Man and Woman as a New Creation

In this day, precious Starshine, the women of this Country possess a high degree of freedom. And it gave our national thinking a kind of soul.

Prostitution they say, is the most ancient profession.

Truth is, prostitution is only as ancient as it endures in the life of our communities today.



It has been such a persistent truth over the ages that prostitution is a womanly profession that perhaps, a greater part of our humanity may have somehow come to believe it were an honorable and ancient trade - disgracing and abusing Woman and her children.

Let me say that it is not.

Woman too was a victim in the beginning.

She and Man suffered equally the consequences of our temporal banishment from the everlasting freedom of our our original innocence.

Prostitution, dear Starshine, is a failure to protect. It becomes a profession only as a result of this evil.

And by a failure to recognize and to craft effective laws that ensure the dignity of the person of Woman is to be preserved equally right alongside Man, we inadvertently sway in support of this lie, that somehow the sex trade in Women and children is in fact, "a trade".

Where this is the fault of Man, it brutalizes the image of Man because of who Woman is to Man, not despite of her.

Where this is the fault of our nations, we perpetuate the victimization of the inherent dignity of Woman (at our expense) and as a labor of Country the necessary success of our common ascent is held back by our lack of remembrance.

Man and Woman as a union is one.
Truly, both were meant "to be".

If Man is mind.
Then Woman is heart.

So that together
Man and Woman
may become
one soul.

They are qualities equal
but not the same.

If Man is pilot.
Then Woman is navigator.

Theirs is a journey that must proceed
from the freedom of their giving,
lest the family lose its power
to shelter and to raise you,
dear little ones.

Unity of family
proceed from Man and Woman
establishing both their faith and authority
over each other, lovingly and wisely,
that a proper dominion may be established
over the generations of Mankind.

This authority in Man and in Woman
to place upon the earth their common tent
in sight of the LORD is not an authority
to establish a permanent dominion
over one - or - the other.

For their union
of bearing and strength

is one complementary equality 

intended for the renewal of creation
being itself a unity - constantly new and ever new
upon the earth - to live, love, and to set each other free

and in doing so, in between their pains giving birth
to the transformation of the life of the earth.

---<--@

Beauty is timeless.

Beauty is ageless.

Beauty is always in season...
And is forever known to be so.

What is most beautiful is fleeting, all that is worth remembering is what is most beautiful...

Do you remember?

Salutation #196

(Egalitarianism as a Civic Virtue)

Peace be with you, 
our beloved Starshine -



All human beings are
equal creations before God.

This we are
along with all the flesh of the earth.

We exist. 

And we exist because we have a right to exist.

In all other living things with Man upon with earth,
this right to exist resides in each their common natures.

In both plants and animals alike it equally resides,
and is expressed as a common survival instinct.

In Man above all other living things of the earth,
this right to exist resides in each our persons individually.

In both male and female alike it equally resides,
and is expressed as a common longing -
not only for all of life to survive and persist
but for all of life to ultimately triumph and prevail.

We neither caused our own existence as a whole
nor did we individually sought to exist
in our world, at its present course,
before our time.

Yet here we are - we are here.

We are - because we have life.
And we are here - because we are
of the human lineages of our Mankind.

Our right to exist is a natural right. 

Our right to life is a human right. 

And proceeds from our natural right to exist.

This is our most fundamental equality.

It is a moral reality
founded upon a spiritual truth
about ourselves.

For what is natural
is inalienable
to its own reality.

What is human therefore,
is inalienable
to the reality of Man.

The preservation of this right in Man is therefore,
an ethical imperative that is universal in character.

It is also among our Nations, a sacred duty.

As citizens,
beloved of the one Creator,
we are bound to each other in the freedom
to preserve, nurture, and improve upon
our natural rights to life - and thus, to live that life
in order to advance in and among our Nation/s,
a quality of life suitable
to the progress of our Liberty.
---<--@

Further Reflection -

Here in the Philippines, in this present day, we are witnessing multiculturalism anew.

Our Nation - by nature - is already a multicultural society but only on a hitherto local scale. For within our borders we enjoy a human diversity that is equal to or even exceeds what diversity the Providence of God intended from the beginning to abide within the souls of our other kindred Nations.

The richness of our human diversity should be a source of both wonder and joy to this Nation of ours... 

This is so because this self-same human diversity and its appreciation is both the cause as well as the hope of other forms of diversity in the life of lower creation.

We only impress upon the life of our animals and plants, our own understanding about life and its truths; that they were made to exist for us. And we for them.

Again, these days, we are beginning to see multiculturalism in our Nation that is regional, continental, and global in nature. And we, as a grateful people before God, should know how to welcome human diversity - and to actually love it knowing what a blessing.it is to truly understand that in this Nation of ours there is no unity without diversity.

This unity in diversity is built on our most fundamental of equality as human beings - to exist. 

And in our Nation, this is unity is made to prevail in time besides - through our citizenship with each other as we work through the economy of our generations to improve quality of life for all Filipinos - to the last of our generations at the Last Day.

(Our most fundamental civic equality being to know, seek, and do what is human, and true, and good for the other - as ourselves. That citizenship begins with the self. This is also was in essence what JFK was asking the American Nation when he said his most famous statement, "ask not...)

There truly can be no civic clarity where there exists no just human equality before God and in Country.

In animals or plants, when they shall take a life - they do so only with a knowledge of their own life.

In Man, when we shall take a life, we do so not only with a knowledge of our own life but also with that of the life of others - whether plant, animal, or human.

Any human life, each in person unique and meant by God always for completion, once willfully took by the hand of Man can not and will never be replaced. Its intended good shall always be missing in our midst... this is true - no matter what the externals may seem.

Yet the same challenges we will as a Nation face - undiminished; the same demand for virtue and its fruits God shall require of our labor of Country - in every generation.

Let us remember this, my Country, that we may thwart among ourselves the unbecoming devices of the evil and unwelcome spirit of past times -

Skin is innocent. Sin is not. (i.e. the sin of inequality)

Racism, in all its ugly appearances, has no place here in the Philippines.

We are all the colors of life. What is superior here is what is - in spirit and truth - faithful.

For the color of Gold is in our national standard.

It is the color of all things about ourselves - true and everlasting.
---<--@

Genesis 9:16

When non-state actors detain individuals, do they adhere to international laws?

When non-state actors detain individuals, do they adhere to international laws? That question needs more research, argues Bruce Oswald. (United States Institute of Peace) http://owl.li/nwEVd

 

Sovereignty emanates from the will of the international community of nations, who in turn, in our will of recognition of each other, must likewise recognize in each other - each other's sovereignty.

This enabling sovereignty then is a common trust, shaped and defined by how each our nations, in reciprocity of this trust, wield it from within - in order to establish - on behalf of all our nations as one family - a just and lasting order among each our peoples.

Sovereignty then is all about peace (entrusted to each other) and the good will that MUST proceed from peace (as a common trust) - both within as well as without.

The prevailing of this good will then is that which makes any human community sovereign. For all sovereignty emanates from the people inasmuch as the reality of each their nationhood is alive and aware in them and the remembrance of their generations dwell in greater harmony with the peace of other nations.

Because the truth that is essential to the spirit of all that which is sovereign - which is also the only fruit fitting and proper to it - is peace - peace tempered and refined and translated from spirit and will unto matter and form - peace a priori manifest as truth in the heart of all nations forever and peace as the labor of the life and good will of each our nations, each arrayed in time and across all our generations as each our own particular undertaking of Country, each in our own particular Ages in time, each in relation to each other - and - All in relation to the one God of All Nations.

Nations and their Responsible States belong to each other in this relationship of mutual trust in behalf of all our nations who recognize each other through a sovereign bond of a common and universal peace.

Governments do not only have their respective elections, but just as importantly are also possessed of each their particular mandates to the people - both of which truths are necessary for the Responsible State to faithfully carry out and fulfill their functions effectively as well as efficiently - toward those true and human ends for which all earthly governments are raised, each from among their nations, by the will of Providence.

Non-state actors do represent a sovereign will and therefore, intrinsically lack the authority to act on its good behalf and so transgress a particular sovereignty when detaining a citizen of any particular nation when the detention of said person is an act intended absolutely, as an end, and not merely as a means, in order uphold the higher law of the nations.

My answer here is a resounding NO: Non-state actors not only transgress the rights of human individuals by unlawful detention of any of their peer in creation, they offend the sovereignty of All Nations.
---<--@

To each nation, a particular state -
these two components of Country
fit like lock and key... to succeed
or to not succeed
inasmuch as they belong.

To all nations, a particular way -
upon this way all are gathered together
through our knowing one another
and in our choosing to belong
in the Truth.

Salutation #154

(Human Rights)

Human rights - are those - 
inalienable and universal legal protections 

granted all human individuals 

that are derived 

from the manifest necessities 

that arise from the fundamental nature

of all human beings.

They
envelop human dignity 

- and - 

embrace human promise 

- and - 

constantly seek
- to do so -

each in their entirety.

In principle, 

these protections are directed 

toward defending our basic vulnerabilities 

and promoting our fundamental responsibilities 

to each other as human beings cognizant of our humanity

and are laws purposed together
by all nations for the benefit of all nations
to recognize, foster, and preserve
human life, liberty, responsibility, posterity, and destiny 

each in their most evolved
and universal sense.
---<--@

Human Rights in Syria Now!

Human rights in Syria now!

About 18,000 people
have already lost their lives
- and - their promise
in this struggle for internal control
of that beleaguered nation...

18,000!

This
represents a sizable tear
in the fabric of our humanity!

For
we can neither bring them back
nor can we resurrect
what good they would have stood for 
in our needful world
if their lives were not cut so short...

Now,
the opposing sides of the Syrian conflict
might have already decided to pursue
- through armed conflict -
each their necessary outcomes
and we might not be able
to change that now...

BUT 
if we - everywhere - stand up
for human rights in Syria - now
and if enough of us starts doing it,
and truly believe in it's work 
though we can not directly affect
the prevailing will of the opposing forces,
we can move to effectively lessen
the unwanted suffering of the Syrian people.

We have our own outcome to work for in Syria; 
an outcome seeks to responsibly preserve 
that nation's own spirit and energy 
for the task of the rebuilding 
that is certain to come after 
this bitter struggle.

Human rights in Syria now!
---<--@

Salutation #130

From the Book of Life proceeds -

   the Eternal Law!

Thus
is the way of all nations
established for all nations by God -

   for our law serves life, 
   and our life observes the Law.

'Tis but one great cycle
of exile and of exile returning -

   proceeding from peace, 
   and leading again into Peace!
---<--@



(The 2nd Cause: The Cause of Law - Unity)

The 2nd Cause
is concerned with Law
- and - the juridical processes
that guide, form, and strengthen
the evolving social consciousness
of the national community.

   (For human law
   as it is manifested - in time -
   is ever imperfect and as thus require
   - constantly - the guidance of the Eternal Law
   written in the hearts of all Mankind.)

- selah -

LAW is
what imparts necessary shape
and requisite strength to human reason
- and - human reason - as it directly relates -
with the LORD God - the one Author of Law -
and consequently, other human beings
(as well as other living beings,
seen and unseen).

Therefore,
Law must first be reasonable.

- selah -

Law must be made meaningful
to human reason - unaided by faith,
and so must draw its binding force (of truth)
out of a desire to advocate and advance
the authentic freedoms, intrinsic rights,
and the sheer quality of life
of those constituent communities
of whose citizens its necessary promulgation
is intended by the legislative branch
of the Responsible State.

- selah -

Law serves all of life.

But Law must - first and foremost -
be placed ever in the service of Sacred Life.

We
of the generations
of the children of Mankind
being both the guardians of the law [of the nations]
- as well as - its beneficiaries must dwell
in constant remembrance that:

   Life is a pre-existent good
   - life is before everything else was -
   the transcendental substance of its Truth
   is of the One Who is both limitless and eternal -
   and law inspired by the LORD
   is one written in defense of Sacred Life
   which is like clothing given for our nakedness,
   sewn as shelter for the needs of all living creation
   particularly human life.

   Therefore,
   law [human] is Law [Eternal] that serve all of life.

      (The intention
      of the law [of the nations]
      is to respond to human needs,
      and in particular, those human needs
      that are needful of its protection.

      Therefore,
      a law can not be written
      to create and/or to exploit human needs
      because this is the reverse of its original intention.

      The reverse [of law]
      can never ultimately hold true
      - against the flowing out of exile time -
      for it shall never hold fast in the one heart of Man
      being naught but a tyranny of words
      and of entire languages of words -
      offensive, empty, and barren.)

One
who beholds the law
and lives to abide with the Law
- in the heart -
must ever be aware
that those common human needs
are forever protected by the Eternal God -

That Law exists
in the service of Sacred Life!

- selah -

A law that serves
is one that is observed.

One must first observe the law
who desire to gain from its original intention.

In this way,
law is no respecter of persons
but is above all persons
(and personalities).

Therefore,
if any human community is to benefit
from the original intention of law,
then it must first be willing
to freely and completely apply itself
to its prescripts and ensure that the rule of law
both extends to all and applies to all
(which is effective promulgation and civic participation
founded on effective civic education respectively).

What precedes
this necessary civic observance
is an inherent public trust of whose original domain
is founded at the very foundation of law.

To be sure,
law was something inspired by God in Mankind
having variously revealed it to our humanity
- throughout Salvation History -
as a sign of our LORD's manifest will
to lead all hearts to the Truth.

It is an extension of His good will for all nations.

   (The highest [noblest] form of law being
   the Law of the Gospel or the Law of Christ-Love
   or the one Law [beyond which there is no more law].)

Since
the purpose of Justice - is -
the restoration of the Original Ideal,
Justice by its own virtue
seeks to preserve and to promote
what goodness there is.

We are then left with the reality of evil.

Now,
the intention of law is to bind evil
(and defeat the Evil in all evil things) -
to deter, deflect, deny, and expose it.

Therefore,
the purpose of law is - also -
to preserve and to promote the good
but this law wills to achieve
by the discouragement of evil acts.

Law is what deters evil
from afflicting all who
are covered by law.
---<--@

The Circular Relationship of the Causes

Salutation #116

Our world has changed and is still changing...



(Free Palestine!)

O people Palestine -

If it were but a simple choice,
would not our troubles we shall wave away
and shall not hope, at its soonest moment,
welcome us all home now, today.

But home now is nowhere to be found but here...

For what is home
but a certain togetherness, a particular belonging,
and a humanity which is complete?

Here is where we shall hope together
ever as those nations dreaming together this time.

Here,
apart from the darkness
which sees only in darkness
is where you are seen,
O beloved people Palestine,
as the rest of the world must soon see.

Here,
where thy own heart begins -
here is where all thy songs shall find again
their own rhythm and voice.

I shall never identify thee with War, O Palestine.

For I see you - as you are -
as the rest of the world must soon see.

You are a threat to none
but those who seek to harm thee.

And though I hope thy exile was over,
in truth, we are all exiles to this world,
and so we must live to belong together
and be bound by one dream of peace.

No one is to blame
for the presence of War
in the heart of our Asia -
the Middle East.

But everyone is to blame
for the absence of Peace
in the heart of our Asia -
the Middle East.

Therefore,
freedom for Palestine - the region!
And freedom for Palestine - the nation!

Peace for Palestine with Israel
at the heart of our Asia.

Peace for Palestine and Israel
at the heart of our Asia.
---<--@

From the deception, the division,
and the deterioration of War,
O LORD and God of all nations,
deign to deliver us in all thy nations.

AMEN.
---<--@


Support Palestinian Human and National Rights!

20110809

The Controversial CCP Exhibit: Freedom of Expression?

I'm not going to post a picture of the controversial exhibition at the CCP because it is offensive to my Roman Catholic religion.

Here is what I think of the matter -

If the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) were a private venue, it would have been fine. But since the CCP is a public venue, the argument stands - in this particular instance, this is not freedom of expression.

I am not arguing absolutely here. This exhibition is not something proper to our individual right to freedom of expression, in this particular instance, not because the artist is not free to express his or her creativity, in whatever craft or medium he or she chooses. Indeed any artist should be absolutely free to convey to our general appreciation whatever message, offensive or otherwise, is being carried by his or her artwork.

It is not proper to our individual right to freedom of expression not in the sense that the artist is not free to practice.

- selah -

We should as a society be free to be able to appreciate even the most provocative forms of art.

It is not proper not in the manner that it was expressed (though it is completely offensive to my religious sensibilities) but because it is not an expression that is relevant to the place where the exhibition is taking place.

The limited welcome of this form of art in Filipino society is hugely disproportionate to the scope and prestige of its actual venue, the CCP. Therefore, it is a freedom irresponsibly exercised.

To claim freedom of expression here - as is - without due respect to the freedom of others is to misconstrue the fundamental nature of human freedom.

All our freedoms have responsibilities attached to them. Every individual right is protected by a corresponding universal civic duty. In this instance, the freedom being expressed is irresponsible and therefore, an anathema to itself.

The artist is free to express his or her art form but in a venue more in keeping to that particular form of art (if he or she can find one) and this in order to preserve the public good which in this case is the general morality of the Filipino public (i.e. that prevailing sense of sanity that makes possible the flourishing of our wonderfully distinct Filipino culture).

It is this very morality that compels me to respect the artist's own individual freedom, at least in my own judgment about the matter, while preserving also the good of the Filipino public at large; a morality I draw from the strength of my Roman Catholic faith out of the love I have in God and in Jesus Christ; a morality I am sure I share in common with all our fellow citizens who like me, also find strength in the practice of any honorable human religion.

It could have been the right exhibit at the right venue. But it is the wrong exhibit in the wrong venue. It should be removed.

Finally, all passions aside, we should use this opportunity to learn from the matter and transform this untoward incident into a winning instance for our culture (in the strengthening of individual rights) and for our Republic (in the bettering of our common freedoms).

---<--@

The Chicken and the Egg

"What came first the chicken or the egg?"

This very old trick question we can reframe in the context of this particular post as -

"What came first the freedom or the responsibility?"

Ok so, what came first, the chicken or the egg?

None. Since both the chicken and the egg represents a cycle of life where each one guarantees the existence of the other. This cycle is established on a timeless truth - a first principle.

The trick is to stop asking the question and start understanding the truth that exists in principle outside of the question.

Life can never be inimical to life.

Our freedom (like our life) is by nature, a human good. So we human beings insticntively reach out for it. Because it is a good, it is vulnerable to become corrupted.

Herein lies the conundrum. Because our freedom when it is corrupted stops the cycle.

Like the chicken and the egg question, freedom as a common human need is the safeguard of human responsibility.

In a society that is just, human freedom is understood to be authentic.

To live with false freedoms is to live the trick in the question instead of the truth that exists outside of it; the truth we must constantly strive to reach every moment, every day, despite of our constant asking; the truth seems to hide in plain sight.

Freedom without responsibility becomes an anathema to itself.

It leads to action without accountability, destroys the progress of liberty in any society, and uproots the moral foundations of any economy.

---<--@

Mabuhay ang Pilipinas! God bless us all.

Freedom that is free is free indeed.

Common Human Needs

Defeating Homophobia

IGNORANCE breeds fear for lack of understanding. What's strange about it all is that people seem to fear the understanding more than the ignorance itself.

Now we come to a complex issue - gay rights.

Some people find this issue too difficult hence, homophobia. What is it?

ho·mo·pho·bi·a [hoh-muh-foh-bee-uh] –noun: unreasoning fear of or antipathy toward homosexuals and homosexuality.

Take note, homophobia is an unreasoning fear or antipathy toward homosexuals and homosexuality.

Like I said, it is a complex issue and herein lies its difficulties. It is simply too unreal to say one is pro-gay or anti-gay.

I myself consider my convictions about the issue to be centrist because I find myself advocating both liberal as well as conservative positions. My main argument though and one that I will not compromise with is the issue of human rights for gay people.

First of all, let me put this argument in the proper context -

The last great age of War thrives on a mindset of division. Where these mindsets have become firmly entrenched in the people, some cultures of persecution will persist.

Here in the Philippines, my honorable compatriots, we shall make every effort to successfully enter into the door that will lead our nation to promise in this new age.

We shall, as one nation, work to prosper our peace. This means we shall both clearly define and continually safeguard individual human rights as a vital element requisite to our integral sense of a national common good.

Because, honorable Filipino brothers and sisters of the Promise, without the real development of individuals there can be no true national development and there can be no real development of individuals without individual rights.

- selah -

In this sense, speaking for myself as a citizen, I am more concerned about the fear and ignorance that feed the phenomenon of homophobia than of homosexuals per se as a minority segment of our common humanity.

It is easier to reject than to respect and to forsake love rather than to embrace it. Hate blinds the faith that causes our reason to see further than it normally could, by the grace of God.

This is why in the case of minority human rights issues, above all other considerations, force of law is a requirement we can never do without.

This means that - especially in the case of the weaker segments of any society - the force of free human choice must be augmented by the prevailing law of the land.

But we can not have law without resort to reason and we can not use our reason (naked or otherwise illuminated by faith) without first accepting that homosexuality is not the problem, the phenomenon of homophobia is.

As a Roman Catholic Christian, though my stance on the matter is the traditional one and is well known to all, I am also additionally concerned about the abuse of my Christian faith by those who seek to use it to persecute my fellow human beings (homosexual or not) first of all, and the protection of my faith tradition from the excess of those who for selfish reasons, seek to make it more or less than what it should be (homosexual or not).

I do not believe in same-sex marriages. As far as I am concerned, we should just politely leave church weddings out of it.

But I do believe in the equality of homosexuals (and all human beings) before the law - specific civil contracts should be fine. And I mean this primarily to protect their property rights as fellow citizens equally engaged in our one Republic undertaking.

I believe in the dignity and the promise of the homosexual person as a fellow human being upon this earth but I will never endorse the homosexual act as a legitimate act of conjugal love.

I do not believe in legislating conformity as regards to anybody's private personal preferences as long as both the integrity of the human community and the common good of the nation are not threatened by it.

I am of the religious opinion that the homosexual state is a unique calling to serve in the chaste single state and must be explored in that context. Homosexuality is not a disease. It is a distinct calling to serve. That's my religious opinion.

Furthermore, I believe not in judging homosexuals but in helping them realize also their God-given right to be happy not by a false freedom that will consume them but by the freedom that will liberate them in the truth - that their lives too have purpose and meaning from God if only they shall seek to avoid conformity with the spirit of the world and fall in love with the Spirit of Jesus Christ the Lord.

Besides, how can one help those one has already, in his or her heart, condemned to be beyond help? And the homosexual person is never beyond help - no one is.

"Above all, let your love for one another be intense, because love covers a multitude of sins." (2 Peter 4: 8)

Absolutely speaking, I do not believe in using my religion as a weapon against other people.

My honorable compatriots, the future we are choosing to bring forward today belong to all Filipinos - it shall belong to all Filipinos or none at all.

---<--@

Within the week, I shall be issuing our next monthly challenge for this month of August 2011.

Mabuhay ang Pilipinas! God bless us all.

The smallest minority on earth is the individual. Those who deny individual rights cannot claim to be defenders of minorities. (Ayn Rand)

Others Like Yourself

A Just Equality

20110717

THE 21ST CENTURY shall be a century shaped by the decisive strength of our civic convictions on human rights issues. The more decisive these convictions are, the clearer the way ahead shall appear for our nation/s.

Bear in mind and heart, my honorable compatriots, that the 19th Century was the century of chemistry; the 20th, of physics; the 21st, as we shall see, will be one of biology (or to be more precise, Sacred Life).

- selah -

Salutation #37

(Silence, Self-Expression and the Human Potential)

PEACE be with you, Starshine -

Man is an expression of the language of creation.

We are, therefore,

creatures meant to find our own unique ways

to express the creative ideal in ourselves.

To cultivate and nurture our talents

and bring it out into our nations and into our world.

And there are many means and mediums

for adequate human self-expression in our visible universe.

Indeed, our ways of expressing the language of God in ourselves

is as wide and varied as our own individual uniqueness

- and even so -

there shall always remain more than enough room

in all the realms of creation, both seen as well as unseen,

for every free expression of the human potential

- in all its limitless forms -

BUT only for the work purposed for and to our humanity

by the will of God and the common needs of our Mankind.

If there is a perceived lack of these, Beloved of the LORD,

if the wonderful boundlessness of human expression is at present

seemingly constrained and constricted

- in our times and in our nations -

we must understand it is not yet

due to the lack of a necessary technological progress

in the craft of the sciences of Mankind

- as many are inclined to think nowadays -

because until we have learned to examine first

the progress of human potential in our communities

as nations among nations

as well as our own potential to express the creative ideal

as citizens to each other

as a way of giving expression

to the language of creation in ourselves

as individuals and as nations under the LORD

what knowledge we may obtain from our sciences

will only prove futile and deeply frustrating

in the constant pursuit of happiness.

Because creation is not an event

- it is a process -

and this process is a continuum

that began as One and shall end as One.

It requires the consistent development of the human element

as a free and active expression of the boundlessness of itself.

For the human potential

and its free and adequate expression

- in ourselves and in our nations -

is the only potential singularly capable

of producing and sustaining for all of visible creation,

through the Providence of God

and the free and necessary actions

of the willing instruments of the LORD

- physical, spiritual or both -

the allied Peace of the one family of the nations of Mankind

which is the governing principle of the Providence of God

as it is established by Him in this realm of the visible universe.

Left largely unrecognized and under-developed,

all forms of civic order and value will soon be forgot,

and our world shall be imperiled.

Hear me now, Starshine -

happiness is a gift gained by the labor of individuals

from the necessary field of a community of individuals.

So if you will to save the dream for one, as they say -

you must go and save the dream for all.

If we can not as citizens agree

on how to be a human being to each other,

the earth itself will rebel against the labor of our nations;

the silence of our skies will fall into utter meaninglessness

and all the Sacred Life of our planet will flee us.

Time will cease to flow

from the timeless in the human heart,

remembrance shall wither,

and all of human history shall seem

an unremitting retreat

into the darkness.

To the everlasting regret of all.

Now,

because of our human need for the human expression,

- we seek -

and from our seeking, we labor.

There is much noise in our world because of this - and -

amidst all this clamor of living life

- be it good or bad -

it is quite easy to lose ourselves entirely

in the pursuit of everyday living.

Amidst this is Silence.

For what is important to all human beings,

Beloved of God and citizen of all common creation,

is not always what one can see

or hear with external senses alone.

The most basic of human citizenship, precious Starshine,

is a sense of belonging to the one whole of all creation, seen and unseen.

From this all other citizenship draw their legitimacy.

To lose sense of this belonging is to fall away from Sacred Remembrance.

Because there are larger expressions of reality that yours alone.

All are aligned towards one manifest purpose.

The gravity of the last 2000 years or more

will instinctively attempt to paint in your mind and heart

a different picture of ourselves,

as human beings and as human nations

- inhuman, divided in the Heart by the spirit of War -

but the visible universe itself will witness to all human hearts

that there are no divisions in creation, there is only true belonging.

This is an integral part

of the universal patrimony of our humanity as a whole.

We are one whole one with all of creation.

It is part of our being human.

Something that may only be understood in the Silence.

When we are silent,

we are inescapably met with a motion to cease and desist

in the necessary work of finding ourselves,

and for a moment, even only for a single moment,

something seem to beckon our hearts to pause

and to leave the noise and the haste of this realm of creation.

Inwardly, we move toward the timeless, towards a realm of absolutes.

This can only be a choice.

It dawns like dew upon the heart, certain as certain can be,

inclining the free will of Man to bend to its beckoning.

But it is never a choice begun by Man.

So when we are silent, precious Starshine,

we are only silent in response -

to God and the Sanctity of All that is in the LORD.

It is this choice to respond

- to the Sacred Silence -

that is singularly ours to make

that we may each begin again anew

the communicative union that work to continually realize

the expression of the creative ideal in ourselves

(in God and with each other in Him).

Truly,

prayer and quiet thoughtfulness

form part of our authentic human freedoms.

Silence itself is an absolute.

It dawns upon our realization as dew is distilled upon the heart.

It is a medium of things that exist

beyond the totality of all human experience.

Here in exile time however, it has a false image.

For there are two human choices that open the way to silence.

But only one leads to Peace.

The other leads to sin.

For as far as the freedom of Man is able,

our souls must be led to reach out

to the only other freedom

that reaches out to us - the freedom of God;

the singular source of all our freedoms.

And the exercise of Silence, in its own due season,

tempers our hearts tactful to the truth of these things.

For there always shall remain in Man,

something that resists human expression,

something permanent, something sacred,

an accolade to remembrance...

When we are silent - in those times, O my heart,

let us be mindful of that initial choice to respond to the LORD

that we may know by Whom our silence speaks.

That our silence may never bend

to the evil in all evil things.

---<--@

Mabuhay ang Pilipinas! God bless us all.

Service is a call (not an ambition)

"First They Came for the Jews"
By Pastor Martin Niemoller

First They came for the Jews and I did not speak out because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for the communists and I did not speak out because I was not a communist.

Then they came for the trade unionists and I did not speak out because I was not a trade unionist.

Then they came for me and there was no one left to speak out for me.

20101222

Order of Chaplains, Abrahamic

The information revolution as signified by the revolution in military affairs (RMA) at the advent of the information age is clearly and primarily a moral evolution.

To be sure, this information revolution is a planetary phenomenon the effects of which have only been becoming more and more tangibly felt across all the nations of the world as a whole.

Many things may be said about it, so many in fact that it is often difficult to know where to begin to understand its longer term effects.

However, its surest foundation, it may now be affirmed, especially in the universal profession of arms, must only be found in every human heart - the primordial domain of the human spirit.

Therefore, the necessary evolution of our AFP into a 21st Century force must also include, along with the Human Rights Office (HRO), its Chaplain Corps.

That there must be those lingering divisions and present confusion at the heart of the military Chaplaincy in general is in itself a sign of the times.

Because it is precisely this darkness in the soul itself that must first be confronted and overcome to set its will of faith against the greater darkness that plagues the human spirit in general and the noble military in specific.

And we shall do this, my fellow Filipino compatriots - together this time.

Toward this end is conceived the Order of Chaplains, Abrahamic:

The one Chaplaincy

The military Chaplain is a servant of God
and a dedicated instrument of the one Peace of God.

He does not bear arms against men
nor does he exists to fight against the nations of men.

He is an extension of the good will of all nations
and a constant reminder of our desire for better days.

He is faithful to the cause of the noble military
being jealous in the observance of honor and purity of arms.

He is a keeper of our sacred remembrances
lending noble strength to the martial practice of virtue.

He is a shepherd of the souls of our soldiers
and represents amidst conflicts our abiding hope for peace.

He labors to instill in every heart, a will of life,
and gives recourse to sorrow when life itself seems lost.

He brings comfort when despair seem to linger near
consoling spirits by his gentle sense of optimism and joy.

He is patient to understand each need to be understood
and leads the anxious heart toward greater trust in greater things.

He brings the light of God when darkness is deepest
and speaks the necessary truth when and where truth counts.

He provides for the spiritual needs of the soldier
and the Sacraments (Catholic) that strengthen them in the grace of God.

He counsels the doubtful, the confused he guides into reason, he instructs the ignorant in the truth and the lost he helps to be found by faith in God.

He prays for the safety of the person of the soldier at all times, in times of peace but especially in fields of battle, entrusting to God and Country, the victory of our noble military.
---<--@

Mabuhay ang Pilipinas! God bless us all.

Christmas Greetings!

Peace among the nations.

Good will to all men and women of peace.

...from star to star, one whole sky:




Jus Cogens: The Four Faithful Causes