisanship benefits us politically only in relation to the relevant matters at hand, that concern what we are really voting for - not just the who.

We seek in the questions our candidates must courageously ask, in presenting to us in the forums of the Republic, what platforms they stand upon and promise to build (upon entering the gate of the city, and into the helm of the Philippine State), what has resonance with what answers we are looking for - as a mature electorate - that is representative of the majority in our Democracy.

Therefore, there are no losers in an elections. Only those who receive our affirmation. We do not vote in the negative, remember.

There are no winners in an elections either. Only those who, according to their positions-elect, accept the mandate of the people - to serve the good of the Nation entire in the Republic government.

The mindset of winner-loser is the first thing out the window. It produces the violence that oft shock us by the bloody taint it inflicts upon the politics of the Philippine State - that scandalizes the many.

This politics of violence (along with the politics of money) in a Democracy such as ours is unacceptable.

Those who really win in an elections are those who run the race to the full, who with vigilance stay the course they have intended (to advance) for the people - at the outset of their term: Those who build - under God, what they - before Him and before the people, have said they would - according to their honest, human best - which is the reason why they became (Providentially) in the first place - it was popular. Their dedication and the merit of their works - for the people. Not just fame in and of itself.

They merit a succession of terms because they merit a succession of terms.

And will be remembered well for it.

All good things have a limit, a measure, and a time under our Republic Sky. It is clearly understood that there will always be a limited number of positions available in an election season for candidacy.

Our candidates, God bless them all, should know it. And understand that - whether they receive the affirmation of the vote or not - the vote is not a matter of losing or winning but a matter of time.

All good things in their good time. And good leaders in their due season.

Let us remember this also, we question what is questionable. We do not look for what is evil, as far as our politics go. Like the human body and its immune system identifies what does not belong to it by first knowing what does, in the organism of the Republic - we look for what is questionable, and challenge it by virtue of our knowledge of what is native to our common good.

Individual good exists nested and embraced within greater and greater realities of the good that make them all common. We can not choose between a lesser and a greater good. It is a false choice. Like saying one had to choose between breathing and eating.

So to know ourselves, is to know what belongs to ourselves. And the cycles of our elections should make us better and better able to deeply understand what is clearly what - as a mature electorate.

We, the people, do not vote to lose, we always vote to win.

How Rule of Law and the traditions of our Republic and its Democracy is kept - alive in our culture - matter a whole lot more to us now in a Republic that how our rulers are made elect.

In short, the litmus test of any democracy is how it's leaders lead and how it's followers follow (how rulers rule, and how their rule is kept) and in between them, how freedoms are kept free.

Entering the gate alone does not build the city.

The power of the vote guards the gate. The culture of our electorate determines how well the watches of the city is drilled, trained, and maintained.

Our leaders are drawn form this culture and are citizens first like we are.

They do not and will not pander to base intentions. They will not think to buy your vote nor should you think to sell your vote to them.

They will keep sanity and nobility the Republic government and virtue and compassion in the forums of the Philippine State.

They will support the good and uphold the common good and we will support them - all the way - for doing so - in all our behalf.

For they will enter the city - at the gate -
and persevere with her through her labors by day
who in recognizing the Beauty of her face in the morning,
rejoice with her at dusk, being at peace with the setting of the sun,
dwelling in goodwill among her peoples, prevailing through the night.

If we can reform our Electoral culture then the rest of the matter as regards Electoral reform shall be mostly about funding. This is a question of Law. And exists as a different matter altogether.
---<--@

I see you

I see you, Starshine.
Brilliant, wondrous, Starshine.
Precious, shining, and beautiful.
I see in you - a person - a living soul!
Unique and believing and true.
I see you, Starshine, and I know -
No one else can be you.
---<--@

Salutation #195

(The Sun of Liberty)

The Sun in our Flag represents Liberty. 

T'is the Sun in our Republic Sky,
A light to our labors by Day,
A comfort to our dreams by Night.
It guides our Country ever forward.
Our Nation it shields against the darkness.
It is a warmth to all our peoples.
The sight in their eyes.

It is the gold of Eternity.
It is the Splendor of Truth.
The Light of the Divine Presence.

The radiance of the Shekhinah Glory.

It is the Peace in our midst.

Freedom to bring our peoples 

And our generations courageously forth 

Unto the fullness of Country

And liberation from every bondage of slavery.

It is symbolic of the Philippine State.
And unites together our three Foundation Stars.
---<--@

Personal Reflection

The Sun on our Flag is a potent symbol of the Philippine State.

Imagine the sun above the sky, how it shines evenly on all people. How it seeks to belong to all equally. Imagine how its light allows us to know the sight in our eyes.

Reflect upon its warmth by day. Reflect upon its guidance by night.

Meditate how free it is. How our freedoms are bounded by its freedom. How it informs and shapes what is sacred and absolute to our Liberty. Imagine its cycles and seasons and how it shapes our living culture.

How constantly it renews in our nation, the life of our generations.
---<--@

Bring Back our Girls

 234 school girls kidnapped from a government school in Chibok. Those poor girls must be terrified and confused. Their families and friends must be heartbroken. Their local community must be in pain.

It was further reported in the news that the Nigerian government response to the incident has been less than the people of Chibok expected. In fact, it was almost outrageously indifferent to their plight. After a while, the contradictory politics of their State also became for them, a source of unnecessary distress.

It is easy to empathize with the humanity of the people of Chibok. Nameless, faceless Chibok - a human community of fellow living souls; of citizens gathered together into their Nation.

They are as we are. They dream the same basic dream of a reasonable freedom from the evils of the human condition. They work for the same ambition to simply be happy - as well as - happy enough in their community to be culturally and economically insulated from the darkness and despair of the world.

The shock of having 230 children forcibly taken from their families from within their own community must be all-consuming for the people of Chibok. I do not think they need more pain that that, especially not from their own government.

I certainly sympathize with my fellow human beings in Chibok who are my fellow citizen of the Nations. But I myself am confused by their government.

My fellow Filipinos, imagine the pain of Chibok's unbelief at the immediate wake of the incident. Imagine their tremendous need to be decisively led out of this confusion by the proper authorities from within their own Nation.

They called out to the Nigerian State and felt more confused by their own government response - or lack thereof. Imagine the pain of their slow realization, and their unbelief turning to grief.

Imagine their grief turn to outrage.

More so, imagine what those kids are feeling right now. I can not imagine those girls at this moment being able to think anything - only to feel. Feel there is some hope.

Hope is one of the main reasons - "we are" in our Nations, so that Justice may be brought to serve hope. And that hope may through Love and Remembrance be progressively realized through the economy of our generations - in behalf of our common humanity - for all our generations.

Truly, their kids right now - are our kids. 

After all, are they not like our own girls here in the Philippines? They need the love of their families and the affirmation of their communities. They are more vulnerable than our boys. They need to be shown they are loved and valued. And it also needs to be said to them - "I love you for you, it's ok to be you".

Girls are born beautiful. They just need to be brought up to understand how they may remember beauty as they grow up. They don't need to be told what beauty is - they know. They don't need to be told in what way they are beautiful as flowers need not be taught how it is in particular, to bloom.

I am sad for what happened in Chibok. I know many in my Nation feel the same way. I know many in other Nations kindred to us in soul also feel what we feel - for those girls, their families, friends, and community.

Let us not forget to pray for Nigeria, for Chibok, and for the stolen children of Chibok.

Let us remember in them also, all children who suffer the same plight - who are displaced from the love that gives them identity and strength by criminals who masquerade behind a cause that is either less than human or completely inhuman.

Let us remember all our Nation's causes are human causes. Justice, Mercy, Love - hope for life and hope of life - happiness, prosperity, peace.

We are different. Yet the same. This is why my Nation feels what the people of Chibok feels.

It is right to feel it. The wonder is why the Nigerian government does not.

May President Goodluck Jonathan set aside politics when it is clear that there is none to be had - Please, sir - cut the Gordian knot and be the leader your people need.

And - to Boko Haram - in behalf of those girls (and their dreams) they stole from us -

Bring back our girls. 
Then bring back their books.

May this incident be brought to its rightful conclusion. 

God bless the Philippines. God bless Nigeria. 

Mabuhay po tayong lahat.
---<--@

A message from my Nation's youth

Salutation #194

Man is an extension of his community.

(The People Principle)

Salute the life of the people.
Salute also the life of their communities.

To love the people
love also their communities
each one - as it is -
not as one would have it be.

Exercise
human respect
in the Nation -
in this way.

Ponder in thy heart the people principle.

To respect the life of the people
is to honor the peace of their communities
and to do so where ever and whenever it may be found
drawing from thy own love for thy own community
arrive in peace - and leave in the same spirit.

Say to them in the stillness of thy own heart,
"Prosper the peace, prosper the people".

Then thy own Nation will know you
and love you.

For love of the people - as you do yourself.
For love of their communities - as you do your own.

So love all of our peoples
- as they are -
honor them across their communities
and then learn to love the act of loving itself.

Because
these things are not forgot.
The earth, t'is asleep -
but heaven is not.

Let go of the fear of being forgot.
The real fear is of being remembered
as you are not.

Fear for thy citizenship as it really is.
And of not living up to its bliss.
---<--@

The Politics of our State

Two thought exercises -

Sea and Sky

Politics in our Republic
is like Sea and Sky

The Nation the Sea, the State the Sky
thought reflecting thought, blue upon blue
salt and water and spirit - in faithful motion
we, the people, in deep conversation.

Turbulent water disturbs it,
stormy Skies don't calm it -
but then, Nights turn to Days,
clouds, storms in their great rounds,
governments, parting ways, election days,
gold and silver rays.
---<--@

The Talk in the Walk

Let us first recall to mind - 

Countries take, people make. 

And that this is true for all Countries, including ours... 

More interested should we be in what Countries do 

than in what their people say - whether true or false. 

Because as regards decisions, 

people make them, Countries only take them - 

that Country may translate water into Motion. 

Country, for the intent and purpose of this blog, being a verb, 

its motion is only as faithful as the substance that give rise to it. 

And the richness of this substance 

depends on the depth of our civic spirituality 

as a human people. 

---<--@

If our Nation stops talking the talk, 

our Republic stops walking the walk.

Now, imagine if you will, 

my brothers and sisters of the Promise, 

that upon this - our Land of Promise - 

you were this Republic - 

the particular spirit of Country 

tasked by the deeper workings of Providence 

to shepherd this one Filipino Nation, 

not the Nation itself, mind you - 

but our Republic organism.

Imagine it were you. 

What would you like to hear from your Nation? 

Worthless banter? Bitter silence? Empty thoughts? 

Unfeeling, uncaring politics? Contemptuous prattle? 

Distasteful murmurings of unbelief? Scornful distrust? 

The incessant noise of battle, of war and discord? 

Hate speech and the ignorance of your Liberty? 

Or the happy chatter of a joyful people? 

Let us look now at our National bird - the maya bird - 

An industrious, little, long-suffering creature with wings. 

Almost invisible to us Filipinos for its commonality. 

T'is a bird 

who lives in the moment, 

not because it wants to 

but because it has to

humble
with a life span of only a fraction 

of what is allotted to us human beings  

yet courageous enough for its future 

displaying great fortitude for their young  

at times even more solicitous
than human mothers. 

Hear them sing in the morning... 

just before they go about their day, 

its almost like a daily prayer 

of praise and adoration 

to our God. 

- selah -

Do you think our Nation sounds like the bird 

we carefully took to symbolize and represent 

something we cherish in our people?

Certainly,
we can not all be incapable of worthwhile talk. 

But certainly also,
there is still much to be desired 

in that same regard.

- selah -

What is the center of the Republic? 

The place in the heart 

from which we speak to each other 

as citizens not unlike
one another. 

If we, in this thought exercise, 

should come to the same conclusion 

that there is indeed insufficient 

"chattering of a joyful people" 

going around these days, 

then we must find this center - 

the citizen in ourselves. 

And rejuvenate
the National Dialogue - 

that we may fill it once again 

with substance becoming 

of the Philippine State.

- selah -

My brothers and sisters in the Nation, 

nowhere can we find the best solutions for our problems 

than in ourselves. 

For we are each other's keeper  

keeper to our common humanity, 

our human community, our remembrances, 

our liberty, our posterity - before God.

We were born into it - 

by a choice to live the values 

that make our citizenship 

noble and worthwhile. 

Hence, 

whether natural or naturalized, 

we profess one spirit.

So let's talk the right talk, 

and together walk the right walk.

We can not build the right world with the wrong values.

Nor the right Republic with the wrong civics.

---<--@

=^.^=

The Question of Cain

Let us meditate a little more
on this war within the Filipino soul -

The absurdity of this war is
that it constantly propagates itself among our people,
multiplying the reasons why we should abandon our Nationhood,
when all the while, it is precisely this Nationhood
that can redeem us.

It feeds on the life of our beloved peoples,
overpowering the human spirit - from weak to strong.
It lies to our faces - that it means to do us good
and then proceeds to devour our children,
sparing none.

In war, the only winners
are those who learn its lesson.

War is the tutor.

Peace is the test.

And to pass this test
brings success.
---<--@

The Land of Nod

As a Nation, let us be reminded that to serve the power of our arms is to be slowly but surely crushed by its burden. If we continue the course, we might find a day when we realize we can not eat our weaponry nor this continued violence against our own Nationhood allow for our people the best and the brightest means to satiate our common human needs.

BUT we have in the past ceded the nature of this internal conflict to the power of arms, and sought to further invite this war among ourselves like it were a friend -

and so for decades, we fought over this war. 

That this so-called "friend" may by its power vanquish our hatred of others, our fear of their "otherness". (Is there such a thing as "otherness" in a soul that is one? We only mirror our own hate.)

And so we became enemies to ourselves. We fought until hatred and despair, themselves offspring to war, became another reason to fight. (Fighting for the sake of fighting alone is not a lineage that leads anywhere.)

We fought until attitudes of murder crept into our own self regard for the Filipino soul, and became as Cain. In ourselves we have come to also behold the person of the Adversary - in our brother, our fellow siblings to the one Nationhood.

If we are not careful, we will be like Cain - a fugitive to his own heart, restless for Justice yet unable to return to its source.

There is a certain kind of fear that dwells in the land of Nod, it is a fear of others - a fear that is not a tension of the respect - due to God and to our fellow human beings - that leads us in time to discover how to surpass its own limits - it is an inward thing, imploding and shrinking the soul of a person.

It is a fear that prevents common respect and human community and dwells in a restless land devoid of faith and trust, in God and Country.

Our Nation is proof against that fear, and restores Justice where Justice needs to be restored. Not the justice of Nod, but the Justice original to our Eden. (After all, did not the LORD give us our clothes? And more so, in the Gospels is found the greatest remedy to this restless fear - for the Seal of Christ dispels it - for Charity covereth a multitude of sins.)

We exist - in this particular regard - to do both the brothers Justice, Abel by Remembrance, Cain by the Love that lives within the compassion of our peoples - exemplified by our famed hospitality, our native trustfulness and willingness to give welcome to the person of the stranger; and the power to make of them - strangers to us no more.

The question of Cain is a question of Liberty.

Cain is not free to find it. So we do not expect answers from Nod. The answer is - in us - as citizens and keepers to our common humanity. And if we seek to do both the brothers Justice, then each of us must choose to remember - and then, to renounce the War that brought to the first generation of our Exile so much woe.

And a woe - let us recall to memory, terrible upon terrible, that we have had to live with ever since.

Nod is in the Unknown Earth. It exists in places where the Goodwill of our Peace - as one Nation and as one Family of Nations - have not yet taken firm root upon the soil of our world.

If we continue to allow this war in the soul of the Filipino to remain, we shall exile ourselves like Cain, and nothing that is lasting shall ever be built upon this world by our labors of Country for our Nation. And the fruits it shall bear shall always never be enough to nourish the goodness and the life of our people.

Nor shall we be any more good to other Nations than our chosen weakness - our fellow Nations who are kindred to us in this world - in the Truth - to whom we do rely and who also look to us for their reliance.

We shall as a people proceed upon the Unknown Earth as Cain, restless for Justice and thirsting for a true sense of belonging - yet fearful for our own Reliance - to God and Country; wanting to return yet unable to return - set apart from our Peace by our own lack of choice.

The question of Cain is a question of Liberty.

The Decalogue made it clear that murder is a transgression in the eyes of God - in beholding the Divine Law; this is universally recognized in the ethical codes possessed by the great lineages of the Children of Mankind and a common prescript reflected by the Law of the Nations.

In the time of Cain, the killing of Abel was murder - as an act of War. It was not Cain who did murder his brother. But it was he who opened the door of his heart to it. And "it" - the Advent of War - caused him to kill his brother - by his own hands.

At the onset of the Nations of the Children, the LORD introduced to the Nations through Moses and the faith of His Nation Israel, a common prohibition on murder. So in our days, murder is clearly and heavily sanctioned.

Because murder too was exiled to Nod - with Cain. And as we are - as Nations - called to gather all the Children of Mankind - in the way of our return to Peace - neither War nor its many offspring which are lies, hatred, pestilence, famine, murder and genocide - must have a place in our life and labors.

Yet where war is, there shall the shadow of its offspring linger. Is this war among ourselves our "friend"?

That we should mouth its lies,
partake of its ancient and relentless hatred for our common humanity,
clothe ourselves with its violence, and allow its adversarial spirit
to feed on the life and labors of our human communities -
only so that it may proceed to devour our children
ruin the order and purpose of our generations
and profane the peace of our communities.

The nature of this war among ourselves is such that it is an evil to us - only inasmuch - as we are - in ourselves lacking in the good. We are sufficient for the Peace we must profess. We should never be afraid of our own Reliance - to God and in each other.

War is, of course, a greater beast that the one we must together in this Nation confront.

But if we come together in this Nation of ours - in Peace, as a Nation - let us also understand, we are with other Nations together capable of staying the beast - as one Family we are able to build up a world that is better for Peace, through Love for common humanity and living Remembrance.

Nevermore shall the stirring in our spirits stir for War - but for the many hopes the past generations shall to us entrust, when we make our peace with their memory.

But first, we must end this War within ourselves by a free and human choice. (War chose us - it seeks for us to open the door of our hearts to it, we do not have to - there is really only one choice we have as a Nation - renounce it. Let Peace be our policy. Let us also wonder and be grateful at the foresight of the architects of our 1987 Constitution - are they not like us?)

I believe there are many opportunities these days to exercise citizenship with fidelity. And to be able to understand and to make this choice for Peace freely is a prime opportunity to do so.

Is it not good practice - to find the right questions - why our Nation must end this war, and let go of all the wrong reasons - how, and how may one proceed from choice - to civic efficiency - to human exercise?
---<--@

Practical Application -

Found here is the provenance where from the CARHRIHL is in spirit derived. The JASIG sought to draw the line upon the sand whereby we may together reverse the nature of the conflict.

That this line may only be realistically held under the flag of a robust and honorable truce is where the present difficulty lies. We shall overcome this difficulty or we shall be overcome by it.

Let us be for the overcoming. 

Amen, let us begin. May God continue to bless and aid our efforts - mabuhay!

What War Expects?

If you are familiar with the theme of this blog, you must likewise know how happy I am for this moment. 

Alhamdulillah, Alleluia, Praise God - May all who share in this moment bless the LORD. And may we also bless each other for everything we have achieved so far and appreciate the dignity of the common work of Peace we have together set out to complete. 

Let us gain a fresh perspective on the way ahead from this triumphant vantage - and soldier on. 

Let us persevere in our Peace Process. The successes we achieve thought it I know will most certainly help to feed our families and our generations tomorrow. The Filipino shall be the better off for it.

Let us be more eager then - for more. For the reality of this success must have quickened something in us. Let us also find a way to get the NDFP (CPP-NPA-NDF) back to the peace table. 

Let us as one Nation together - do now what War does not expect. Let us do this in our souls - in behalf of everything we suffered. Much depend on it.

---<--@

Our right of ascent is Peace. Our way of ascent is Goodwill. And proceeds from the prevailing strength and clarity of our Peace. Peace in ourselves. Goodwill to others like ourselves

We renounce war not by policy. But by a free and human choice.

It is in our Constitution that we renounce war as an instrument of the State. It is contingent upon this Nation therefore, to enshrine Peace in our civic spirit and thought - being the Peace of who we are - as a free and sovereign people - and a Nation upon the earth.

The way of Amity between Nations, also in our Constitution, naturally proceeds from this, our Turning Away from War.

The War within the Filipino soul can not defend us.

It can neither feed our children, clothe our human dignity, embrace our human potential, nor may it hope to satiate our profound need for a strong and concentrated sense of national identity as Filipinos - one that reaches into the very soul of the Citizenship that lives in ourselves, a sense of the Truth, much more to us in substance - than just the word itself.

The Bright Morning Star

There are in the soul of Man
Periods of Nights without a Twilight

When in our sorrows as human beings
Cast adrift into the darkness of exile
Which is a darkness of death
Death which at every moment appear
To our poor hearts as uncertainty
Descending as a veil of shadow and tears
Discomforting as well as confusing us all
We awaken to a thirst for the Morning
By a call that comes from beyond
The prison of the self

There appears before us
A bright morning Star

Lucifer was an angel of light
When darkness yet retained its innocence

He was the first of the Stars of the Morning 

Tasked by God to make every Twilight possible 

And to make peace with the Night
The night which was the first Night
Which was a darkness of rest
Rest which was
The life of our learning

We all know what he did

Lucifer in beholding Beauty
Sought to make his light his own

In so doing he scattered
A third of the Stars of the Firmament
And the Skies of the First Sufficiency
Were shattered

He fell into a Twilight
That is the beginning of his undoing
The peace between first Day and first Night
vanished from Heaven

There was a council of the First
Wherein Salvation was conceived
In the form of Man

Neither Lucifer nor his angels
Bowed to serve this creature before God.
The sin of the Devil's pride was conceived
And the realm of Angelic wonder and glory
became a sweeping Desolation

There was a War in Heaven
It rages on in our human hearts

Another Bright Morning Star
Now appears before us

The former
In the midst of the pain of our exile
Desire our complete and utter destruction before God
Calling us to enter into a form of darkness
Apart from our exile darkness
The darkness of sin
That leads the soul to wander
Thirsting restlessly about
Across endless nights
Without a twilight
Into the depths of a darkness
Which is madness
Unto a death which is certain
Everlasting

We are the wounded travelers
As in the Parable of the Good Samaritan
That Satan uses
By using our pain
And our fear
To turn us against each other
And multiply his dominion
Over our souls
Over the life of our communities
And over our own native
Human realm

For he knows
He had lost his realm
And his own place in Heaven

Now Satan seeks the same
For Man
And for all that belong to Man
Along with all the life of the Earth

The universe is almost barren
Because of him

He first brought ruin
To our First Parents
Then he placed enmity
Between Man and Woman
Then brought brother against brother

Now he seeks the undoing
Of the Nations the LORD hath sent
To make His Peace known
Between us and among us
And gather up through His Goodwill
All the Children of Mankind

Yes, we all know what Satan did

Another Bright Morning Star
Now appears before us

We all know what He did
Yes, we all know what He did

For this one is Christ the Lord
Not the equal of Satan
But his God
his God and ours
He Who Is - the LORD
Come to Man as Emmanuel

Jesus Christ our Savior
He Who Is the Son
And our Salvation
Long before
Any of us needed saving

And He desires for each of us
What we have long desired
For ourselves
But could not purchase
And could never purchase
Either by our own human limits
Or by our own weaknesses
And in spite of our sinfulness
The mighty power
And the efficacious grace
To set us all free
From the thrall of Satan
And his evil dominion
Over our one
Human habitation

That we might be forever
At home with ourselves
And also
Have a home
Forever for ourselves

A home that is free and at peace
With the many realms
Of the Father's glorious Creation
For many rooms
has the LORD's House
Our God

There is no other

Christ leads into Morning
Glimpses of an endless wonder
Endless joy
And endless Days and Nights
Of contemplating
The infinite face of Beauty

He seeks the weak
And the sick
And the imperfect
Because that is what
We all are
Poor

In Christ
In the midst of all this darkness
We are saved
By a Savior mighty to save
Not Satan's equal but his God
his God and our God
One with the Father and the Spirit
The LORD
Through Whom
We are made rich indeed
Wealthy beyond our imagination

There is no other

Happy the Man
Who knows the difference
Who seeks and is found
---<--@

The Little Treasure Box of Baptism

Peace be with you! 

I beheld in my heart this battered, little box. It was like a jewelry box, extremely worn. The wood of the box might have been polished once long ago. And it may have been quite ornate.

But now, it was just a plain old, little wooden box.

My Parents and my Godparents must have given this box to me after my Confirmation; the day when I was supposed to have come of age in the Faith of our Mother Church.

They had received it for me in the Name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit - in my stead - during my Baptism. That was, I was told, when I was still very little - a babe in their arms.

Which must be true because I couldn't remember much of it. I even had to decide for myself to give myself my own Confirmation name because no one could tell me what it was.

Maximilian Mary.

So all I know to tell you, Beloved of God in Jesus Christ, is that I have it - my worn, old, little, treasure box of Baptism. And it was given to me because it was mine to have.

All my life, I assumed it was just one of those little souvenirs one usually get at parties and the like. So I tucked it away somewhere in a corner of my soul.

At times I hid it when it suited me. After all, I might get embarrassed by it. Friends might disapprove, I feared. And I want to be accepted.

Then one day I noticed it has a keyhole.

I've never in my life even thought about opening it. And to be honest, I did not know whether I had a key for it or not. I wasn't at all interested in it, you seen... until now. What was inside it?

With so much things going on in my heart and in my mind, never until now did it occur to me - once upon a calm and quiet moment - in the Stillness in the stillness - that this battered, old box is actually mine. It's mine, yes! But what was inside it?

Many times I seem to have either lost or traded away this hardy, little box. Now, I realize it is still with me. For there were other, newer boxes, you see. Seemingly better ones, more expensive looking. Not that one should compare, mind you. Covetousness leads to certain grief. Besides, the human soul may only accommodate one box, just one box each after all. I respect that.

We can not all be the same. But the fruits that all of us must bear must be edible and good - yes, just the same. Freedom in plurality, flourishes in unity: I respect that, too.

Why did this particular box doggedly resolved to stay with me - all this time, or maybe I with it? I wondered and so I wondered, and the mystery grew. Maybe it was meant to be opened after all...

What was inside it?

So I resolved to learn all about it. And I did. And in my seeking, I also did happen upon the key. It was with me all the time. It was my faith seeking understanding. So I gave the box a chance and it opened itself to my heart - and out poured the treasury of the Church and out came a vision of me.

The me my Jesus had intended for me to be - forever. The new me. Old looks but a new heart. Common outside extraordinary inside.

And with this new me came new relationships - precious as the proven, older ones.

In the one, great family of the Catholic Church, I discovered a new sense of bravery and friendship. I love the new me. And I knew this is my peace. It's true and it's mine.

More and more these days, I find myself no longer living in fear. I know my Jesus. He knows me. That little box set my spirit free.

If you're a cradle Catholic. You are like me. And most probably, no - most certainly, you have heard of the little treasure box of Baptism. Open it.

Yeah, our interior life too - is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you get... till you...

Amen to God, adoration to Jesus Christ.
---<--@

Salutation #193

The State is not the Government.
The State is the Ideal of the Sovereign.

We all own the Philippine State
- and - at the same time
none of us do. It is a free State.

It is a Responsible State.

(On the Philippine State)

The State represents the Truth 
of everything we are - as a Nation;
Keeper to the Memory of our Generations,
and Repository of the Common Hopes
of our National Communities.

Any meaningful sense of Timeless Regard
for the lasting Ideals of our People - as a Nation
and the prevailing spirit of our Country - as Motion
proceeds from the reality of the Philippine State.

It is the Knowing
that constantly abides as Learning
prevailing within our living National Culture.

It is the spirit of everything noble, everything good,
and everything worthy of the National Excellence and therefore,
worthy of the praise and the love of our peoples together
- as citizens and as human beings to each other -
passing quietly - as Beauty - from generation to generation.

Our President as Head of State
is the Exemplar of the Philippine State;
the Office of the President of this Republic
being the noblest of all public Seats-of-Service.

- selah -

The Virtue of Citizenship
is the Primary Endowment of the State.

It is the authority to govern
the Citizen in the Person of the Self.
In it is contained the power
that makes each of us
together a "we".

The Authority to Govern
our Peers in the Nation is the Secondary
and proceeds from the Primary (as a function).

This Secondary Endowment
establishes for the Nation - from the Nation,
a Government that is - in constant and faithful keeping -
to the Providential Reality of the Philippine State.

We recognize in the spirit of our Constitution
and also in the labors of the Philippine Republic
from timeless Ideals enshrined in the Philippine State
- what is Sovereign to our Nation - in our entirety,
AND the Sacred and Inviolable Trust - that must exist -
between our Government and our Nation (as a free State):

THAT the Virtues of the Republic Government
in order to freely abide in a Government for the People
must have its Reliance upon the Faithfulness of the People
 
AND that the People
in order to conserve - in All our behalf -
our one, common, human Reliance
in the Good Governance of the Nation
must preserve - in and across - our Generations
those two Endowments - Primary and Secondary -
that are proper to the Philippine State,
particularly in our youth but also in all our citizens -
and ensure that a Government of the People
within each ourselves forever prevail.

- selah -

The free Philippine State
is the source of our Sovereignty.

We, the people, 

receive it each Day - in Peace - 

and lay it down each Night - in Goodwill.

In the collective peace
of our National Communities, 

particularly in the life of our Cities together, 

our common labors are its wellspring.

We shape it - and - it shapes us - 

   (we are therefore, we must -
   in being and in becoming)

across our generations - to the last... 

Sovereignty emanates from the People!

And exists - for us - with each present time
in behalf of our children and unborn generations.

We are Citizens First, 

our Nation - a People first - 

ONLY THEN 

shall the rest of the Elements of Country 

follow - and then fall into place -

or not at all.

All that ends and all that begins 

in our Republic - must rise and fall - 

from the Sovereign being of our Nation: 

THAT we are the one Filipino People 

and our Nation, a Nation among Nations;
AND that - this is - our Sovereignty of Being - 

supreme in us - and (simultaneously) - exclusive for us.
---<--@

Mabuhay ang Pilipinas - Long Live the Memory.



Thought Exercise - What if?

(1)
The State is the Ideal of the Sovereign

We profess allegiance to an Ideal of a Free State through its Symbols and its Virtues, in order to obtain and perfect our citizenship.

Essentially, we profess allegiance - to each other - as citizens and as human beings - in order to mature our labor of Country and to bring our Nationhood forth into perfection, e.g. Democracy, Meritocracy,

(2)
The State is the Government

We profess allegiance to the Government in order to obtain and perfect our citizenship.

The Government is the source of Sovereignty and utilizes the people and the life of their communities in order to mature its labor of Country and to bring its Nationhood forth into perfection, e.g. Communism, Socialism.

(3)
The State is one person

We profess allegiance to one person in order to obtain and perfect our citizenship, e.g. Fascism, Despotism.

Hitler was the German State, the Nation Germany incarnate - look at what happened to him. And then look at what evil it did to his own as well as to our other kindred Nations. We will carry a burden from that war for a long time to come.

Even Monarchs who are directly responsible to God for the Authority of the State, profess it accordingly, delegate it when necessary, and do not lay a claim to the power of the State as absolute as these.

(4)
The State is a selection of persons

We profess allegiance to an elite few in order to obtain and perfect our citizenship, e.g. Oligarchy, Plutocracy.

Capitalism distorted by materialism. We are struggling against this now.

(5)
The State is in the many and in the all

We profess allegiance to the self alone (and from the self to the other - but not with each other) in order to obtain and perfect our citizenship, e.g. Anarchy, Social Darwinism.

Democracy distorted by moral relativism. We are struggling against this now.

(6)
The State is undefined

We would not be having this exercise. God will spit us out of His mouth.