A Reprieve for Mary Jane

We have won a reprieve for our Mary Jane. Let's make it count.

Kudos to our President BSAIII and his Indonesian counterpart, President Joko Widodo, to our DOJ, DFA and its Indonesian counterparts, to civil society from both our nations, and to the God of all nations.

Everything led to everything in the right way because of everybody who cared and prayed and labored to bring about this opportunity... the important thing now is to make it count.

Let us keep in mind there is still work to be done to obtain for Mary Jane that hoped for commutation of sentence. Other things may happen from there. But we have to get there first.

We have to continue to watch and pray and help in our own ways.

Let us also pray for the eternal repose of those eight who were executed early Wednesday morning. Let us remember their grieving relatives... and let us be humbled.

But for the grace of God go we, my brothers and sisters... Let's give thanks and make it count...

Salamat po sa Diyos at salamat sa ating laht!
---<--@

Update 20150505tue: My thoughts still return to the 8 who were executed Wednesday morning last week. Let us please pray for their souls. Learning about the stories of some of the ones besides our Mary Jane was as hard as it was sobering. I think a few more should have been spared. 

There really is no right way of killing a person.

Even through human institution, taking a human life is always an evil. Perhaps an evil weighed against a greater evil but an evil still... There truly is nothing good about it. If not for the safety it stands to gain for the community, capital punishment would have been an outright sin.

Perhaps capital punishment has lived out its usefulness in our days, perhaps not. One thing is for sure though, a person once dead can not be wished back to life again.

Lessons from Hanukkah

Hanukkah teaches that the right response is not to curse at the darkness but to light a light.




Hanukkah teaches us not to rely on miracles.

It is a witness to strength of perseverance.

Did not the oil itself persevere?
---<--@





Hanukkah 2015 begins in the evening of Sunday, December 6 and ends in the evening of Monday, December 14.

Though Hanukkah 2015 still lay in our tomorrow, its lessons remain so near to me... It's one of the two Jewish holidays I hold dear in my heart. The other one is Purim.

Both of them are holidays of national deliverance.
---<--@

"Ich Janke air fur all das cute, una liebe, una schone." - Anne Frank, 19440307tue

Thank You God for all that is good and dear and beautiful.

A prayer for Mary Jane and her companions

Heavenly Father, please do not forsake Mary Jane Veloso and her companions in their hour of need. As in Gethsemane You sent Your Holy Angel to comfort Your Son before His Passion, be there for them in their anguish also. Hear their prayers.

Comfort them. Comfort their families. Give them gentle counsel, O most merciful God. The forgiveness of their sins. Give them strength and courage to believe in the grace of Thy deliverance.

For Thou art God, able to produce good from any evil, and make the wild flowers grow from fields barren and accustomed to death; Who forsakes not and produces in each of us despite ourselves, the fruits of Thy ultimate and everlasting purposes, we shall pray to Thee and thank Thee for our prayers.

If today, O good and gracious LORD, Thou willed to receive them, deliver them swiftly. If today, dearest God, Thou willed to allow them to remain living here on earth with us, deliver them swiftly.

Let Thy will be done.

Amen.
---<--@

Personal Reflection:

I am fully convinced now that Mary Jane Veloso is a victim of circumstance.

A concatenation of adverse events to which she had little to no power to reverse has her now in thrall. My hope is that sharper minds and nobler hearts can unravel the truth before it's too late.

Hope still remains that Mary Jane will not be executed... Whatever happens though - we must move to make things better over here so as not to multiply victims like Mary Jane.

20150427mon: Whether we believe in the death penalty or not, as a Country, we have an obligation to ourselves as citizens to see to it that our rights to both life and liberty receive adequate legal protection - here or anywhere in the world.

The dignity of the human person in every Filipino citizen and the prestige of the entire Philippine State are goods reciprocal: To recognize one is to recognize the other, to respect one is to respect the other.

If one believes this as I do, one should likewise realize how we contradict ourselves whenever we choose to protect one and not the other. Both bases must be covered.

We can not dictate policy for other States but we can certainly accommodate for better here at home... Some improvements will be structural to the Republic and will be gradual but the most immediate ones I can suggest are these:

Screening for high-risk OFWs - criteria to be based on Country of destination, age, gender, level of education, average overseas experience and any adverse social conditions relevant and applicable.

The screening itself will either be in questionnaire form or through an interview. This will be done before the departure date and a clearance will be required by customs at the airport.

Voluntary for all Filipinos travelling overseas - either as OFWs or tourists. Mandatory for those who are travelling to particular Countries identified in the criteria.

Set up a Citizens Defense Fund. This fund is to be drawn from sources of income already being drawn by the State - sourcing it from relevant centers of revenue - and must not be passed on to the backs of those particular class of citizens it is intended to protect - to protect the prestige of the State.

The CDF will provide the financial capacity to sustain and carry out programs and information initiatives meant to shield and empower professions identified as vulnerable or high risk - OFWs and Journalists are two that I would like identified. This until such a time as statistics change and those categories have entered levels of risk considered to be nominal or other categories have been identified and included.

As these ideas are still in their formative stages... certainly, they can be improved on in due time.

Love is blind?

If love were blind,
why ponder the mind?
That's so unkind.

If love were blind,
why seek the heart?
Where to start?

If love were blind,
why must lovers begin...
where from within?
---<--@

Some say faith is a blindness that allows you to see. This is true, you know.

Hope is born of those little glimpses faith accords the eye of the heart...

And love, love is the sight that allows us to trust in faith.


We used to have those little autograph books in the sixth grade. In it there is always a blank that asks you for a favorite motto. I know a lot of us peek at answers others have given, I did too. One of the most famous answers was, "love is blind".

Hmmm... In retrospect. I must've thought this response mysterious enough to be universally considered a cool and appropriate sixth-grader response. Yup, I used to put it down a lot.

Intermission...

Love is not really blind though. It can be stupid to the eyes of the world. But what is wise to the unwise?

What love really does at times really, only love may really understand. And unless the love itself admits the heart into its inner council of love, one shall never see what is beautiful from the eye of its beholder.

You see, it is this world outside of ourselves that is blind after all. Not love.

Come to think of it, I should write, "love is kind", as one of my favorite mottos next time around...

It's more true for me nowadays.
---<--@

      You're the star that shines in me...

Merry Easter 2014

I kept a running journal of my Lenten 2014 experience. Let me tell you, it had its ups and downs. There was a low like a valley, sunk in the shadow. 

And there was a point in that valley where I had to actively deny feelings of creeping despair an entrance into my soul. For I was a despair-er once in my life, my beloved brothers and sisters in the Lord Jesus.

My soul drank of the foul bilge water of that sunken kind of unbelief; that secret sense of doubt, in the glorious Redeeming power of Almighty God truly - present and active and alive - in all living souls.

But like the Apostle Paul and Silas in prison, the Spirit of God made a way out for me. 

In no uncertain terms can I be that way again. Yea, a sinner I shall always be but some sins whose taint the Father through the Son have deigned to remove from me, I can not somehow bear to allow my Jesus to bear again for me. They are my Quo Vadis, Domine! (At the forefront of these is my Recovery - which will not only profit me but many others like me).

Truly, our God is a mighty and amazing God! A God of Mercy and Justice and Love is He - the LORD, our Peace. In the pits and in the heights, the song I shall sing for Him is - Alleluia to God in the highest, Thou art mine, and I am Yours! 

So you see, I had to slog through some slow, uncertain days. Some days, I had to tell my impassioned spirit - be calm, and to sit still. Everything led me up - led us all up - to this Easter mountain high.

The Lord is Risen! He is truly Risen! 

If I am to summarize my experience of Lent 2014, I would encapsulate it in this way -

Good Friday - I am sorry, my Lord Jesus;
Holy Saturday - I love You, my Lord Jesus;
and Easter Sunday - Thank You, my Lord Jesus.

The 3 days correspond also to the 3 stages of the spiritual life - the Purgative, Illuminative, and Unitive.

One is redeemed by the Blood on the Cross of Christ, then justified by grace through faith in the Love of the Father in the Son, then through the Spirit of Truth united in Joy to the Joy of Christ and our Father. This Joy unites us to Jesus. So Christians must profess in Faith, witness in Love and justify it all - in Joy. No Lent can ever be without an Easter!

The Wounds our Savior retained in His Glorified Body - calls, leads, and then completes the Way of the Church. How awesome a God is our God!

sweet

Our Easter Vigil Mass at our Parish and Shrine was utterly magnificent. I hope yours was too.

God love our priests! God bless His faithful priests. God bless His faithful priests in our Parish. O what a blessing it is to be in the presence of His good and humble priests!

His good and humble deacons, priests, and bishops from all the Earth who along with Laity from every Nation - keep us truly Catholic.


Merry Easter greetings of Peace and the Goodwill of God to all Mankind!
---<--@

O How Long the Wait

How long shall I wait in weakness, my God?
How long shall the brokenness of sin
haunt my shadow, my LORD?

I live in wait and suffer to offend
Thou Whom I love
by my sins.

O forsake me not, my God,
and have mercy on my poor soul!

O my Savior, save me -
O my Jesus, deliver me.

And so I weep with scornful tears
at my failures before thee,
O Mother of my God!

For numerous are my offenses
and before me my sins persist
like dark tomorrows.

O Mary Ever Virgin,
and Ever Chaste Queen,
though doubts rise and hopes fall,
I will cling to you!

O my Savior, save me -
O my Jesus, deliver me.

---<--@

A Church of Greater Things

A Faith of little things, that's us - a Church of greater things, that's us too.



Love in the truth - Realize in reality the Love that shines from Eternity and see Beauty reflected in the little things and love it back - embracing it all.

Love us All, darling Starshine - for in our smallness, in our needs - we can dream. There is beauty in every human hoping - and in our togetherness - strength in our common believing, it shall be well.

Smile and feel the radiance of a smile. Feel the warmth of human faith in believing, all shall be well... Learn to miss it - long to fill the skies above thy soul with it - serving with all thy heart. 

Learn to look for thy happiness in the happiness of others. Dream two dreams, one for thy self and one for such as thy self - make them one: God is, and that is all!

Say to the sinner, O I love you anyways! - For in Christ, I hope all things for you - let us first remain in God and all things we shall through Him overcome - together, always together in Jesus Christ, the Lord.

We shall be great, O little Church, strong in spite of our littleness and despite our individual failings and our spiritual woundedness - forgiven - beyond reach of doubt - a thousand times over - and made whole by our God - out of love of us - yes, for love of All of us - together - so let us be one in this hope: Victory is won at the Cross! - once and forever - so let us be joined in this - just one belief, one victorious heart of prayer!

Say to the evils of this world, I know you now - so therefore, I shall seek to no longer understand you, O sin of the world, but shall have unfailing recourse to the everlasting Truth of my Savior and the reality of my God and Father to my heart - so leave us be, O Adversary of all the living souls - for I serve thee not - and leave my brothers and sisters alone - for I am their keeper.

Receive the Peace of the one Redeemer of Mankind - and know, O Christian, that thy gift belongs to all Nations - cherish all human community and embrace their very human hopes - weep for brokenness and be the salt that preserves - work for healing and be the light that leads - grow in Justice, shine in Love - live in present Memory of God and of each other - pray for thine enemies, give them hope - for they are restless - know their evil and abhor it - but become the freedom they never knew.

Fall and stand right up - and be chastened by thy failings - cling to thy faith, and do this without count - forgive as thou art forgiven - calling out to God for strength and forever trusting in Him - go discern the unfailing grace of the LORD in the darkness of thy soul and you shall know joy - Light in the darkness - and when you know, my darling, your interior skies shall be filled with stars, God with us - Come and see! 

Develop a Marian character and you shall multiply this joy - strength unto the Morning.
---<--@

"Amen, I say to you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” - Matthew 17: 20


Mabuhay ang ating Santo Papa Francisco!

To the Class of 2012

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

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

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

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

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

I will make this message a personal one.)

---<--@

First of all, congratulations! 

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

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

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

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

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

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

For it must. 

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

Looking back will serve only to embitter thee. 

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

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

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

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

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

Come alive to the reality of unseen things!

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

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

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

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

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

Yea, uncertainty.

I want you to savor it.

For this uncertainty exists for each of you.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Be peacemakers.

---<--@

Dreamer of Dreams

20110719

Salutation #40

(New Heavens and the New Earth)

To my Holy Mother Church,

especially to the Church in the Philippines -

AT THE DAWNING

of the new heavens and the new earth,

my beloved friend and constant companion -

after our General Judgment at the Last Day

here at the beginning of all things new -

I would that you shall prayerfully

ponder upon these things

that I shall share with each of you:

If the holy angels in heaven are arrayed in their choirs;

our humanity at our restoration shall be arrayed as our one family of nations -

ascended nations, perfected in peace and human community

and infinitely wholesome with all kinds of good things.

For God shall be our Country,

God's perfect Peace shall be our State

and we shall each possess as our eternal belonging,

the wonderful strength of all of our national communities -

all who are good and who have left this world in friendship with God,

reborn and perfected in everlasting friendships with each other in God,

dwelling forever in pious society with all the Holy Angels of God.

True Light shall imbue and permeate our quicksilver reality

with a golden radiance, as the infinite majesty

of the one Presence of the LORD - our one triune Perfection,

shall for all Eternity completely rest

upon the one whole one of our human habitation;

upon all of our worlds, within and without,

shining out unto all of our cities in the visible universe

stretching out from before our feet.

Our own true skies above our souls

shall be conscious and awake to our human longings

and open to the radiant light of our heavens above,

receptive to all our heart's yearnings

as well as responsive to our mind's eagerness to learn -

for not only shall we be ageless as the Angels of the LORD,

we shall also be timeless as they are timeless

and travel the way the timeless and the ageless travel - by speed of spirit -

moving from thought to thought, love to love,

faster than light, sliding from moment to moment,

and we shall nevermore feel pain nor hunger,

neither shall the fear of separation or death anymore haunt our steps

as we labor to discover and understand - together - without effort

the inexhaustible mysteries of time and creation, salvation and redemption -

ever as the vision of our LORD opens up to our souls - face to face -

to bring our lives forevermore into a state of constant felicity.

And,

greatest and most exquisite of all wonders -

our Savior, Jesus Christ - our one True Light,

shall walk among us once again - bodily -

even as the most gentle mind and the most loving heart

of our Lord Christ dwells with us from within

as our own true rest,

ever as timeless as the Peace of the Holy Spirit of God

- within our souls -

bringing us into a permanent unity with the Father in Eternity

and into communion with all the blessed Saints of God -

those prophets, kings, queens, bishops

and the all the true heroes of all Mankind -

each and every one of them servants and friends to Him alike

- from all times and from all places -

whose living fruits are made edible for All and fruitful forever

who are, each of them, elect of the LORD from Eternity

and upon whose happy company we shall be included forever

as the one ascended family of the perfected nations of Mankind.

And we shall know all of this

and many more things when we get there, Beloved of God -

but verily, we will not get there - at the one gathering -

as perfected nations lest our own nations survive here

in this midnight place of War and sin;

here in our hearts, here in our poor world.

Furthermore,

my brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ,

at the approach of the closing of 2012, do not be disturbed,

for there shall be many who will say that the hour of the LORD is here.

But until God Himself decides to work out the way

to bring about His promised hour, as it is foretold by our Savior Himself,

let us bear in mind - here and now -

No man, no angel, not even our Lord JESUS CHRIST Himself,

knows the exact hour of the Last Day;

only God the Father knows precisely when the gossamer veil of time

shall be ripped in two

and our fragile, shadowy existence

directly exposed to the unmitigated, immovable, supernatural reality

of the blinding purity of the Divine existence.

So in the unfolding of our reality today,

my beloved friend and constant companion,

here in this present time,

even as War is still among our nations,

let us be sure that sufficient to the evil therewith

is the light of our Day, shining from within,

ever as the numberless stars of our Father Abraham.

Let us be constantly mindful of all of these things

that we may learn to respect and understand

the reason why things are they way they must be:

Why we must make this choice for Peace

at a time, times and half-a-time,

here in our hearts, here in our lives,

here in our nations, here in our Midnight world,

under this greater season of Sky

or forever lose something good in our becoming

- as nations dreaming together this time -

that we will never know the completeness of.

Lastly,

I commend to you the request of our Lady

that we pray for each other and all people of good will

- everyday - as much as we can (when not doing so at Holy Mass)

and work in our hearts to preserve our horizontal relationships

as true individuals reborn in the Spirit of Christ,

as family to our families, as friends to our friends,

as citizens of our nation and of all nations,

and as faithful and obedient children of our Holy Mother Church -

even through her Rosary of Hope.

For the salvation of so many rests on so very few.

These are perilous times indeed.

But we should never fall into a state of despair,

my friends - God has overcome the world - for us.

---<--@

General Judgement - An Outline

• The Song of Moses and the vigilant hymn of the Triumphant Church.
• Some will not taste death: The final triumph of the Militant Church.
• The emptying of the tomb: the Resurrection of the Body.
• The gathering of the one family of the nations of Mankind.
• The public revelation of the mysteries of salvation.
• The passing of judgment prepared from the foundation of the world.
• The breaking of the midnight world: the passing away of the exile darkness.
• The end of the necessitate Suffering Church.
• Sin exorcised forever: the eradication of death and suffering.
• God wipes away all tears: the exorcism of the pain of memory.
• The reunification of heaven and the inhabited earth: the final liberation of the habitations of life.
• The Beatific Vision: The nature of the finite and the infinite reward for virtue.
• The citizens of the Holy City: Why one must never judge without hope.
• The noble society of Men and Angels: the friendships that remain are the friendships that shall remain forever.
• The end of the beginning at the beginning of all things new.
• Happiness becomes a dedicated place as well as a state of being.
• Hellfire becomes a dedicated place as well as a state of being.
• The everlasting death of Satan and the reprobate, of forsaken memory.
• Epilogue - Our Peace is Prologue: The Sacred Wounds of our Lord Christ: The Love that remembers is the Love that remains: one Love, one LORD, and We, one People - forever.

---<--@

The First Law of Human Possession

Why did God create the universe first before creating Man?

Because Man belongs to the universe and not the universe to Man.

Nature is not a mere possession that extends out from the hand of Man but rather, Man is its necessary keeper so that from the hand of Man through the goodness of God, Nature is made complete - for Man.

This is the first law of human possession - what Man desires to possess Man must first make complete. For the resources of the earth (and the universe entire) may only be truly possessed by Man by its completion in Him.

Man possesses Nature inasmuch as Nature is made complete by Man through God - for Man - and not destroyed by token of Man's irresponsible use of his or her own human powers.

When I think of this in practical terms, I am presently inclined to think about our current policies regarding land use.

---<--@

Mabuhay po tayong lahat! God bless all His nations of the one family of the nations of Mankind.

Common Ground

20110707

Salutation #31

(Who is Greatest?)

PEACE be with you, Starshine -

The question may arise

from issues arising from the most recent history of our world

about the better undertaking of Country

between an orphaned nation and its Republic

and those nations who yet possess (and are therefore still possessed of)

its original line of hereditary rulers -

its kings, queens, and princes - eternally elect of old.

Let us bear in mind - first of all -

that we now live in a different paradigm

than the one before our age:

The better undertaking of Country

is the one best able to fulfill its mission

mandated by heaven

and established by the LORD

from the autumnal dusk of our faded Eden -

at the very beginning of exile time

and the long march of our nations -

whether which one, it depends singularly

on its will of obedience

and submission to the truth

invested by God in all human nations -

for all Country is ruled by its own remembrance of these.

The nearer we are to the Peace that prospers,

the further we are from the War that scatters -

the nearer we are to the War that scatters,

the further we shall stray from the memory of God and Nation,

and the worse shall the atmosphere of our Country become.

A Monarchy that is faithful is better than a Republic that is adulterous to itself.

Likewise, a Monarchy that is no longer possessed

of its own virtue as an institution intrinsic to the Responsible State

being eternally invested by the LORD

with the singular authority to order the government of its people in the nation

is worse than a Republic yet caught in the chaos of its own revolution.

For a Monarchy without its virtue is in reality a tyranny in all but name.

No Country upon this earth at this point in time

is truly ignorant of the calling

to which we are all inclined by these times to fulfill -

for the world upon which we have all invested

our lives, our labors and our fortunes together as nations

is but one world and it lies in great peril.

We all are part of the strength that will deliver this world to promise.

Or doom it by our own ill will for other people and other nations.

Therefore, we must always seek

to preserve the national good will in each our selves.

Let us say, "peace be to all the nations

of the one family of the nations of Mankind -

glory, honor, and praise be to the LORD, our King forever."

For it is sufficient for us to know

that all human nations are ruled by their remembrance -

not by any random chance, and never by War.

And since we are a Republic,

my honorable Filipino compatriots,

let us be imbued with the spirit of a Republic in our soul.

Let us make this Country of ours work not by being better

- or think that we are better -

than other Countries but by being better

than our own worst selves.

For it is only by besting the false image of ourselves

that we shall truly succeed - together this time.

What we shall attract come 2012

at the time of our testing as nations together this time

depend singularly on the convictions we are building here today -

for there is nothing random about the things that happen to nations.

Individual awakenings lead to a national awakening

(

2009-2012 - work of the heart).

National awakenings lead to a general strengthening of our one family of nations

(

2012-2045 - work of the hands).

- selah -

Starshine,

the greatest undertaking of Country upon our earth

depends on where you are placed by the Providence of God -

if you choose to grow where you are planted,

if you choose to shine as you should

in the darkness where you are most needed,

by the power of the LORD, thy most beneficent God,

through the blessings of Providence Divine,

then that place is the greatest place in the world

for you and for everybody around you.

The greatest is the most faithful.

---<--@

Mabuhay po tayong lahat! Long may our remembrance serve us. God bless all His nations of the one family of the nations of Mankind.

On Obedience

20110615

Second Half of 2011

We are now into the second half of 2011, my honorable compatriots.

Peace, I think we are doing well.

Everywhere around us things are changing but the secret to all this change is how we hold on to the changeless in ourselves. We need to return to first principles and build from those truths about ourselves that are immutable.

Only then, when we are come into the nation in ourselves, can we emerge into our truest potential as a Republic whole.

The LORD, our God, is upon His Throne in Eternity, my people - all is well!

Because God is in His heaven, my nation, peace shall reign in the heart of Man, good will shall prevail between all men and women of peace, and the order of the nations of Mankind shall persevere.

Do not be distressed therefore, about the darkness.

Indeed, there shall be confusion and perhaps we shall find ourselves in the thick of it more and more by and by at the approach of 2012. But understand now at the second half of 2011 that it is all a necessary passage.

Say to thy heart, "everywhere around me things are changing, alleluia."

For darkness is but darkness that does not lead to the light.

If today we have come to understand as we should, the changeless and the timeless in ourselves and in others like ourselves, we should by now have gained for each of ourselves, by grace of God, a special kind of appreciation of what beauty there is in our common humanity.

We would have fallen in love with the dawn, my honorable compatriots.

And this vision shall see us through the long night - as citizens to each other and as a nation among nations.

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Salutation #14

(Canticle of Praise)

Bless Your Name, O LORD!
From the highest of Angels

to the very least of us Men!

Bless Your Name, O LORD!

All creatures great and small -
let all of Your creation sing!

Bless Your Name, O LORD!

May Your praises be heard
from the fiery depths of hell,
across all the lands of earth,
far into the heavens above!

Our voices proclaim Your glory!
Alleluia! Amen to God!

AMEN!

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Mabuhay ang Pilipinas! Long may our remembrance serve us. God bless us all.

Of Virtue and Vice

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"If the veil of time were withdrawn and the Kingdom of God stretched forth in plain view before thy sight, if the LORD does not incline thy heart unto Him, O Man, thou still would not be able to believe."

The Story of Being Special

The LORD God created all living beings to be unique - Angels and Men - the LORD created them, seen as well as unseen, We became. And All of us are made to be special.

But the Devil and his angels, they said, "since the LORD God willed that all living beings are special then I must be special".

And so was division in heaven sown. For the Devil and his angels undid in themselves the life that the LORD God in each of us did bestow in abundance.

They cast themselves into the void.

But the Holy Angels of the LORD said, "as the LORD God willed that all living beings are special, then you, O my beloved, must be special".

And so they were in God gathered. For the spirit of the world is a scattering spirit. But the Spirit of God gathers together.

You make me special, beloved of God, and so I am. And so you are, alleluia.

Then God said, "Let there be light," and there was light.

God saw how good the light was. God then separated the light from the darkness.

God called the light "day," and the darkness he called "night." Thus evening came, and morning followed--the first day.

- Genesis 1: 3-5

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Now, I should like to share this with my brother and sister Christians:

Litany of Love

Have mercy on us, dear Jesus! From behind mere accidents of bread and wine, You peer at our world so full of war and sin.

Incline our hearts to Thee, dear Savior, that we might better serve the cause of Thy peace.

And as we journey together as Thy Church in this world (during the season of Lent add: towards Thy Holy Mountain of Easter), renew us in our togetherness and faith. Make us hungry for God and thirsty for the right things of God, dear Jesus, out of love for Thee!

Deign to bless us in our nations as keeper and friend, one to another, and prosper us in our hopes to build a better world.

AMEN.

(Here follows my personal pattern as an example)

God the Father in heaven, I love You.

God the Son, Redeemer of the world, I love You.

God the Holy Spirit, I love You.

O dearest LORD, my one, triune Perfection, I love You.

Holy Mary, Queen of my heart, I love you.

Saint Maximilian Kolbe, Patron Saint of the Suffering Addict, I love you.

Blessed Jacinta Marto, Flower of Fatima, I love you.

Blessed Francisco Marto, Helper of my Lord, I love you.

Sister Lucia, Servant of God, I love you.

Saint Lorenzo Ruiz of Manila, I love you.

Saint Therese of Liseaux, I love you.

Saint Josemaria Escriva, I love you.

Saint Anthony of Padua, I love you.

Saint Peter, I love you.

Saint Paul, I love you.

Holy Father Dominic de Guzman, I love you.

Holy Father Francis of Assisi, I love you.

Saint Lawrence the deacon, I love you.

Saint Dymphna, I love you.

My darlingest Annelies Marie Frank, I love you.

All you Holy Innocents of God, I love you.

All you Holy Souls in Purgatory, I love you.

All my family and friends, I love you.

O my Philippines, I love you.

All you nations of Mankind, I love you.

Angel Caritas, my guardian dear, I love you.

Saint Michael the Archangel, I love you.

All you Saints of God, I love you.

All you Holy Angels of the LORD, I love you.

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Meditate on each your loving relationships. Wonder at the fact that we are able to love. Because it is no small miracle in itself that we are made to be aware that we are in love at all.

If faith is light, then hope gives it brightness, but it is love that gives to it sharpness and clarity.

Love sees far, overcoming both distance and time. When love holds us near, we perceive a sense of the timeless. For when we hold near to our love it hold us near to Itself. All lasting things are preserved by it.

In its embrace, our spirits are quickened. And in this prayer, brothers and sisters, we mean to encounter that embrace.

To be in love is to be aware. To be aware is to be alive.

I hope it helps.

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Let us pray for the victims of the recent earthquake in New Zealand and for peace in Libya.

Mabuhay ang Pilipinas! God bless us all.