Peace is Present

These times when we do not know who or what is trying to prevent us from becoming, let them be - what is important is that we know where we are going, that we have a path and a vision:

So with all these things happening right now, let me get us back to the foundation of why peace is key -



Do you know why I am so concerned about the peace process? 

Firstly, because Peace happens in the Now: 

Peace is Present. You must always remember this -

It is never a thing that was nor can it be a thing that shall be - if not for today. 

We, as one nation, really have to get interested in it. We have to want it enough to seek it and we have 2000 years worth of information in our history with all nations to process this truth.

This is why, as individual citizens, we have to work hard to bring our remembrances forward into our hearts - here and now. 

We have to pray for it and work for it - in whatever way we can, large or small, known or unknown, utilizing the freedom of whatever gift or vocation we have received - in whatever state of life we have chosen before the LORD, our God. 

We have to want it enough to seek it.

For if peace is not in our minds here and now, we shall never obtain it from the God Who Is, the LORD, For He is God. That is my first point - complacency is deadly. 

Especially in this new age of spirit and thought.

Secondly, because in 20 or so years if we do not make ourselves better for our being united and focused as a nation, if we do not as one Republic obtain together the peace which is our shelter - there is a great probability that we shall never recover. The hardships and the darkness we see and know here and now will thus become permanent.

Let me not dictate it to you now: You only have to look at the world around us to validate this for yourself.

And if this happens, not only do we lose our potential as a nation, for which we are each accountable for - all our other kindred nations will also forever lose what good we Filipinos have to give to our world so much in need of it - and this place of earth will wane all the more darker for our not wanting the light.

And we will all answer to God at during Judgment Day for our lack of appreciation for the gift and the grace of nationhood. 

Our citizenship with each other might be something we undervalue in this materialistic times, undervalue so much that we may often times underestimate the truth of its excellence and worth.

It is a real treasure in these ever-changing times.

Did one think we were come to this life without rhyme nor reason? If so, perhaps one did also likewise think that the nations of our world exist only to thirst for their own destruction? 

No, you are not - and no, we are not - to everything there is a time and a season under heaven: For God is in heaven and the Throne of the LORD in Eternity - all will be well, all will be well.

So let us reflect and let us pray about our commitment to God and to each other that we may with much patience and hope succeed - against all adversity - in the common task before our hearts and our hands of building a better place in time for us and for our generations to the last of our generations - mabuhay!

"Public's participation is vital in the peace process as peace agreements are going to need the work of many people and not just the OPAPP alone." - Sec. Ging Deles
---<--@

Kanlungan

Nakalilito man
at madilim ang mundo,
mga kapatid ko sa Pangako,
huwag tayong mabahala
at huwag mawalan ng loob -
huwag matakot sa gabi!

Pananalig sa Diyos,
kapayapaan sa ating bansa;
kagandahang loob sa bawa't isa
bunga nang pagkakapatirang
namumuhay sa ating diwa,
at pagmamahal natin sa ating
nag-iisang sambayanang Pilipinas -
ito ang lagi nating maaasahan;
ang ating kanlungan sa gabi
at daan tungo sa umaga.

What now?

Now that the world did not end,
can we take better responsibility of it?

Can we take a planetary view of ourselves
and see our world as part of a grander design?

Can we become better citizens of each our own nations
and rediscover the order and purpose inherent to our world?

Can we brave the promised dawn that lies just ahead
and together prevail through the darkness of the last age
to become brighter advocates of peace and human community?

Can we become more compassionate stewards of our living earth?

Can we love God more as He must be loved in all creation?
---<--@

The darkest time in the night is not in the middle,
it is that part just before the breaking of the dawn.

Salutation #2

If you seek peace, seek peace absolutely.

(One Whole Sky)

Look at our time today
and the world we move in
- everything about it -
is born of the will of war.

There is much despair
there is much suffering
as all our kindred peoples
labor through oceans of tears
our common human hopes

- forsaken -
in the darkness of our time.

Let us then take ownership
- of the status quo -
and instead of feeding
into war's evil ambition
- the near limitless -
potential of our own souls,
let us apply ourselves,
under the eternal vigilance
of our one Almighty God,
to the labor of each our Country
by our absolute turning away
from the descendant gravity
of war's evil ambition
into the ascendant direction
of the one whole peace
and build upon our civilization
the sheltering wings of God's peace
to serve and defend
the life of our common humanity
wheeling as numberless as the stars
shining across the midnight emptiness
of this season of the sky
toward the twilight breaking
of the new millennial age
and a better, kinder, safer, brighter world
for all men, women and children
- of every nation -
of the one covenant family
of the nations of (the children of) Mankind.
---<--@

(produced 20080914)

Salutation #158

Citizenship is in the soul - 'tis a seeking in the self -
an integral part of the blossoming of every human life.
So you breath it in your spirit, and you live it in your life

- you seek it like the motion of a love learning to love -
you long for it in yourself - until you are full for the truth -
until your belonging is absolute and your joy is complete.



(The Simple Message of 2012)

Two futures,
one dark and one bright,
is presented before the nations
of the children of Mankind.

We accept one by forsaking the other.

- selah -

How do we understand this?

By completing our remembrances as nations.

Certainly,
the paradigm of the last great age of war
that have prevailed over and utterly eclipsed
the spirit of our nations must be overthrown
by our willing acceptance of the times.

What is a nation?

What for is nationhood?

Personal remembrances make us human.
But it is our national remembrances
that make us citizens.

All depends on the smallest of thoughts.
---<--@

2012 is not an end!

When we speak about the end of the world
what is really meant is the end of the world as we know it

And the end of the world as we know it
has nothing to do with the world but with the passage of time.

It is the end of time as we know it.



2012 is not an end!

For there is no end,
only a return to the beginning;
only a transformation -
a necessary transformation,
a saving transformation.

Not a few people
may fear the approach of 2012.

But change is inevitable
so we must change to master change.

We are not powerless
over which life we choose to live,
everyday we enter into it
by the power of our choices.

Just the same -

We are not powerless
over which future we choose to live through,
as individuals - but even more so -
as whole communities of individuals,
we only have to enter into it
by the power of our lives.

So let us not fear 2012 - rather,
let us seek to understand it.

THINK about it.
---<--@

Salutation #151

(Crossing Together as one Family)

LISTEN!

The burden of the times
is a burden of expectation.

If it were a burden of justice,
would any nation survive?

For all have sinned
the sin of War.

   Is there any nation in our world
   who is completely without guilt 
  of shedding the blood of another?
 
Therefore,
do we deserve
each other's forgiveness?

Yes.

Is there any other way
to progress into the new age?

- selah -

UNLESS
all our nations
become aware enough
to care enough
about the suffering
of our common humanity
during the last 2000 years
to desire it
for each our undertaking of Countries
to completely break away
from the poisonous reign of war,
we shall yet again
descend into
another age of conflict
more terrible than the last!

UNLESS
our peace is kin,
all ye nations of the children of Mankind,
we shall never become
family enough
to become possessed
with the strength of unity enough
to bridge and overcome the spiritual rifts
that threaten to devour
our peoples.

IF
we do not dispel
the spirit of War now,
- in and among ourselves -
we shall yet again
become subject
to its terrors.

NOT
because it is God's judgment for Man
but because it is Man's judgment
on himself.

- selah -

EACH
our undertaking of Country
stands to gain in age and maturity
in this present time.

NOW
do we deserve
the abundant prosperity
- spiritual as well as material -
that the peace of our planet may usher in
and freely offer to us?

Yes!

For
we have as nations
suffered long enough now
to know and to understand
the answer to our troubles...

We just needed to be asked...

SO NOW
the question is being presented to us
in each our hearts and across our nations -

Do we deserve
the abundant prosperity
- spiritual as well as material -
that the peace of our planet may usher in
and freely offer to us?

- selah -

THEREFORE,
at the coming of the new,
markedly by the end of this year 2012,
we must work to complete our remembrances -

This means to sift through
all the hurt and the pain of the past
and get the hopes of our nations aright.

   Why were our nations commissioned by God?
   Is it for the purpose of dominating and humiliating each other?
   We certainly can not totally erase this divine commission,
   we can only fight ourselves into exhaustion - again and again.

   Is not our common craft the craft of peace?
   Is not our common labor the building up the inhabited earth?
   Is not our common endowment naught but each other?
   Is not our common vision life and the abundance of living life?
   Is not our common mission the complete and utter transformation
   of the darkness of the unknown earth ever by the kindred light
   of each of our own particular(ly) human civilization?

This means to get rid of all historical baggage!

Yes, this means to forgive and to be forgiven -
people to people, and nation to nation.

UNTIL
our peace is truly kin
and we are a family once more.

AND
we must do this work of completion
- as human beings and citizens to each other -
that we may each MAKE the right choices
that each our nations will TAKE
- together this time -
into the right door that opens
into the right future.

THIS
is how we shall fulfill
the minimum of the times.

THIS
is how we shall together shine outward
as the numberless stars of our Father Abraham,
seeing far into forever.

THIS
is how we shall close
the iron gates of Country
against the darkness of the past.

THIS
is how we shall cross
into our futures together
as the one family of the nations
of the children of Mankind.

There is no other safer way across the river 
that marks the beginning of the new 
than together.
---<--@

View in Review 20120623

We're half-way through 2012!



I think we're doing splendidly, my brother and sister Filipinos.

You must ask yourselves today, have the first part of this year of years made us stronger together, even slightly stronger, than the days before?

And you must ask this bearing into mind and heart the reality of our nationhood, who we are, as well as the present guardianship of our Republic replete with her memory and institutions, what we stand for, even as you reflect on where time itself has taken our freedoms today.

I personally think we have become stronger for our coming together.

For our liberty as one nation is bound by the strength of our freedoms together.

This liberty is our Republic pursuit, the fullest extent of which is happiness for all our citizens - in this world (of trial and probation) and if we are wise, in that promised world that is to come forever.

Let us remember to stay focused for the rest of this year of years bearing into mind that - yes indeed!

Little things matter, invisible things matter, for these are the essential things.



I recently saw a documentary about the prophesies related to 2012. 

These would have proved disturbing to me have I not learned to anchor my heart upon the prevailing spirit of the times which the LORD has ordained specifically to bring these events into order and perspective that we may each have a choice away and apart from all the confusion.

We have a prophesy of our own we can lean upon... (refer to Daniel 12).

So that if things do get difficult and confusing, we know with the understanding of faith and conviction of heart to all the more place ourselves in the responsible and human service of each other as a nation among nations - under and before - God, our King.

Bear always into mind and heart also, my compatriots, that ye may have a good measure of the horizons of our hope spread in their arcs across time, we have the year 2046 as our intended destination.



For it shall take two generations -
two generations to sow, nurture, and establish
the necessary changes in our Country
and allow for it to take root in the soil of our land,
two generations to work out the labor of peace
that will restore our Republic to herself
blessing all those who patiently wait
for the blessing of the LORD.

So let us give each other a little more love each day -
loving our own and loving others like our own.

Let us be understanding of our weaknesses,
considerate of our brokenness,
accommodating of our own common human needs,
unyielding in our determination to see this undertaking of Country
we call the one Republic of the Philippines through this longest night
and into the new morning of that promised day...

After all, are we not the Land of Promise, 
my brothers and sisters of the Promise?

Remember,
our democracy is to be nurtured like a tree,
its fruits are virtues eternal, and golden like the stars -
our Country which is our labor is to be honored with fidelity
and our nation which is our community cared for with kindness and love,
for these are the blessings of our peace and defended with vigilance and sacrifice.

Is this not the truth?

We are a free nation

because we have rightly chosen

(in the course of our history in time)

in our hearts and across our generations

to be guided and ruled by authentic human freedoms

where each our free and human choices

no longer become one governed by chance,

but by each individual strength of will

and the power of God's own grace;

freedom giving its life to freedom,

liberty shedding its light for all.

Sometimes these days,

and these days are becoming more frequent again

when I reflect on our population issue -

I think about

the prevalence in our collective thought

(as a free nation among the nations upon the earth)

either of (1) randomness (fatalism, or the "bahala na" habit)

(which in a free nation is a moral evil)

or of (2) free and human choice (relativism, amoralism)

(which is evil BUT ONLY if it is left to chance

for freedom that is irresponsible is anathema to itself).

Now,

of these two evils,

the question we must gauge is

which is presently the greater evil 

and so the one we must subdue;

between the one answer and the other -

a proper formation of a moral conscience 

is the arbiter.

   

One can not forsee

all ends in the RH bill debate,

and as a devout Roman Catholic,

I am anguished by its many nuances

BUT notwithstanding our action or inaction 

we are left to deal here with a clear and present evil

which is poverty and the increasing means and degrees

to which individuals and families within our own population,

have become helplessly subject to its many afflictions.

Indeed 

poverty has now become 

a social justice issue in this Republic

where failure to act decisively is consequently

a failure in the prevailing morality of our culture.

   I would even go as far as 

   to consider poverty as a national security issue

   for I am of the growing conviction that 

   poverty in our Country is becoming life-threatening

   to this Republic.

Admittedly, 

there are many facets to this issue

but in the context of the RH Bill debate 

adequate and effective population management

which is a primary responsibility of individual family units

within the peace of a democratic society such as ours

when it is left irresponsibly managed by our common failures

as a Republic whole to redeem our prevailing culture 

from the evil of randomness and chance - will and does - 

become a burden to our nation as a whole

and this burden when it becomes debilitating 

needs the swift action of our Justice and our Law.

What we do about it matters.

What we don't do about it matters even more.

A little mental exercise #1

If tomorrow it is declared, without a shred of a doubt,

that there are absolutely no petrochemical deposits

lying in the bottom of the West Philippine Sea,

I wonder how this will affect the region?

Will it soften the self-destructive stances of the politics of conflict?

Will it serve to alleviate the military tension in our common sea?

Will it add to the peace of our neighborhood and therefore, lead to a further strengthening of our futures together?

What if there really is no economic value?

What then are we really fighting for?

What for are we committing the lives of our most faithful sons and daughters...

...the desolation?

A little mental exercise #2

There is a dispute on Bajo de Masinloc (Scarborough Shoal).

And this dispute involves two sovereign undertakings of Country -

the RPH and the PRC.

Do we recognize there is a dispute?

Do the two parties recognize there are two parties in this issue?

Do the two parties recognize each other?

Do the two parties who recognize each other recognize there is a respective claim of sovereignty over the area?

Have any of them already made up their mind to deny it?

Unless these questions are answered meaningfully with due regard for the greater good of the region, of Asia, and of our world - this division will remain unchallenged and unhealed; a neglected space in time wherein the contagion of War may fester and spread.

Peace may only be built on agreements.

- selah -

If the PRC insists on a bilateral remedy to the dispute without even considering the equality of our claims of sovereignty over the area, what it really is implying is a peace enforced by force of arms.

We may not win this fight in the short term but this shall prove ruinous for a power like Beijing in the longer term view of things where the value of any civilization is actually invested in time. 

It shall be to the mutual interests of both our Countries to pursue, if not through the ITLOS, a regional solution worked out with an independent regional or multinational tribunal (probably the ASEAN+China or other recognized body) bearing into mind the vital significance of the longer view of things, especially in this new age of spirit and thought, and the larger good of our Asia (and remembering the number for peace is 3). 

The truth is we can not live without the PRC and the PRC can not live without us either: We can not change the geography of our region, the currents of our common markets will lead and evolve into each other, nor the connected nature of our cultures, they shall always share an affinity wrought in spirit and blood - we may have these passionate disagreements today but all indications are we shall have to make this peace work.

And the sooner we can work this out the better.
---<--@

If we find ourselves,
despite everything and in spite of all,

still dead-locked on Panatag Shoal

and in the Spratlys,

let no bad news be good news,

let no (military) action be good action -

BUT always, 

we should be mindful

of our building together from within,

we should always be mindful

of the real labor of our nationhood,

and all these things shall turn out

for the good of the nation

that is faithful to its own truth

and to the one LORD of all truth.

For in the meantime, 
we shall build.
---<--@

Between War and Peace is indecision and this is the worst choice of them all.

"so because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth." 

- Revelation 3:16

Generation X

Generation Choice

TO ALL MY PEERS,
Salutations of Christian peace

and common good will
to our Generation X.

It seemed as if it would never come

But now the world awaits

What virtue we shall impart

To the nations of whose hopes

We shall soon inherit.

O my generation!

What distinguishes us

from the past?

Is it the hurt,

Is it the lack,

Is it the want of heroes' fire?

Who are we

and what defines us

as a generation?

We are here.

We are here now.

What shall soon define us

is not our past.

What shall soon define us

is not in the future.

What shall soon define us

in the eyes of heaven and earth

is our being here now

our being here in the moment

our being present for the peace.

O my kindred spirits,

O my generation be aware

of the wide, awakening twilight

of the time, times and a choice

at this void at the threshold

of the third Christian millennium

a space between our common human hopes

for peace and a better world

caught between tears and shadow

and God's infinite ocean of mercy.

The reality of our times exist

between the autumnal dusk of faded Eden,

this midnight world of war,

and the springtime thawing

of the new dawn from on high,

that bright new morning of peace,

before the noontime reign of Christ,

the Splendor of the Truth

and the Sun of Righteousness,

arising here in the wintering of our times

in the glory of God the Father,

the one common Creator of all mankind

on behalf of suffering humanity

and our poor world.

We must begin today
what no other generation can.

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

We must open doors
that lead to new horizons.

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

This is our time.

---<--@

(Produced 20080420)

Allied Generations

Generation Y

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

(produced 20080407)


Allied Generations

Salutation #100

SO WE CHOOSE PEACE TODAY

and let peace take us into itself tomorrow.

(The Beginnings of Peace)

We do not enter into a peace process

to convince ourselves of our common need of peace -

the fruits of War itself

should have made this need apparent

to our convictions beforehand.

Indeed,

the last 2000 years

is prelude to this one choice alone.

(This is why it is important that our national leadership -

especially those who are at the forefront of the peace process

are the persons most convinced of our need for Peace over War.)

Because

lasting peace does not begin

at the stroke of a pen.

Lasting peace

for our nation begins

when hearts become turned away from War.

- selah -

It is a mistake to think

- here in our native Philippines -

that the peace process is anything complex.

For if we prevail over one of its major areas of concern,

this makes it easier for us to prevail over the others.

(The spirit of War is cunning but it is still one spirit alone.)

This is why

our main focus must always be - in Mindanao -

because, my brother and sisters of the Promise,

- if we are able to bridge -

the deepest and most enduring of our divisions as a people,

then the peace for our Philippines

is sure to be certain.

We prevail over War together

- my one nation Philippines -

or War shall have us all!

Therefore,

we do not enter into

our own particular peace process

to pursue a path of defeat for anyone -

(for Peace is Peace and War is War)

we enter into our peace process

to find a way of victory for all Filipinos.

(Many other things require our energies...)

O when shall we sing
our victory songs, my people?

When shall we see
peace reign across our land,
making our hearts whole,
and our spirits glad?

Now is the favorable time...

This War among Filipinos must be brought to a swift end!

---<--@

Salutation #82

2012 is going to be a very difficult road.

Our only safety is our unity.

Remember,

a nation is meant not only to overcome these trials

but to prevail against the unknown earth

- and - as one family,

transform it into a world

so full of living lights.

(2012)

A short word on 2012 -

First of all,

do not be overly anxious.

Do not trade reason for superstition.

Neither allow your faith be undone with fear.

We all know there is much to be concerned about this year of years.

So let me assure you - here and now -

even at the headwaters,

that despite all of these fears,

2012 shall be what we make of it.

For we are a nation, my people - we belong.

No nation upon this earth is ruled by random chance.

Neither is our Eternal belongings - one to another -

established by our God and true Sovereign

for purposes that are manifestly evil;

that lead to our ultimate undoing.

For all things come together for the good

for all who love and fear the LORD!

And we are a nation, my people - we belong.

So welcome 2012 -

bring on your troubles and your trials,

let in all your overcast days, your doom and gloom,

let loose your tempest and your buffeting fury

and let this temper us in our nationhood.

Let your uncertainly make us certain.

Because the journey toward all our tomorrows

must now begin today.

---<--@

Ngayon

Salutation #80

I saw a vision of two worlds -
two paths leading away from each other...
two choices - with nothing - in between;
one is a freedom that leads to a future bright,
the other a return to the darkness of the night -
a choice begun in every human heart
a choice to return us again from the start.

(Crystal Blue Sphere)

I SAW IN A VISION,

a crystal blue sphere,

shining with a multitude of living lights.

The vision came to me quite abruptly

while I was awake in the day,

riding a jeep home from work.

The vision stayed for a time before me as I wondered.

I wondered at how wondrous and beautiful beyond imagination it was

that I thought I was seeing through the eyes of angels.

Then a darkness came over the vision

and it seemed to me for an instant that it was no longer there.

- selah -

But it was, O my nation,

before me was a world so overrun by sin and war

that it was no longer distinct from the nothingness of the void -

an unknown earth bereft of light,

forsook by heaven,

and forgot by God.

---<--@

My New Year 2012 hope -

I pray for more leaders who are accountable to God first that the LORD may craft them into proper instruments of a government wholly dedicated and responsible to the people they serve.

Leaders who at every level of government embody the definition of a popular mandate being interested in neither fame nor notoriety but in establishing in our nation through their persons the divine authority that makes us all equal before the LORD both in dignity and in promise.

Loyal leadership like these may only arise from a nation faithful to its own truth, arrayed in time as an undertaking of Country at one with its own mission and at peace with its own vision.

Therefore, I pray - first and foremost - for our nation: May we now become what we've always dreamed of becoming... mabuhay!

This is my new year hope. God bless the Philippines!

---<--@

Salutation #63

When you say "yes" to Peace you can not say "yes" to War as well.

(New, Old Philippines)

Tell them -

The LORD has heard thee crying out from thy heart

- O my one Filipino nation -

in the weeping of thy widows,

and in thy orphans,

in thy poor and the needy,

in all the travails of thy sons and daughters

and from out of the blood of all thy unforsaken dead

- all thy salty tears -

- all thy crying out to God -

- all thy mourning has not gone unnoticed -

for the one God of all heaven and earth has heard thee

- the LORD is His Name!

Therefore,

God desires a new, old civilization of peace for our people.

A national community such as this world has not yet seen

being cognizant of its own truth and certain of its own humanity.

It shall rise out of the ashes of the last great age of War

- an endeavor of Country, old as time itself, yet new to our exiled earth -

a Republic in His Majesty's Service!

Yea, my people -

that thou may know in thy one heart of hearts

that the LORD, thy God, is the God of all true belonging

and of the hosts that stand in defense of faithful community

- the LORD Himself shall be our King.

And all these things shall fall into their proper places and times

before the countenance of our God;

our original culture of life reconstituted,

the labor of these times re-dedicated

- to the fostering of justice, truth, and equality for all -

and the life of our common peoples safeguarded

by her one, faithful Republic.

It shall be the triumph of the one Filipino nation

who from least to greatest, bound by the freedom of our gifts,

shall cleave as citizens and human beings to each other

unto one ascent, one lineage of hope, 7,107 islands strong.

And Peace shall be our common salutation.

- selah -

How can we know the triumph of our nation

if we can not hear the song of our victory?

And how can we hear the song of our victory

if we can not say "yes" to God today?

---<--@

‎"The hottest places in Hell is reserved for those who, in a time of great moral crisis, maintain their neutrality." (Dante Alighieri)

---<--@

Mabuhay ang Pilipinas! Shalom. Salaam. Peace. God bless us all.

A Prayer to the King

Service is a calling (not an ambition)

The Circular Relationship of the Four Causes

20111023 AM

Two Paths

These two paths lead away from each other - one leads toward the dawn and the other toward the void of all things that never were.

My beloved Philippines, we are a nation of whose present generations have never experienced the blessings of peace reigning within our midst -

None of us here today have every truly enjoyed the promise of peace to speak with empirical conviction about its real merit for ourselves and our peoples -

We only have the maddening darkness of War and the illuminating brightness of our faith in God and in God's faithfulness to speak for itself -

Today, we stand at a crossroads in time; a defining moment in the history of our Country is presented before all Filipino hearts -

For 2000 years, we have slumbered but now the time for waking up is here - Now is the time we wake up from the nightmare of the last great age of War -

We have to choose a path that shall lead our generations unto two totally distinct futures -

Peace on its own terms today or War on its own terms tomorrow.

- selah -

If it seems difficult for us to conform with the demands of peace today - on this we may certainly rely, war shall make it impossible for us to live with any decency as a nation tomorrow.

Let us be ever mindful that this season of peace shall not always be.

(There are greater purposes at work in our world today - purposes demonic as well as Divine and angelic - powers above and beyond the scope and the reach of Man alone.)

If not today, when?

---<--@

To love our own and others like our own -

"A stranger once welcomed is a stranger no more."

This especially holds true for those persons from other nations who represent for us the good will of their people as Father Pops once did.

But Father Pops goes one step further than this because he was one of the few who welcomed us first. He was on mission.

Father Fausto "Pops" Tentorio is a citizen of his native Italy who born of his great Christian love for our indigenous and poor Filipinos have truly become one of us. This makes him an honorary citizen of our Country by me.

The great injustice of his death is that he who should have received our warmest welcome was also he who was so abruptly and violently taken from our midst by murderous criminals.

Justice for Father Pops!

---<--@

Prayers for Thailand of our one ASEAN -

Among all our present concerns, my brothers and sisters of the Promise, let us also include in our prayers today the safety and welfare of the people of the Kingdom of Thailand who is presently battling a devastating flood in their Country.

To my Roman Catholic brothers and sisters, let us be especially mindful of all our needs as well as our blessings during our Sunday obligations in this day of days and bring all of our prayers to God at Holy Mass today.

---<--@

Mabuhay ang Pilipinas! God bless us all.

Citizenship with Fidelity

Mission Spirit

Salutation #54

Mapalad ang Bayan na ang Diyos ay ang PANGINOON.

(2045)

In 2045,

if we choose Peace today,

if we are patient, if we are persistent,

we will look back at the songs we sing today

and the songs we shall be singing then

and we shall as one nation praise the LORD!

When we realize how God

has turned our mourning into rejoicing,

we will praise the LORD!

When we realize how God

has transformed the pain of our our repentance

into the power of our freedoms together,

we will praise the LORD!

When we realize how God

has embraced all our little crosses

in order to bring our people forth into victory,

we will praise the LORD!

When we realize how God

has answered our songs of hope and longing

- gently, surely, patiently, wisely, mercifully, and generously -

and turned them into those songs of love and heroism,

and hymns of thanksgiving, glad tidings, and constant adoration,

we will praise the LORD!

If we choose Peace today, O my people,

my beloved brothers and sisters of the Promise,

- by 2045 -

if we are patient, if we are persistent,

all the problems that confound us today shall be no more.

If only we turn our hearts to God

- if we listen to Him -

we will find

as our gaze turns slowly away

from the darkness into the Light,

that all the persistent shadows that have plagued us in the past

- will have fled our people -

as the future opens up

into the skies of a new horizon

at the dawn of our new, old Philippines.

If we are to win the Peace of the LORD from God today,

we only have to seek it and to choose it absolutely

and we shall become who we are as we are

- who we must be for each other -

as citizens to each other,

a keeper and a friend.

For we are a patient and persistent people.

And we always have been a patient and persistent people

- since we became a people -

at the beginning of the long march of our nations

at the autumnal dusk of our faded Eden, mabuhay!

---<--@

A forward thinking nation is a nation guided by the light of its own truth.

Let us always remember, we are a forward thinking nation!

---<--@

Mabuhay ang Pilipinas! God bless us all.

Last October 3rd is German Unity Day.

Mabuhay, one Germany!

20110806

Awakening the Dream

IF WE ACHIEVE THE DREAM of peace in our times, my honorable compatriots, we shall unlock the true potential of our nation meaningfully engaged in realizing its promise as the one Republic of the Philippines - for all our people and for all our generations - a home away from Home for all Filipinos.

Achieve the political peace by or before the end of 2012. This is one of the conditions necessary for our nation to enter into the new age in peace with God and in harmony with the season that the LORD has set forth before all nations.

The political peace is the negotiated peace between the GRP and the MILF and represents the will of our leaderships to mend the internal disagreements that have led to the conflict.

This peace on paper is distinct from the national peace which is the actual work of mending our communities, of accommodating, reconciling and realizing our common hopes, one with another.

To set our own expectations aright, my fellow Filipino compatriots, the process of obtaining from the LORD, our national peace, is a distinct labor apart from the political peace process being undertaken by the GRP and the MILF and must be understood as such.

The national peace is the labor of our national whole.

Achieving the national peace (2012-2045) for our one Republic will take us much longer and will require a deeper conviction but is a labor which we can not begin nonetheless joined together as one Republic undertaking of Country without a prior peace on paper.

God shall bless our nation for being loyal to the mission He has invested in all human nations which is to give shelter to its communities against War and the darkness of exile as a particular endeavor of Country upon the earth and through these necessary graces, deepen our conviction to prosper the peace for ourselves and our posterity.

I should remind us now that most of us here today have never even known this peace.

Our leaderships at this point in time must also bear in mind and heart that peace in its general form is absolutely present in the greater will of the one Filipino nation from whom they all draw their sovereign authority and unto whom we all belong by birth, by common desire, and by the will of Divine Providence.

In this world caught adrift in the ebb and flow tides of exile time, my beloved brothers and sisters of the Promise, from the nation we all shall begin, from the nation we all shall return.

So let us take this truth to heart and put a paramount value on the peace of our national communities.

- selah -

Truly, my beloved people, there is a greater season at work here and we should be mindful of it because it involves matters much larger in their scope than our internal divisions. I hope all the recent goings-on in our world gives our own peace process a deeper perspective.

Having said this, I am encouraged by the recent meeting between President Noy and Chairman Murad in Tokyo - mabuhay po kayo!

I am also thankful for the government of Japan for getting better involved in this vital process for my Country reminding all concerned parties that achieving peace in our Philippines will also add to the greater good of our local region and of our home continent of Asia.

---<--@

A Word on Philippine Electoral Culture -

There are no losers in an honest election. But in a dishonest election, the whole nation is the loser.

---<--@

The Highest Office -

The highest Office in a Republic is the LORD's as the one Sovereign of all nations, God, our first defender and one Source of all our relationships.

All other Offices are established according to their nobility. Nobility, of course, being a substance of character that bears a quality of love for the common people.

Now, the noblest Office in a Republic is the Office of the President and forms at the center of the sheltering wings of government; wings that must fully embrace our one nation in the Peace of an undertaking of Country and this Country for us is the one Republic of the Philippines.

---<--@

Mabuhay ang Pilipinas! Mabuhay ang Japan! God bless us all.

Being Present for Peace