Are we a nation of strangers?

It is said that a Nation is a community of strangers.

While it remains true that each and every citizen within our Nation may never come to fully get to know each other on a deeper, personal level, we are not a community of strangers. That is my argument.

The one Nation that is ours is a community of communities.

Life here is a gift and a right possessed by both individuals as well as communities.

As individuals here live lives distinct, so do our communities live also.

As individuals have rights, so do our communities possess rights distinct also.


And while it is true that as citizens it is impossible for everybody here in the Nation to connect to each other in stronger, more personal bonds of friendships - each of our communities, we may be assured, know each other. Think about it.

We are individuals within a community of individuals who are themselves individuals within a community of individual communities all of whom fall into the one fold - the Nation.

Interdependent human community.

The strength of our kin and kith ties are all bound up and embraced within a system of "weak ties". This may only become apparent if we dismiss the thought that we are a "nation of strangers" and attempt to understand the life and reality of our national communities.

We, the people, are all - in the Nation - at the very least, "civic acquaintances" - known to each other at the very least, through the life and reality of our particular communities.  

These communities may be tribal, religious, economic or other cause-specific affiliations, private as well as public of whose foundation is inherently our political community and its subdivisions - from barangay, city, province and their particular regions also. 

Each these communities represent us - reflecting many of the things we commonly understand as human beings. As each of our personal "acquaintances" may be developed into full-fledged friendships - so too may the (formal) connections between communities within the Nation be deepened, through the workings of the Republic, to incorporate stronger (informal) bonds and therefore, more effective relationships. 

This I believe is the reason for their many different Leagues and Councils. As an aspect of the term I use - Executive Coherence, this specific dimension is the horizontal dimension - horizontal coherence.

---<--@

Thoughts on Foreign Policy

Foreign policy is a domestic issue.

If we were to obtain for ourselves from the Republic vision, an independent foreign policy, then we must bring this issue closer to home. We must be able to know and express our place in this world.

Rizal was a true citizen of the earth. 

He exercised human citizenship as a foundation of his being Filipino He was not a xenophobe. His best friend was an Austrian, Ferdinand Blumentritt. And we all know his love life.

Our 1987 Constitution offers us guidance in the form of two things - renunciation of war (conferring the right of common defense) and amity among nations (conferring the right of family).

I perceive those to be two sides of the same foreign policy coin.

War to me is not a foreign policy. 

Personally speaking, I believe in an independent, interdependent foreign policy, one that stresses the importance of an interdependent planetary community as an immovable constant in a changing world.

At its soul is love of friendship.

Its central concerns are human rights and national rights simply expressed as their basic human causes and these as goods reciprocal.

And these also expressed as sovereign need and sovereign trust in international relations.

And so - less stress on politics, more emphasis on clear and resolute choices.

No peace is perfect. But the decision to pursue peace must be one that is perfect enough. Truth is the first casualty of every nation's falling away from peace. Darkness sets in. War then takes its place. And so begins the death of human purpose and the corruption of human order.

If truth can not be resurrected by the choice to return to the path of peace, it is not a failure of peace but a failure of choice.
---<--@

The Alienation of Hatred

2013 to 2022 is the International Decade for the Rapprochement of Cultures

Starshine,
when nations are angry at each other,
the reasons could be many things,
but it could never be because
they are nations.

They are angry
at the reasons they're angry
and this could indeed be many things
- true or untrue, right or wrong -
but it could never be because
they are nations.

Lest we forget,
lest we forget.

The craft of all nations is peace.

As a tree may only be destroyed from the roots,
a nation may only be undone by its willingness
to forget its own remembrances.
---<--@



A Hindu saint who was visiting river Ganges to take bath found a group of family members on the banks, shouting in anger at each other. He turned to his disciples smiled and asked,

"Why do people shout in anger shout at each other?"

The disciples thought for a while, one of them said, "Because we lose our calm, we shout."

"But, why should you shout when the other person is just next to you? You can as well tell him what you have to say in a soft manner", asked the saint.

The disciples gave some other answers but none satisfied the other disciples. Finally the saint explained,

"When two people are angry at each other, their hearts distance a lot. To cover that distance they must shout to be able to hear each other. The angrier they are, the stronger they will have to shout to hear each other to cover that great distance.

What happens when two people fall in love? They don't shout at each other but talk softly, Because their hearts are very close. The distance between them is either nonexistent or very small..."

The saint continued, "When they love each other even more, what happens? They do not speak, only whisper and they get even closer to each other in their love. Finally they even need not whisper, they only look at each other and that's all. That is how close two people are when they love each other."

He looked at his disciples and said,

"So when you argue do not let your hearts get distant, do not say words that distance each other more, or else there will come a day when the distance is so great that you will not find the path to return."

(from the Internet)

In a world as small as ours,
and getting smaller each day,
do we have to keep on
shouting at each other?

Indeed, 
these distances 

can become quite near.

---<--@

Starshine,
if you understood the words of the saint,
you must now also realize - within your own self -
that this distance that prevents us
from seeing each other - as human beings -
is a spiritual reality.

For this unseeing is a form of darkness.
And this distance too is a form of darkness
the cause of which is our persistence
to choose true-blindness
over true-sight...

A darkness that (both) prevents
as well as seeks to prevent.
---<--@

Those who live for anger
know that the alienation of hatred
is permanent.

For theirs are those whose spirits move
from wilderness to wilderness
finding neither company
nor safe abode.

But those who live for love
know that, through one may become angry
and restless for a day,
one may always return to love
and find peace.

Excepted from Love that thou may live
---<--@

Starshine,
remember the impassable divide
between the rich man and Lazarus?

Truly, it is far easier for the soul of Man
to travel from one end of the universe to the other
than to bridge a spiritual distance as permanent
- as that which divides -
(the golden realms of) heaven
and (the bitter desolation of) hell.

Pray not to remain
a fugitive to thy own heart.
Release thy self (to love) and be free.

- selah -

In the end we are all wildflowers...
In the end we belong to each other...
In the end we belong to all nations...
In the end all nations belong to us...

Love is the perfection of nations.
---<--@

Remember:

When nations make war 
because they are nations, 
endless shall be our strife!

When history forgets and
its spirits live for no regret
the ruin of Man shall be rife!

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

20111028

Salutation #62

I am hopeful not because there are words.

I am hopeful because there are people with listening ears

and hearts who are able to hear the meaning to the words...

(Nations Like Trees)

Wisdom is in the people -

(and discernment is in the Responsible State)

if we remain in ourselves, a nation united

- through thick or thin - by and by,

our Republic shall be enlightened by the peace we profess as a people

and our leadership enabled - inasmuch -

as we are empowered by the unity of our peace.

The more mature the peace we profess as a nation,

the better the age of our Country in time.

The deeper the roots of our citizenship is planted

upon the earth - far into forever -

as one Republic undertaking,

the more trusted shall be its fruits.

For nations are like trees

and the labor of Country is the labor of bringing the promise

of our nation into full fruition - for all Filipinos.

It is a labor of cultivation and nurture.

This is why I am passionate about the peace process.

Everything in this day and age - as far as our Philippines is concerned -

is invariably tied to its success and its success is likewise tied

to the greater forces that are now driving our world

toward interdependent community.

For there are many rooms and many trees...

---<--@

One lineage of hope - 7,107 islands strong -

"In the longer view of things, divisions don't make a difference, unity does."

You know, I used care a lot about where we've been - about one's upbringing, how one looks, how one sounds, what's in a name, from which school, from what religion, from what province, and from what family, and from what social class...

Now, what I truly care about the most is where we are ALL going.

I have awoken to the truth - that -

there can only be one Philippines for ALL Filipinos!

---<--@

An Accounting of Time

Time is not distance for time is distant

only to those with distant hearts.

Nor is distance a hindrance to our hearts

that in the timeless, beholds and is beheld.

PEACE, I salute you.

---<--@

Our dearest Starshine -

Let me teach you
the way in which thy heart
does perceive the idea of numbers
and the concept of its operation
in those realms where
the mathematics of physicality
and the limits of its reality
in terms temporal
and in measures finite
does never and shall never agree
with the reality of things within.

Because the substance of thy soul

is the abode of the timeless
that in terms eternal
and in measures infinite
are an accounting of thy heart
that amidst thy comings and goings
perceive things as they are
like a vision of love forever
in moments standing still
and not as they seem to be
amidst the darkness of things
that appear and disappear
with the rise and fall
of the tides of exile time.

One is not the beginning

for one is time neither begun
nor is one perceived to have an end
because one is an infinity
and two is not two things together
but two things that become one
for three are not three things apart
but two things made one whole one
by the Love that visits
each our longing for itself.

And so when you shall perceive

each of thy friendships, dear Starshine,

(e.g. family and friends, above all conjugal love,

as well as all natures of relationships.)

among all truly human relationships
you shall think only of one.

And when you shall seek to perceive
each our own expressions of hope
in the sharing and the bearing of Sacred Life
(e.g. complementarity of the sexes, the freedom of thy gifts, etc.)

you shall think only of two.

And when you shall seek to perceive
those things born to thy own heart's longing
and felt through the beauty of remembrances

(e.g. the creative ideal - cooperation with the Creator,

Peace and the labors of peace, etc.)
awakening to thy slow awakening dream
you shall think only of three.

And ever be aware that the medium

of thy constant reality from within
is an emerging continuum of gratitude
spread as luminous stars upon thy spirit
bursting with the joy of living life
born from things that cleave as truth
unto that vast universe in thy soul
that make you think of the many
but return you always to one -

the One, O my Starshine,

the LORD!

The one Giver above His gifts.

---<--@

Mabuhay ang Pilipinas! God bless us all.

Patient Perseverance

Remembrance: The Ages of Country

20110729

Salutation #44

(Interdependent Human Community)

To my one Filipino nation -

all my brothers and sisters of the Promise,

peace - mabuhay.

Our one Republic is part of a great family of nations,

each engaged in the labor of building up the earth

as its own undertaking of Country,

of this we can be sure, my honorable compatriots,

especially in this new age of interdependent human community -

no Country matures on its own,

no nation learns the truth about itself by itself alone,

above all, our failing world can not long endure the darkness ahead

without the LORD, the God of all nations.

For the Peace of the LORD is our pledge of unity

and this unity is the guarantee of our victory

- as nations dreaming together this time -

against the darkness in our midst

wrought by the War in heaven

and division in the human heart.

- selah -

Therefore,

In this house, in this Country,

my fellow Filipinos -

we shall serve the cause of our victory.

Glory to God in the highest!

Adoration to Jesus Christ the Lord.

Peace to our nation and to all our kindred nations.

Good will to all men and women of peace.

---<--@

A Picture of War in the Heart

During the Holocaust, in Auschwitz, there is an old picture of the selection process where people who were to live (at least for the time being) and people who were to die at the gas chambers were sorted immediately upon their arrival by the camp authorities.

This is for me by far, the best pictorial representation of War in the heart.

It is a spirit which is still very alive in our world today. It is the bane of all nations. It will surely prevent us from entering into this new age in peace.

But we are not without help for we have God and we have each other - as human beings and as human nations, citizens and keepers, each to the other.

---<--@

An Example of Human Solidarity -

It was reported in Egypt, during the recent upheavals that delivered that great nation to a return to promise, that when the Muslims prayed, the Christians protected them, and when the Christian prayed, the Muslims protected them.

I salute you, honorable Egyptians, for this necessary example of the shape of things to come for my Country as well. May both our nations be blessed by God with peace and prosperity as we write a brave, new chapter of our history together as a noble undertaking of Country upon the earth, thank you - mabuhay!

My fellow Filipino compatriots -

Let us bear into mind and heart the example of brave Egypt and, despite what darkness there is in our midst, consider once again our own national minimum:

A Filipino is a Filipino is a Filipino.

All honorable religion comes from the reality of God, my noble Republic of the Philippines, its fruits make us human.

Therefore, prayer itself is a common human need.

It is a need (like hunger, thirst, etc.) protected by the Eternal Law of God and by the law written in our heart of hearts.

This is most especially true within the Abrahamic Peace we share as Christians, Jews, and Muslims together and is the engine of our national progress as human beings and as citizens to each other, as Filipinos.

---<--@

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

The National Minimum

Promise of Old

Healing Work

20110723

Salutation #42

(The Peace of ASEAN)

To my honorable Filipino compatriots

and to the kindred nations of our ASEAN -

Our ASEAN Neighborhood has the potential for much good

not only for our region but for Asia and the world.

But only if we apply ourselves

to the understanding

that the Peace of our ASEAN

is wrought in virtue and human community.

We are the ASEAN Neighborhood.

A region that is distinct but not apart

from the problems that the nations of our world

must presently confront as a planetary community.

Problems we must work out and confront together as one

to bring about the close of the last great age of War.

If we fail, we shall all fail together.

For the planet itself is at stake.

But if we shall succeed

- as nations dreaming together this time -

we must triumph as ASEAN first.

It is essential that we believe with our hearts

in what strength there is in our unity

over what darkness there was in our past -

The strength of this unity is evident in the Flag of our ASEAN!

O my beloved ASEAN nations -

we can not hope to pull our home region in Asia

away from the descendant gravity

of the last great age of War

if we cast away our unity, covertly or overtly,

and pull ourselves apart in all directions:

War will surely scatter our peoples to the four winds.

If we remain divided in spirit,

O my Philippines,

O my kindred ASEAN nations,

we will have hoped in vain

to develop the inherent potential of our region.

If we hope in vain, we labor in vain.

For we all have inherent strengths

and we all have inherent weaknesses too

because our civilization is not complete

as individual nations in our ASEAN.

We will capitalize on our strengths

and work together to encourage, develop and fulfill them

in our nations for our region.

And we shall through weaknesses become empowered

to rely on our faith in each other and in God - more and more -

with a sense of humility and sincerity.

We will strive to realize - without direct interference -

that our ability to succeed as nations

depend largely on our being adequately cognizant and understanding

of our essential human natures,

its weaknesses as well as its common needs,

invested to the call of each our nations

and entrusted to the care of each our undertakings of Country.

By this we shall strive to be an example to each other in ASEAN

so that while we understand that we can not without coming into conflict

disregard the common experiences of our peoples,

each nation being as unique as each individual human being is unique,

we may also affirm in our own times

within each our own particular undertakings of Country

that the destiny we all aspire for as nations is one and the same

as the Peace we all strive to live in as Countries in ASEAN.

The spirit of War will eventually flee us

by the strength of the Peace of our ASEAN.

Therefore,

peace be to Brunei Darussalam,

peace be to Cambodia,

peace be to Indonesia,

peace be to Laos,

peace be to Malaysia,

peace be to Myanmar,

peace be to Singapore,

peace be to Thailand,

peace be to Vietnam,

and peace be to our ASEAN!

(And to East Timor

- waiting in the wings -

the Peace of our ASEAN as well)

Mabuhay po sa ating lahat - past is past -

we will ascend with one ascending

as one ASEAN Neighborhood.

---<--@

Attack on Norway

The twin terror attacks on innocent Norwegians yesterday at a youth camp and at the city center is appalling. Initial reports that placed the casualties at less than 10 have now risen into around 80 with people still unaccounted for.

This crime is a condemnable act of terrorism indeed.

Let us stand with Norway in this hour of tragedy, my Filipino compatriots, and let us pray for the victims and their families.

---<--@

SONA 2011

Let us pray for our President Noy. May his SONA 2011 be a sweeping success!

Lastly, let us ask the LORD in prayer (especially at Holy Mass tomorrow) to bless our nation with a strong succession of presidents beginning with our PNoy to lead our Country out of this long night.

Better yet, let us constantly desire this in our prayers to God as a nation that the LORD may bless, preserve and prosper the Office of the President of the Republic of the Philippines and that God may likewise bless, preserve and prosper the Office of his or her Vice President.

(Yes, we need more than one and so may all of them be blessed by God with a lion's or a lioness' heart. Refer to Daniel 12 since we are running on this timeline.)

---<--@

Mabuhay ang Pilipinas! God bless us all.

Being Present for Peace

20110604

Salutation #11

(On Honorable Religion, Religious Harmony and Pluralism)

Peace, I salute you.

Religious wars are a perplexing feature of the last great age of war

and one that we ought to guard against in this new age of peace.

Alone or with others,

our nations stand to gain much through honorable religion

but only if we succeed in exorcising the past

and healing the present from the contagion of War.

Alone or with others,

the fruit of all honorable religion is peace

not because they are the same but because they are different.

For despite the unrelenting tide of the darkness of exile time

and the half-forgotten specters that haunt our history,

honorable religion is ever the engine that inspire

the ennobling light of human civilization,

advancing the Causes that like sheltering wings defend

from the relentless gravity of War's final defeat

the heart of every nation of our one family of nations

gathering together the generations of the children of Mankind

ever toward greater peace, true belonging

and universal brotherhood.

As a shelter against War, therefore,

the peace of our Republic undertaking must prove proof

against the spirit of division.

As citizens to each other,

we can no longer dare to extend safe harbor,

in our hearts and in our times,

to the debilitating rot

of religious divisions, misconceptions, prejudices,

than accept the eternal loss of our peace.

If we love as we ought, then we will see -

that fear and ignorance breeds intolerance

and intolerance destroys human community.

Thou must ever so beware, O Man,

guard thee never to behold the LORD, thy God,

as an image of thyself - a limited, mutable, ephemeral, unfinished work.

For the LORD, our God, is not the invention of any human religion.

The LORD, our God, dearest Starshine, is an infinite Reality.

Compared to the LORD,

all of time and all of the timeless,

all of creation whether seen or unseen,

everything that was, is, and shall ever be,

are all but a particle - incomprehensibly tiny.

Remember thee always, Starshine,

only through God's wisdom,

only through His benevolence,

and through His generosity,

may thy little soul attain

to the incomprehensible vastness of Eternity.

Notwithstanding religious distinctions -

You will know the LORD, thy God,

only inasmuch as you allow thyself to love Him.

And even then, O Man,

you yourself know in your heart of hearts

that you can never love thy God

in the way that God ought to be loved.

Because you heart may never behold the infinite -

no creature may do so, my beloved, and hope to live.

The Divine Reality

when one may think it is understood

is understood only because the One and infinite God

is pleased to reveal Himself to thy understanding.

All creatures are limited

but the LORD is neither finite

nor lacking in anything.

We know Him only by the tiniest of degrees

and even then, always indirectly.

For no creature

may truly know God, dear Starshine,

and hope to survive.

What thou understand therefore

is never God Himself as Himself

but God as He is pleased

to become so intimately related to thy soul

through the freedom of thy faith.

God pours into thee like a tiny vessel

an essence thou can never hope to contain

without His Face beholding thee always

and so only with love, mercy and compassion,

from the LORD and His instruments -

the Angels and the Prophets,

the Incarnate Word of God - Christ the Lord,

Our Emmanuel through His Sacred Humanity,

may you attain to the object of thy faith -

The God Who is, the LORD.

Be this way unto all beings, therefore,

thou who have attained to God in truth and Spirit -

loving, merciful, and compassionate.

Worship none but the LORD - God and God alone!

Honor and respect all of God's instruments

all the Angels and the Prophets,

the Incarnate Word through His Sacred Humanity

Who is Christ the Lord and Savior of All

without any confusion or division of heart -

let there be no cause in thee for War in the heart

and say thee truthfully thy peace to All of creation.

Be thankful always and be glad, being humble in heart,

tremble and work out thy salvation in virtue and good works

for the Reality of the LORD has become a reality to thee!

So let thy faith bid thee

seek, serve and love God

and in thy heart, be at peace.

Our dearest Starshine,

what all creatures will to safely and meaningfully comprehend

whether great or small, seen or unseen,

from the noblest of Angels to the least responsible of Man,

are our distinctly individual relationships to the One.

The LORD's unchanging will for all of Sacred Life is Our business:

How this will of salvation is revealed to all creation

is the universal labor of all faiths.

Now, a faith that is universal is one that must also become particular.

For no one faith may truly hope to represent the totality of the LORD.

Religion is the structure that makes a particular faith present.

And the fruit of all honorable religion is peace.

- selah -

As a Roman Catholic Christian, most especially,

I do not consider myself at odds with any honorable religion

most especially with Judaism and Islam.

For I must practice my peace to keep it - not to lose it.

For I shall be held to account by my Lord Christ for this grace;

the grace of belonging to God and to my Country

and of prospering in the faith and obedience of my Holy Mother Church

helping to add to the life of my own nation,

and hoping to grow into a peace this world can neither provide

nor truly ever understand without God

and God in Christ Jesus the Lord -

the one Redeemer of All.

---<--@

On Religious Harmony

Religious toleration seems to me, an oxymoron - what is there to tolerate?

It implies a sort of truce. But what if there really was no conflict to begin with...

To build harmony among our religions, there must be interdependence - a common ground.

This common ground is the labor of peace-building - primarily, the work of its inspiration within as well as between our nations.

It is the work of fostering hope in the people and also of realizing these hopes for the benefit of the greater good, competing in good works.

This is religious harmony.

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Moving Forward...

Congratulations to our President Noy on the success of his recent trips to Brunei and Thailand.

Peace be to Brunei Darussalam and to the Kingdom of Thailand - It is always a very good thing indeed to foster relations with our friends in ASEAN.

What is good for one in ASEAN is good for all in ASEAN.

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Mabuhay ang Pilipinas! God bless us all.

God Encompassing God

O LORD,

God encompassing God,

God encompassing All in Thyself!

O LORD,

Father, Son, and Holy Spirit -

Blessed Unity,

Holy Trinity,

Perfect Company!

O LORD,

there is none but Thee,

there is none like Thee!

O LORD,

Thou art from everlasting to everlasting -

in Thee All draw their being,

in Thee All draw their living life,

in Thee there is no shadow of turning,

in Thee there is neither darkness nor Night,

in Thee there is joy, abundance and peace,

in Thee there is only love and the Light!

O LORD,

Thou desire salvation for all beings

to Whom shall all needful souls turn to,

my God, but to Thee?

O LORD,

Thou art the one Sovereign of all nations

unto Whom shall Thy exile peoples return to,

my God, but unto Thee?

Abide in us, O LORD, be with us!

Be the God of our lives, our families,

and our national communities!

O Goal of all my goals,

I love, I trust, and I adore Thee!

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Our God, O my beloved of my heart, is a God of relationships - One, Triune Perfection!

20101108

The ASEAN Neighborhood

The concept of an interdependent community implies something more than mere tolerance. It requires a harmony of diverse strengths bound by a distinctive unity achieved through shared ideals and common goals.

In our region in Asia, my fellow Filipino compatriots, this interdependent community, in the most immediate sense, is our ASEAN Neighborhood.

The ASEAN is a regional grouping of nations. But more than that, we are a Neighborhood - a family of friends.

Each ASEAN nation is like a house and the life of our nations make of it a home (away from Home) for all of the generations of our peoples.

Each of our ASEAN homes is a shelter of Country, each with its own particular set of house rules that make up its written laws and Constitution or Ideal of State.

Each Ideal of State maintains within each particular form of Country its necessary governance which is a derivative form of the creative ideal and an extension of the will of Divine Providence.

Each our Responsible States is a specific guardian to a particular vision of Country of which singular will of mission it is to preserve the peace that prospers the life of our civil societies and preserve the order of our generations (unto the last of our generations at the Last Day).

Each ASEAN home should maintain a Family Store within the ASEAN Common Market to foster trade within our region and to facilitate cultural exchanges.

This, the SEA games, and other cooperative engagements within our ASEAN Neighborhood benefits us, my fellow Filipino compatriots, and it shall stand to benefit us even more if we cease to be passive about it or worse, indifferent.

I am bringing this to the fore of our consciousness because it is a prevailing fact of our national life that our civilization is not complete without our neighbors. Indeed, the founders of ASEAN understood that no one nation in ASEAN is an island.

It is our work to build upon their realization and break free of the rut in our collective thinking that our hard-won independence somehow implies isolation from the rest of the nations of our world. And we should begin this breaking out process with an understanding and appreciation of our ASEAN Neighborhood.

An awareness of this should work to inculcate a region-wide appreciation and a sense of comity that should preclude any more disrespect of the ties that make us one as ASEAN.

Too, we should not compare ASEAN with other more prosperous groupings of Countries in their respective regions. Because ASEAN is our work to do as well.

Indeed, we have our own set of problems and troubles but no one else can build on ASEAN than those nations within our ASEAN Neighborhood:

And we, as one of those nations, must form part of the solution.

Our Republic of the Philippines is also a member of the EAS, APEC, Group of 24, the Latin Union, the Non-Aligned Movement, and the United Nations.

---<--@

The litmus test for change in Burma is only this: Free Aung San Suu Kyi.

No Comparing PNoy

A recent article reported a comparison was drawn by an intelligence firm between our President, Benigno Simeon Aquino III, and the current President of the USA, Barack Obama.

Personally, I did not appreciate its negative implications. However, even if it were essentially well-meaning it is still basically faulty. Comparing persons is like comparing apples and oranges. They're just different.

---<--@

Mabuhay ang Pilipinas! God bless us all.