 |
| Do they not? |
Wednesday, February 25, 2015
I am for peace
That we as a nation have a choice for peace
while other nations struggling as we are
may not or can not have this choice
is itself a constant wonder to me.
It is something I think about often
that we - in the here and now -
are able to desire peace...
It is a truth I never take for granted.
It means the favorable time for peace is now.
 |
| This is the most apolitical picture I can post... I think it fits right in. |
Peace may also be won by a contest of arms.
However, let us remember to consider the field upon which these battles shall be fought and won.
Nation-States have been shaped by wars fought among themselves. These wars are common in our history. But those wars fought from within a Nation-State are different. These internal divides do not shape destiny, they predicate destiny. The longer it happens, the darker that destiny becomes.
If a contest of arms were the solution to peace reform in our Philippines, why is it taking us so long to arrive at a decisive outcome? Our internal conflict have been the longest running in the history of the world. And so much pain and loss it has cost this nation, across the generations.
How easily some of us dismiss the blessings a season of peace might afford our nation's children. How easily some of us would rather trust in the power of arms than believe in the power of peace.
When shall we ever tire of killing our fellow Filipinos in defense of the very Republic sworn forever to our common defense?
Among ourselves, where individuals seem to kill others without responsibility, is it not because the very presence of war ultimately allows it?
As a nation where we seem to view all these individual tragedies as obscure, being without a sense of common accountability, is it not because the absence of peace ultimately precludes it?
Those who advocate a course of war do not understand the cost of war. Nor its nature in particular that we must everyday contend against here within our Republic of the Philippines.
No, I am for peace.
I am for a just, meaningful and durable peace in Mindanao and across the whole of our Philippines; peace as a cornerstone of the national success.
I am for a peace gained through faith in God and unity through Country; peace that serves and defends all Filipinos with virtue, humanity, and maturity of remembrance.
I think we have suffered enough to merit this peace, I think it is within reach of our memory, and by grace of God and love of our people, we shall have it.
---<--@
I think many things happened to allow for that miracle in EDSA to occur. God did not just bless us with a miracle from out of the blue in 1986.
If the Gospel has taught my own heart anything, it is that miracles had to be owned first before it is owed to us by God - that faith is always first before fruition.
Today, I remember that truly peaceful revolution our nation was empowered by God to pull from out of the blue through our collective faith and unity as a people... a real crossing of a threshold.
I say it is one of a kind... and I respect it as such... unique. It is special not only in the memory of this nation but in the history of our family of nations. A great movement in the soul of a people... ours.
Oratio Imperata for Peace
Let's do this...
February 23, 2015
Your Eminences, Your Excellencies, Reverend Administrators:
The situation of the country and the world right now calls on all of us to turn to the Lord in humble supplication and gather our people to pray. As the nation continues to grieve over the tragedy in Mamasapano and the family of nations is threatened by war and terror from extremist groups, our best contribution to the nation and to the world is to encourage people to pray.
If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land. (2 Chronicles 7:14).
I respectfully propose that we the bishops of the Philippines encourage our people to pray the following Oratio Imperata for Peace. Hopefully this prayer can calm the anxieties of our long suffering people and touch the hearts of the enemies of peace.
The authority to declare an Oratio Imperata for the various dioceses is the sole prerogative of the Local Ordinaries. If this proposal will merit your pastoral approval, I humbly request that you issue a circular to the clergy and Catholic faithful in your jurisdiction to make this prayer for peace mandatory.
I submit this proposal to your better judgment and pastoral wisdom.
Sincerely yours,
+SOCRATES B. VILLEGAS
Archbishop of Lingayen Dagupan
CBCP President
---<--@
February 23, 2015
Your Eminences, Your Excellencies, Reverend Administrators:
The situation of the country and the world right now calls on all of us to turn to the Lord in humble supplication and gather our people to pray. As the nation continues to grieve over the tragedy in Mamasapano and the family of nations is threatened by war and terror from extremist groups, our best contribution to the nation and to the world is to encourage people to pray.
If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land. (2 Chronicles 7:14).
I respectfully propose that we the bishops of the Philippines encourage our people to pray the following Oratio Imperata for Peace. Hopefully this prayer can calm the anxieties of our long suffering people and touch the hearts of the enemies of peace.
The authority to declare an Oratio Imperata for the various dioceses is the sole prerogative of the Local Ordinaries. If this proposal will merit your pastoral approval, I humbly request that you issue a circular to the clergy and Catholic faithful in your jurisdiction to make this prayer for peace mandatory.
I submit this proposal to your better judgment and pastoral wisdom.
Sincerely yours,
+SOCRATES B. VILLEGAS
Archbishop of Lingayen Dagupan
CBCP President
---<--@
Tuesday, February 24, 2015
Confronting Climate Change: Philippines
Weather these days is becoming worrisome.
The typhoons our nation must yearly contend against are becoming unpredictable in number as well as fiercer in intensity. Indeed, we have a new classification per PAGASA for "super typhoon".
Furthermore, our typhoon season seems to be no longer predictably contained in the wet season. As such, seasonal monsoon winds exacerbate a number of these unseasonal storms blowing in from the pacific causing our communities more grief. (I've never heard of those red, orange, and yellow rainfall warning growing up and we didn't have any typhoons at all past November.)
Why is "our weather" becoming worrisome?
Weather is local.
I say it is local because its effects are local. It is worrisome to us only because it is local. Ask yourself where you were when Yolanda or Ondoy made landfall and you will see: Weather is local.
Those who think much about weather are usually those who are much affected by its effects.
The very immediacy of weather produces an urgency.
And this urgency we can feel because the Philippines along with many island nations in the Pacific are at the front line of climate change in the sense that we are the ones who must more or less directly contend against its local effects... as we have with Yolanda and Ondoy.
What is the connection? I want us empowered to handle the local effect of climate change but for now let us look past Yoldanda and Ondoy...
Let us look past weather when we worry about climate for weather is already a consequence of climate and it is climate that is driving the changes in our weather.
What is climate?
Climate is more predictable than weather. These are systems larger and more powerfully integrated to forces and motions that arise from the nature and circumstance of our planet.
One may Google more specific information about climate but for the purpose of this article allow this writer to emphasize this fact: Climate is not local.
Climate is global.
We hear about global warming these days. We hear arguments against it as well as in support of it. We hear of climate summits wherein the leaders of our nations seek to address it. We hear of its advocacy. We hear its many and varied voices.
How come for many of us local Pinoys, it seems difficult to really empower ourselves about any of the issues associated with climate change. Even those of us who are convinced that something has gone awfully wrong with something up in the sky there somewhere find it hard to do anything with that sense of the urgency that is nagging at our convictions. So we hold on to our stories and our beliefs... and wait...
And wait...
For many of us now, it is becoming painful to wait... wait for the next supertyphoon?
Wait and not know.
You see, the problem (as I see it) is that unlike weather, climate is global.
Many of us really do not do much to affect the climate of the planet even if we wanted to. We Filipinos as a people have small climate footprints. Our Philippine Republic in this same regard do not rank among Countries we may say are primary contributors to either the problem or the solution.
Most of the issues surrounding climate change remain distant to many of us.
The reality of climate change seem so disjointed from our common experience as a nation that the sense of urgency that should be building up in the spirit of our Republic due to such unprecedented weather phenomenon as Yolanda and Ondoy seem itself unsure.
Actions that truly empower us in this regard seem few and far between.
This is both good and bad.
GOOD: Because we have not yet committed the worst of environmental crimes. The kinds of pollution we ordinarily deal with as a nation are not (yet) highly toxic. Our present day mistakes - if we get a grip - are (still) not costly to fix.
The kinds of pollution we Filipinos endure everyday tainting our land, air, and water are usually brought about by ineffective garbage disposal in our communities oftentimes by our communities themselves.
BAD: Because we, as Filipinos, seem not yet fully aware of the environmental and ecological dimensions innate to our citizenship.
And so in retrospect, we think to ourselves sometimes at the wake of those unseasonal storms: If only we as citizens (or as a nation) have done this or done that so as to enable ourselves to become more involved and more informed about these things...
The problem is, unlike climate, weather is local.
When weather happens, it is already a consequence of climate.
So we feel helpless. We begin to hate the player not the game. I want us to be able to hate the game and be an effective player in the game (so to speak).
Dealing with climate change does not have to be an exercise in helplessness.
Let us allow our LGUs the comfort of being able to believe (by each their own measures) they are doing their best... because they are.
Weather and preparedness are two key words that go hand in hand. As regards weather, preparedness is not only the right thing to do... it is the most we can do. And in this, we can do much.
Think about it, my brother and sister Filipinos.
When we think about climate, apart from the weather, let us in our minds think - climate and pollution are the two key words that go together.
For it is pollution that is driving the changes in climate, pollution of a kind we are NOT YET capable of and, if we are a wise people, should not think of being and therefore, developing our capacities in that way... learning from the experiences of our one family of nations.
We can be wiser than the game by playing nature fair... and much shall it profit our peace.
Love of nature after all is a timeless Filipino trait.
---<--@
 |
| Super Typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan) bearing down on our Philippines |
The typhoons our nation must yearly contend against are becoming unpredictable in number as well as fiercer in intensity. Indeed, we have a new classification per PAGASA for "super typhoon".
Furthermore, our typhoon season seems to be no longer predictably contained in the wet season. As such, seasonal monsoon winds exacerbate a number of these unseasonal storms blowing in from the pacific causing our communities more grief. (I've never heard of those red, orange, and yellow rainfall warning growing up and we didn't have any typhoons at all past November.)
Why is "our weather" becoming worrisome?
Weather is local.
I say it is local because its effects are local. It is worrisome to us only because it is local. Ask yourself where you were when Yolanda or Ondoy made landfall and you will see: Weather is local.
Those who think much about weather are usually those who are much affected by its effects.
The very immediacy of weather produces an urgency.
And this urgency we can feel because the Philippines along with many island nations in the Pacific are at the front line of climate change in the sense that we are the ones who must more or less directly contend against its local effects... as we have with Yolanda and Ondoy.
What is the connection? I want us empowered to handle the local effect of climate change but for now let us look past Yoldanda and Ondoy...
What is climate?
Climate is more predictable than weather. These are systems larger and more powerfully integrated to forces and motions that arise from the nature and circumstance of our planet.
One may Google more specific information about climate but for the purpose of this article allow this writer to emphasize this fact: Climate is not local.
Climate is global.
We hear about global warming these days. We hear arguments against it as well as in support of it. We hear of climate summits wherein the leaders of our nations seek to address it. We hear of its advocacy. We hear its many and varied voices.
How come for many of us local Pinoys, it seems difficult to really empower ourselves about any of the issues associated with climate change. Even those of us who are convinced that something has gone awfully wrong with something up in the sky there somewhere find it hard to do anything with that sense of the urgency that is nagging at our convictions. So we hold on to our stories and our beliefs... and wait...
And wait...
For many of us now, it is becoming painful to wait... wait for the next supertyphoon?
Wait and not know.
You see, the problem (as I see it) is that unlike weather, climate is global.
Many of us really do not do much to affect the climate of the planet even if we wanted to. We Filipinos as a people have small climate footprints. Our Philippine Republic in this same regard do not rank among Countries we may say are primary contributors to either the problem or the solution.
Most of the issues surrounding climate change remain distant to many of us.
The reality of climate change seem so disjointed from our common experience as a nation that the sense of urgency that should be building up in the spirit of our Republic due to such unprecedented weather phenomenon as Yolanda and Ondoy seem itself unsure.
Actions that truly empower us in this regard seem few and far between.
This is both good and bad.
GOOD: Because we have not yet committed the worst of environmental crimes. The kinds of pollution we ordinarily deal with as a nation are not (yet) highly toxic. Our present day mistakes - if we get a grip - are (still) not costly to fix.
The kinds of pollution we Filipinos endure everyday tainting our land, air, and water are usually brought about by ineffective garbage disposal in our communities oftentimes by our communities themselves.
BAD: Because we, as Filipinos, seem not yet fully aware of the environmental and ecological dimensions innate to our citizenship.
The problem is, unlike climate, weather is local.
When weather happens, it is already a consequence of climate.
So we feel helpless. We begin to hate the player not the game. I want us to be able to hate the game and be an effective player in the game (so to speak).
Dealing with climate change does not have to be an exercise in helplessness.
Climate is global. Weather is local.
The effects of climate change is worrisome because weather is becoming worrisome. We may not have the reach nor the influence to largely affect climate. But we can advocate matters that deal with and help prepare the communities of our nation for the effects of climate change. We can empower their thought by explaining how weather is only a consequence of climate change that they may not feel pitted against something beyond the grasp of their understanding. That the right response is to be prepared.
The effects of climate change is worrisome because weather is becoming worrisome. We may not have the reach nor the influence to largely affect climate. But we can advocate matters that deal with and help prepare the communities of our nation for the effects of climate change. We can empower their thought by explaining how weather is only a consequence of climate change that they may not feel pitted against something beyond the grasp of their understanding. That the right response is to be prepared.
Let us allow our LGUs the comfort of being able to believe (by each their own measures) they are doing their best... because they are.
Weather and preparedness are two key words that go hand in hand. As regards weather, preparedness is not only the right thing to do... it is the most we can do. And in this, we can do much.
As regards climate change, we must deal with it decisively as well... by fully reviving in our citizenship, its environmental and ecological dimensions. (Meditate on the 3rd Rupture: Man - Creation.)
The green in our citizenship is gold to our nationhood.
The good news I think is this revival taking place at the heart of our civics is already happening... Sagip-Ilog, Run for Pasig River, Tree Plantings, Green energies, citizens disposing their garbage responsibly...
The green in our citizenship is gold to our nationhood.
The good news I think is this revival taking place at the heart of our civics is already happening... Sagip-Ilog, Run for Pasig River, Tree Plantings, Green energies, citizens disposing their garbage responsibly...
Think about it, my brother and sister Filipinos.
When we think about climate, apart from the weather, let us in our minds think - climate and pollution are the two key words that go together.
For it is pollution that is driving the changes in climate, pollution of a kind we are NOT YET capable of and, if we are a wise people, should not think of being and therefore, developing our capacities in that way... learning from the experiences of our one family of nations.
We can be wiser than the game by playing nature fair... and much shall it profit our peace.
Love of nature after all is a timeless Filipino trait.
---<--@
Saturday, February 21, 2015
Our Peace Process at the wake of Mamasapano
Trying times bring out the best and the worst in people and these are trying times indeed...
There seems a lot of opinions out there as regards the peace process. As I too am committed to the peace process, let me express some of my own.
The peace we want to accomplish through the peace process must ultimately be a human peace; the justice of this peace in its ideal form being a restoration of our unity as a human community.
To me, a "human peace" is simply one that restores dignity to the life of a community and since the peace that we are negotiating across the board is a national proposition - this peace must be capable of restoring dignity to the life of all our communities in the nation - across the Republic of the Philippines.
Will the peace in Mindanao affect things in Batanes? Of course, it must! A human peace is one that is able to provide for the human needs of a community. As a Republic, we are this community, this one house!
To do justice to the temporal house of the one Filipino nation is to make it one as our soul is one. To remain in our souls divided in war is to choose as a nation to remain in a state of spiritual injustice.
The essence of our civics is to do unto each other good.
For in this Country, we all must be free and unafraid to do good to our fellow Filipino.
A human peace allows us the space, across our generations, to preserve both our freedom and our hope, in all things good and worthwhile to and for the Filipino... To desire this peace, to me, is therefore, always a good thing. For it shelters and protects our national communities from war (often in more ways than one).
What happened?
From the Nation to the State, we have to introduce words to articulate something true about ourselves and, my brothers and sisters, words always exclude. Indeed, words both limit and exclude. Therefore, peace as its human expression may be intensely political - most especially if our remembrances about it as a nation are not yet as mature.
Observe however, how a lot of Filipinos think war is not the answer - that is good. It means the spirit of our memory is being restored unto us... we just have to articulate it properly in the State.
The BBL is one such proposed articulation of how we may as one Filipino nation be restored to the unity of our peace. It is certainly not a perfect document. I myself have several things I should like to be able to clarify about it.
The BBL is a result of a long process... One should at least respect the hope that is invested in this document which is a hope for peace; a hope that if expressed correctly in the State may never go wrong.
I am NOT for war. Indeed, I am absolutely against any forms of "all-out war" - in any place, at any time. I am definitely for the peace - in particular here in our Philippines.
However, I must accept the path unto the threshold of this peace is political. Also, that the politics of a peace process will not readily confer justice in the temporal sense but initially serve to deflect the onset of more evil days. In Syria and the Ukraine, this for me is also true.
What justice we may work out shall be the justice of our sincerity in desiring peace and desiring peace absolutely - with a maturity of remembrance.
In general, the goal of our local peace process is to restore spiritual justice to the Philippine State that the State may then proceed to bestow temporal justice in behalf of all its citizens.
Justice in its fullness we can not deny ourselves.
Our nation has a responsibility to possess in its soul an account to God of all human life.
This means as citizens, we are responsible both for and to the memory of all Filipinos the Providence of God hath vouchsafed to be born into our nationhood - through a living and present account of each and every single one of our names. This is our common debt of remembrance to God and Country, a burden of Justice which is part of our responsible Liberty.
We can not remember them all singly but as a nation we must remember them all fully.
And through a memory of their lives and sacrifices - live! Indeed, prosper and live! This "live" is the essence of our "mabuhay" which exhorts us to live the memory - therefore, long live the memory!
Maturity of remembrance understands the "intrinsic value" of each and every human life and detests war for what it is, understanding peace.
A State that is fully accepting of peace in spirit proceeds from this truth not so much with law but with liberty. However, as we are wounded by so much internal strife, we need a cast to bind our bones to make them whole and strong again... We may liken the provision that establishes the CAR and the ARMM as such a cast. If the cast is not working, maybe it needs remolding.
Such is our quest for peace here in our Country...
We do not seek a perfect peace. It is impossible to attain peace in its perfection in this world at its state. But we may anchor our peace upon principles timeless and absolute and live its lineage unto truth and the victory of the Truth.
Our temporal dominion as a Republic here in this world may never be as perfect as our loves desire but if in our hearts we understand how we are united as one national community and if in our communities we know how we may live this unity and the hope of this unity in freedom... I think we all will be well.
Peace making involves trust. This means accepting risks. These risks are the same risks we normally subject our nation to when we choose to default to war and distrust.
Peace is an enlightened choice not to accept the status quo of this world and one we make as a nation - because we finally understand.
What does this mean?
When we speak of the peace process, sincerity above all matters most of all.
Even before the politics of everything, I think when we seek peace we must seek peace absolutely.
Appeasement of war bring more war and doing things in behalf of peace short of a true desire for peace is harmful simply because it is untrue... For the peace we all hope to establish among ourselves shall ultimately be tested by its fruits... a peace for all Filipinos.
Let us review in spirit the peace we are after. Let us have these reference points from each shore before we wade into deeper water... that the bridges we may seek to build - together this time - may be strong and straight and nevermore skewed.
The rest we shall attend to as things unfold... for we are creatures caught up in time after all... change is our right and our responsibility.
Let us be patient. Let us be understanding. Let us be above all, firm.
Peace is over war. For war is not for always. But unity is eternal.
God love the Philippines. Mabuhay po tayong lahat.
---<--@
In the midst of all of these, in this Lenten season, I should like to remind my fellow Filipino Catholics to come back to a meditation on the Year of the Poor which is this year, 2015.
Let us work and pray that the Holy Spirit this year carry our nation forth into waters safer and vistas brighter.
A little personal anecdote:
Smile the Pope Francis smile: When I look at how our Holy Father smiles, I feel the warmth - the gold of the smile! One of the things I can not forget about our Holy Father is his smile. Isn't smiling like this a form of charity?
We love you Holy Father Francis!
The peace we want to accomplish through the peace process must ultimately be a human peace; the justice of this peace in its ideal form being a restoration of our unity as a human community.
To me, a "human peace" is simply one that restores dignity to the life of a community and since the peace that we are negotiating across the board is a national proposition - this peace must be capable of restoring dignity to the life of all our communities in the nation - across the Republic of the Philippines.
Will the peace in Mindanao affect things in Batanes? Of course, it must! A human peace is one that is able to provide for the human needs of a community. As a Republic, we are this community, this one house!
To do justice to the temporal house of the one Filipino nation is to make it one as our soul is one. To remain in our souls divided in war is to choose as a nation to remain in a state of spiritual injustice.
The essence of our civics is to do unto each other good.
For in this Country, we all must be free and unafraid to do good to our fellow Filipino.
A human peace allows us the space, across our generations, to preserve both our freedom and our hope, in all things good and worthwhile to and for the Filipino... To desire this peace, to me, is therefore, always a good thing. For it shelters and protects our national communities from war (often in more ways than one).
What happened?
From the Nation to the State, we have to introduce words to articulate something true about ourselves and, my brothers and sisters, words always exclude. Indeed, words both limit and exclude. Therefore, peace as its human expression may be intensely political - most especially if our remembrances about it as a nation are not yet as mature.
Observe however, how a lot of Filipinos think war is not the answer - that is good. It means the spirit of our memory is being restored unto us... we just have to articulate it properly in the State.
The BBL is one such proposed articulation of how we may as one Filipino nation be restored to the unity of our peace. It is certainly not a perfect document. I myself have several things I should like to be able to clarify about it.
The BBL is a result of a long process... One should at least respect the hope that is invested in this document which is a hope for peace; a hope that if expressed correctly in the State may never go wrong.
I am NOT for war. Indeed, I am absolutely against any forms of "all-out war" - in any place, at any time. I am definitely for the peace - in particular here in our Philippines.
However, I must accept the path unto the threshold of this peace is political. Also, that the politics of a peace process will not readily confer justice in the temporal sense but initially serve to deflect the onset of more evil days. In Syria and the Ukraine, this for me is also true.
What justice we may work out shall be the justice of our sincerity in desiring peace and desiring peace absolutely - with a maturity of remembrance.
In general, the goal of our local peace process is to restore spiritual justice to the Philippine State that the State may then proceed to bestow temporal justice in behalf of all its citizens.
Justice in its fullness we can not deny ourselves.
Our nation has a responsibility to possess in its soul an account to God of all human life.
This means as citizens, we are responsible both for and to the memory of all Filipinos the Providence of God hath vouchsafed to be born into our nationhood - through a living and present account of each and every single one of our names. This is our common debt of remembrance to God and Country, a burden of Justice which is part of our responsible Liberty.
We can not remember them all singly but as a nation we must remember them all fully.
And through a memory of their lives and sacrifices - live! Indeed, prosper and live! This "live" is the essence of our "mabuhay" which exhorts us to live the memory - therefore, long live the memory!
Maturity of remembrance understands the "intrinsic value" of each and every human life and detests war for what it is, understanding peace.
A State that is fully accepting of peace in spirit proceeds from this truth not so much with law but with liberty. However, as we are wounded by so much internal strife, we need a cast to bind our bones to make them whole and strong again... We may liken the provision that establishes the CAR and the ARMM as such a cast. If the cast is not working, maybe it needs remolding.
Such is our quest for peace here in our Country...
We do not seek a perfect peace. It is impossible to attain peace in its perfection in this world at its state. But we may anchor our peace upon principles timeless and absolute and live its lineage unto truth and the victory of the Truth.
Our temporal dominion as a Republic here in this world may never be as perfect as our loves desire but if in our hearts we understand how we are united as one national community and if in our communities we know how we may live this unity and the hope of this unity in freedom... I think we all will be well.
Peace making involves trust. This means accepting risks. These risks are the same risks we normally subject our nation to when we choose to default to war and distrust.
Peace is an enlightened choice not to accept the status quo of this world and one we make as a nation - because we finally understand.
What does this mean?
When we speak of the peace process, sincerity above all matters most of all.
Even before the politics of everything, I think when we seek peace we must seek peace absolutely.
Appeasement of war bring more war and doing things in behalf of peace short of a true desire for peace is harmful simply because it is untrue... For the peace we all hope to establish among ourselves shall ultimately be tested by its fruits... a peace for all Filipinos.
Let us review in spirit the peace we are after. Let us have these reference points from each shore before we wade into deeper water... that the bridges we may seek to build - together this time - may be strong and straight and nevermore skewed.
The rest we shall attend to as things unfold... for we are creatures caught up in time after all... change is our right and our responsibility.
Let us be patient. Let us be understanding. Let us be above all, firm.
Peace is over war. For war is not for always. But unity is eternal.
God love the Philippines. Mabuhay po tayong lahat.
---<--@
In the midst of all of these, in this Lenten season, I should like to remind my fellow Filipino Catholics to come back to a meditation on the Year of the Poor which is this year, 2015.
Let us work and pray that the Holy Spirit this year carry our nation forth into waters safer and vistas brighter.
A little personal anecdote:
Smile the Pope Francis smile: When I look at how our Holy Father smiles, I feel the warmth - the gold of the smile! One of the things I can not forget about our Holy Father is his smile. Isn't smiling like this a form of charity?
We love you Holy Father Francis!
Wednesday, February 18, 2015
Ash Wednesday 2015
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Today after a few months off, I went back to serve as an EMHC at our local shrine. I participated in two Ash Wednesday masses; one at a local high school, one at our Shrine.
There were a lot of people indeed...
After service, I felt that good kind of tired... not the tired of being tired kind of tired but the kind that says, "yes, I am happy i did it!"
---<--@
On the National Conversation
Trying times bring out the best and the worst in people and these are trying times indeed...
I agree with those who disagree with me in that they like myself are free to express their thoughts on matters concerning the life of our State.
However, when we start turning on each other as judges of each other's belief, things start to turn from sour to bitter. Because this makes it political.
Let the facts shape our belief. Let the truth dictate our vision.
I believe our civics or basically the art of how we treat each other as citizens is grounded on the truths of our nationhood. Therefore, "our" national conversation should be generally conducted in the spirit of our civics.
We as a people talk all the time.
We are free to do so by a freedom that is our right and responsibility - "free expression", it is called. Free expression as a form of participation in the life of our nation (and ultimately in the politics of our State) is what I refer to as our national conversation.
The Filipino media, our free press, are our gatekeepers as regards the national conversation which is why to impinge upon press freedoms is the beginning of the end of free expression in the nation.
Our government and its institutions are formally represented to the Filipino public by each its own public affairs representatives. Our press is the popular equivalent. This is important.
One who believes in free expression should also make the connection in his mind that press freedom is just as important and in his heart understand the reciprocity of its good.
It has been said that a state that begins burning its books ends up burning its own people.
In much the same fashion, any democratic government or for that matter, any free people not outraged at attacks on its own free press do not understand how free expression works and place themselves in peril of ultimately losing it. Indeed, we ought by knowledge of this be forewarned about the twin values of press freedom and free expression and live our freedoms accordingly.
Brother and sister Filipinos, we should care about the quality of the conversation we are having as a nation.
To this end, I should laud our media people who are working hard to make all this talk a worthwhile thing to have for all of us.
I too believe the talk we should be having, for our national conversation to bear us good fruit, should be focused on quality. Our conversations about issues that matter should always honorably reflect, in spite of the sobering reality of so many woes, our highest ideals and beliefs.
Our national conversation serves the quest for truth, and truth in service of the people.
I think we should mostly be concerned with solutions to our problems and not on identifying problems we already have but fear to own... maybe because what once was a molehill has now turned into a granite mountain seemingly right before our minds.
When I say this conversation becomes political, I mean it in the sense of the politics that is exercised by our politicians in the formal government of our State.
We are not all politicians after all nor should we all desire to be. We are all citizens though and as not all of us are elected (by us) and set apart by popular mandate into those formal positions of public service within our Republic, our politics are basically expressed through the national conversation in support of the politics of our representative leadership in the formal government of our State.
If one would and takes this all a step further, one writes or contacts directly, his or her representations in the formal government of the State in the Executive, Legislative or Judiciary branches.
Politics are important and because it is, public participation in the political life of our Republic is vital.
All things political to our nation arises within the State from the soul and into soil of our nationhood... its science shaped and empowered by the art of our civics.
Not all of us are politicians, brothers and sisters, but all our politicians are citizens and to the extent that they are, all our politicians should be statesmen and stateswomen.
And those of us who should freely submit ourselves to their leadership ought duly and willingly participate in the national conversation.
In a democracy, we are all leaders.
As all good leaders know, all leaders learn the art of their leadership as followers. In a democracy, all of us too are basically led by the light of our own truth. Hence, leadership in the sense that it is democratic should know and understand that to lead and to follow are one and the same responsibility.
If we know and understand this, and if we trust in the decisiveness and clarity of our vision, all our talking will lead to the one walk - along the way of ascent that will lead us to the eventual and true awakening of all our national dreaming...
All our words should lead us (again and again) to the realization of the promised truths of our peace.
Because truth is truth and at the summit of our Republic Sky lay for all our hearts, the ideals drawn from our highest truths - of proven principles that enable us to conceive together a vision of the State that is always comprehensible to the Filipino soul no matter how different our opinions on the ground may be...
Actual proof of this is our written Constitution, this national document being a distillation of the Filipino spirit handed down to us in physical form. (Have we ever wondered why from one proceed the many and how from the many, one? Have we truly taken to heart its Preamble?)
I trust that leaders be responsible for their own truths and for speaking it out with respect of their own dignity and the dignity of other citizens not unlike them - being honorable Filipinos.
And so we begin... again and again... while time is time. Till every question and answer become unto us all simultaneously one and the same thing...
Let us have a conversation as a nation... and let our free expression propel our democracy forward to the good of our Republic as a service to our nation and therefore, to the benefit of each and of all.
God bless the Philippines. Mabuhay po tayong lahat.
---<--@
One should always presuppose something human about the State and the Philippine State being what it is, democratic, a healthy clash of opinions is a good sign.
I agree with those who disagree with me in that they like myself are free to express their thoughts on matters concerning the life of our State.
One should not be the judge of opinions other than one's own.
If your stand is stood on principles, then your opinions as a reflection of your convictions should outlast the opinions of the hasty and the reckless.
If your stand is stood on principles, then your opinions as a reflection of your convictions should outlast the opinions of the hasty and the reckless.
Let the facts shape our belief. Let the truth dictate our vision.
I believe our civics or basically the art of how we treat each other as citizens is grounded on the truths of our nationhood. Therefore, "our" national conversation should be generally conducted in the spirit of our civics.
We as a people talk all the time.
We are free to do so by a freedom that is our right and responsibility - "free expression", it is called. Free expression as a form of participation in the life of our nation (and ultimately in the politics of our State) is what I refer to as our national conversation.
The Filipino media, our free press, are our gatekeepers as regards the national conversation which is why to impinge upon press freedoms is the beginning of the end of free expression in the nation.
Our government and its institutions are formally represented to the Filipino public by each its own public affairs representatives. Our press is the popular equivalent. This is important.
One who believes in free expression should also make the connection in his mind that press freedom is just as important and in his heart understand the reciprocity of its good.
It has been said that a state that begins burning its books ends up burning its own people.
In much the same fashion, any democratic government or for that matter, any free people not outraged at attacks on its own free press do not understand how free expression works and place themselves in peril of ultimately losing it. Indeed, we ought by knowledge of this be forewarned about the twin values of press freedom and free expression and live our freedoms accordingly.
Brother and sister Filipinos, we should care about the quality of the conversation we are having as a nation.
To this end, I should laud our media people who are working hard to make all this talk a worthwhile thing to have for all of us.
I too believe the talk we should be having, for our national conversation to bear us good fruit, should be focused on quality. Our conversations about issues that matter should always honorably reflect, in spite of the sobering reality of so many woes, our highest ideals and beliefs.
Our national conversation serves the quest for truth, and truth in service of the people.
I think we should mostly be concerned with solutions to our problems and not on identifying problems we already have but fear to own... maybe because what once was a molehill has now turned into a granite mountain seemingly right before our minds.
When I say this conversation becomes political, I mean it in the sense of the politics that is exercised by our politicians in the formal government of our State.
We are not all politicians after all nor should we all desire to be. We are all citizens though and as not all of us are elected (by us) and set apart by popular mandate into those formal positions of public service within our Republic, our politics are basically expressed through the national conversation in support of the politics of our representative leadership in the formal government of our State.
If one would and takes this all a step further, one writes or contacts directly, his or her representations in the formal government of the State in the Executive, Legislative or Judiciary branches.
Politics are important and because it is, public participation in the political life of our Republic is vital.
All things political to our nation arises within the State from the soul and into soil of our nationhood... its science shaped and empowered by the art of our civics.
Not all of us are politicians, brothers and sisters, but all our politicians are citizens and to the extent that they are, all our politicians should be statesmen and stateswomen.
And those of us who should freely submit ourselves to their leadership ought duly and willingly participate in the national conversation.
In a democracy, we are all leaders.
As all good leaders know, all leaders learn the art of their leadership as followers. In a democracy, all of us too are basically led by the light of our own truth. Hence, leadership in the sense that it is democratic should know and understand that to lead and to follow are one and the same responsibility.
If we know and understand this, and if we trust in the decisiveness and clarity of our vision, all our talking will lead to the one walk - along the way of ascent that will lead us to the eventual and true awakening of all our national dreaming...
All our words should lead us (again and again) to the realization of the promised truths of our peace.
Because truth is truth and at the summit of our Republic Sky lay for all our hearts, the ideals drawn from our highest truths - of proven principles that enable us to conceive together a vision of the State that is always comprehensible to the Filipino soul no matter how different our opinions on the ground may be...
Actual proof of this is our written Constitution, this national document being a distillation of the Filipino spirit handed down to us in physical form. (Have we ever wondered why from one proceed the many and how from the many, one? Have we truly taken to heart its Preamble?)
I trust that leaders be responsible for their own truths and for speaking it out with respect of their own dignity and the dignity of other citizens not unlike them - being honorable Filipinos.
And so we begin... again and again... while time is time. Till every question and answer become unto us all simultaneously one and the same thing...
Let us have a conversation as a nation... and let our free expression propel our democracy forward to the good of our Republic as a service to our nation and therefore, to the benefit of each and of all.
God bless the Philippines. Mabuhay po tayong lahat.
---<--@
Monday, February 16, 2015
Silver Lining
"Every cloud has a silver lining", we've often heard it said.
People who believe in heaven and the goodness of the God of heaven understand through cloud and rain the truth of perennial blue skies and golden sunshine...
Such are situations we at times find ourselves in.
One either sulks in the shadow of bad things and under overcast skies despair the will and the goodness of God and heaven or in seeing the silver lining behind every cloud say,
"yes, so be it... this too shall pass".
Because it will, it always does.
---<--@
Here I try in vain...
To those whose lives have been directly altered by the loss we suffered in Mamasapano, the SAF 44 families, the families of civilians and innocents involved...
Words uttered in deepest sympathy of your sorrow and grief will ultimately fall short... I'm so sorry for your loss. We can not bring them back.
What we can do as a Country is to make sure their sacrifices were not in vain.
Two pictures that make me smile...
With everything that is going on... it pays to have moments that remind one of life's simple joys.
 |
| I am simply grateful for this moment... |
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| Colors over my Anne's Amsterdam... |
Tungkol sa Mamasapano
Masakit isipin ang Mamasapano. Isa itong trahedya.
Bagama't naidaos nang mga Tagaligtas nating SAF ang kanilang misyon sa Mamasapano mapait pa rin itong isipin. Masakit pa rin sa damdamin nang nakararami ang alaala nito. Bakit?
Sapat ba talaga na 44 na buhay ang ibuwis nang ating kapulisan at nang Bayang nating Pilipinas para sa isang terorista lamang?
May kakulangan ba ang mga opisyal natin sa gobyerno at maging sa PNP sa 44 na ito? At kung meron, sino ang mga ito at ano pa ang ating dapat linawin at isaayos nang Republika sa ngalan ng kanilang alaala upang maiwasan ang mga ganitong pangyayari?
Ang kabayanihan nang ating SAF 44 (at nang lahat na rin ng ating magigiting na tagapagsilbing sundalo't kapulisan) ay hindi natin dapat malimutan. Iyan po ay totoo.
Subalit 44 na buhay lang ba ang dapat nating pangalanan at alalahanin dito?
Hindi ba ang katotohanan po ay Pilipino lahat nang namatay at namatayan sa Mamasapano? Lahat sila ay responsibilidad nang Estado at sakop nang kapangyarihan ng Republika nating lahat maliban marahil kay Marwan (na isang kilalang banyagang kriminal datapwa't labas at labag sa ating batas ang pinanatili dito).
Malinaw po sa akin sa kabila nang lahat ang panawagan ni General Espina. Ang itinatanong pa rin po nang puso't isipan ng maraming Pilipino ay kung paano mabibigyang hustisya ang pangyayari para sa lahat...
Para sa lahat.
Huwag po sana tayong mahulog sa kawalan ng pag-asa, manalig at maniwala sa Diyos at sa pangako nang ating Pilipinas na mahal... at nagmamahal.
---<--@
Sapat ba talaga na 44 na buhay ang ibuwis nang ating kapulisan at nang Bayang nating Pilipinas para sa isang terorista lamang?
May kakulangan ba ang mga opisyal natin sa gobyerno at maging sa PNP sa 44 na ito? At kung meron, sino ang mga ito at ano pa ang ating dapat linawin at isaayos nang Republika sa ngalan ng kanilang alaala upang maiwasan ang mga ganitong pangyayari?
Ang kabayanihan nang ating SAF 44 (at nang lahat na rin ng ating magigiting na tagapagsilbing sundalo't kapulisan) ay hindi natin dapat malimutan. Iyan po ay totoo.
Subalit 44 na buhay lang ba ang dapat nating pangalanan at alalahanin dito?
Hindi ba ang katotohanan po ay Pilipino lahat nang namatay at namatayan sa Mamasapano? Lahat sila ay responsibilidad nang Estado at sakop nang kapangyarihan ng Republika nating lahat maliban marahil kay Marwan (na isang kilalang banyagang kriminal datapwa't labas at labag sa ating batas ang pinanatili dito).
Ang responsibilidad po at kapangyarihang ito nang Estado at nang Republikang kumupupkop dito ay dapat sana nating pagnilay-nilayan. Dahil sa isip, sa salita, at sa gawa ito ay isinasabuhay natin araw araw sa diwa na rin nang ating sariling kasarinlan.
Paano natin gagamitin ang mga adhikain, prinsipyo't gunitaing nagbubuklod-buklod sa atin bilang isang Republika upang maging makatotohanan tayo sa ating pagka-Pilipino?
Ang prosesong pangkapayapaan ay nakasalalay sa katotohanang tayo pong lahat ay mamamayang Pilipino at may kakayahang mamuhay bilang isang bansang mapayapa.
Republika po ang ating itinataguyod na katigan nitong kapayapaang ito. Datapwa't sa kadahilanang ang tunay na kanlungan nati'y isa't isa, pakikiramay at pakipag-kapwa tao po nawa'y gamitin ding batayan nang ating pulitika ukol sa mga isyu na umuukol sa Mamasapano habang ito po ay nililinaw.
Hindi po sana natin iatras ang Pilipinas nating lahat sa pagdating nang isang bagong umaga nang kapayapaan dahil sa sakit at kawalan na ating pinagdadaanan dahil sa trahedyang ito.
Para sa lahat.
Huwag po sana tayong mahulog sa kawalan ng pag-asa, manalig at maniwala sa Diyos at sa pangako nang ating Pilipinas na mahal... at nagmamahal.
---<--@
Saturday, February 14, 2015
Preserve us all in Thy Peace
help us with our present work of peace.
Guide us through as You always have
and see us through this difficult time.
Look with mercy upon our present distress,
O LORD and one Sovereign of all human nations,
make Thy Countenance shine upon our Country,
let Thy Light dispel the enveloping darkness...
Counsel those who are in doubt.
Comfort those who are in sorrow.
Carry the needy forth from troubles.
Carry the needy forth from troubles.
Be our refuge and our strength!
Manifest to this one, faithful Republic
in particular to our responsible leadership,
Thy will of justice and good for all our peoples.
Preserve our common hopes as a human people.
Preserve our dream of a better Philippines.
Preserve us all in Thy Peace.
Amen.
---<--@
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