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!

The Least of These...

The stranger is -
thy soul shrouded in darkness;
our humanity surrounded in suspicion...
to steal from God, thy fear
or to cause thy love, be near!

The prisoner is -
thy soul clothed in chains,
fetters whether placed by man or God -
they who to thy own indifference - bind thee
or to thy own freedom, set thee free!

The orphan is -
thy soul invested in weakness,
in the isolated and the dispossessed;
they for whom thy strength is true power
or they for whom thou art made utterly weak!

The widow is -
thy soul shedding bitter tears
in the shadow of those that were... and was -
they for whom thy hope is daring, o soul of caring!
Or they for whom thy own living... is but a certain dying...

- selah -

Ever to the Glory that was... and Is...
and shall be Forevermore!
---<--@

Salutation #182

None of the Seraphs have joined with Satan in his War
and the LORD has, prior to the time of the Children
(which are these latter-day times, beloved of God),
utterly destroyed all evil and fallen Principalities
in the Great Deluge for our good behalf.

So we are
in our every belonging preserved
by Love and Remembrance...

(Love and Remembrance)

Love and Remembrance
when each their truths are realized -
breaks upon thy heart, darlingest Starshine,
clear as the dawn and draw thy spirit decisively
in great ascending motions - leading thee steadfastly
forth and away from the midnight darkness...

For
Love and Remembrance
once realized by thy seeking soul - as truth in the heart
have no parallel midnight - the advent of each of their realities
once it has risen in the horizon of thy mind - separate themselves cleanly
as light is from darkness and leave no trace of shadow nor confusion
to the being and thought of any Man as to which Twilight path
leads to the Morning.

Glory to God therefore, all ye Nations,
sing to the LORD a song of love and thanksgiving;
a hymn of adoration from thy hearts, O Children of Mankind
for the wonder our God has done for us!
---<--@

Lucifer with all his wit,
was not able to convince and commit,
a single Seraph to his fight
for who could make love itself choose
to burn for anything else
but the one Beloved.

Thus, save for his lies,
none can love the Devil true...

But
when God utters
a Word of the Truth,
all hearts upon all the earth
and across all of heaven above
come aflame with Love.
---<--@


To not be afraid, love. 
To not be ashamed, remember.

Love Recognizes

V. Love Recognizes -



Do not lay all your cards on the table.
Keep nothing hidden in your sleeves too.
Be honest but be careful about the truth.
Be open to what you accept - in thy heart -
but be vigilant about what you receive as well.

Above all, love.

Love that you might know the truth.
Love that you may be open to the truth
and in return, receive more love.

Love that you may always
have something to lay on the table
and love that you may always
have strength enough to love
without holding love back.

Remember, my darling,
the door of thy heart opens
from the inside not from the outside
that you may know to open yourself
- to love and to be loved -.
often... and freely... and deeply.

So love then and in return be loved,
that you may begin to know the truth
even when love to you is yet unknown.

Did not God do the same for us?

Love recognizes, let it begin...
---<--@

On the Sabah Issue

Before we make certain our convictions as regards to the Sabah issue, let us examine and reflect on some key points -

The Sultanate of Sulu and North Borneo - recognition, relevance, restitution.
The Federation of Malaysia - sovereignty, prestige, security.
The Republic of the Philippines - security, good will, credibility.
The ASEAN Neighborhood - unity, commonality of interests, strength of solidarity.

And some constants of the prevailing age - lest we get complacent with the darkness, let us remember where we are in the history of time:

- No peace without adversity - the expectation that with peace comes the challenge and the responsibility to serve, defend, and protect the meaning of its truth as enshrined and remembered in the hearts and halls of our nationhood.

- The 2009 minimum of the times - accept the status quo from 2009 - this includes all present borders, present disputes, present concerns from 2009 and constitutes the end point of the necessary labor of remembrance required by the season from the year of our Lord 0 AD to 2009 AD or the beginning of the new age of peace.

- The hope of the present season - peace, the real one - the one that ascends against all division unto true and everlasting belonging - and not the false one that is emptied out of its meaning by the darkness of the world or the spirit of war.
---<--@

Reflection:

At the level of the Republic government, the Sabah claim is not a claim of sovereignty. It is not like our existing stakes about the Western Philippine Sea.

At the level of the Republic government, the Sabah claim is a claim on the legitimacy of an historic line of royalty that resides within our sphere of responsible government and united among us by Providence in nationhood.

It is therefore, to us - a local issue - not an international issue - the Sabah issue - which we must moderate with Malaysia at the level of her Federation. Malaysia as a nation is not lacking in her own houses of royal lineages and will understand what this recognition means and how important it is.

Just because we are a Republic does not mean that there are no more of these lines that have survived the ravages of the last great age of war; where they survive they have survived to serve.

For Malaysia, this is an international issue. It is a claim only from Malaysia's point of view.

The Sabah claim ceases to be a claim from our Republic point of view but an historic grievance which has now been brought to the fore. It is something we can neither overlook, nor belittle nor abandon all together.

There is a win-win situation here. 

We feel ourselves under attack without attacking each other because we are in the dark about it. So let us together make the conscious choice not remain there but to emerge.

To do justice to every man, is this not part of the code and culture of our executive leadership? Laws bite hard against evil but it is justice to repair the damage done by evil deeds.

Is it evil to air a grievance? Is it not freedom to have and to hear a petition which is authentically human and therefore, visible and legitimate in the eyes of the nations of our world?

None has done this. If we have truly completed our remembrances, we will find that none has done this - no one. No one is to blame who presently exists in any form or way: none but a shadow of things gone by; a deadly illusion of war - for the truth is that it is up to us now to fix it - ever as those nations dreaming together this time.

We have to be willing to be the children of our Father Abraham once more that we may by the grace of God bless the communities of Mankind which are the nations of the children of Mankind.

It is not just a kindness to promote the good, in all truth it is to do justice to goodness and this, especially in the society of man is an act of civic virtue the nature of which can never be legislated for no law can ever be truly written in heaven and on earth to either bind it or prevent what God has placed in the heart of man - love perfecting justice - love in the truth.

This issue will only cease to be an issue - for all of us - for the Royal House of the Sultanate of Sulu, for their brothers spread among the other houses upon the earth, to the Republic of the Philippines, and to the Federation of Malaysia, only when justice is served - not again in partial or unclear terms, not through force of arms, not by anger nor the spirit of revenge - but by justice - one that recognizes and upholds the good - of all and for all - of nations and individuals together.

It might feel like this came at an inopportune time, I felt it too. I felt the suspicion. For my first instinct is to protect our internal peace process.

But at least now we have the initiative to actually do something with the Sabah issue - a boon in the midst of all this difficulty - let us then also recognize that if we overlook this or if we wax undecisive about it - we lose the opportunity.

We must state our position clearly first, and do this singularly from a national interest standpoint - in a way that is conducive to a meaningful and peaceful solution to the matter - privately if necessary - for the benefit of all - but especially on behalf of the Sultanate of Sulu, and in a manner that preserves the gains of our own internal peace process, and then ask them all to come home so it can be further worked out to a conclusion in concert with all concerned parties - officially and without Malaysia feeling untowardly threatened by any perceived intrusion and inadvertently even waxing hostile to our OFW's presently in their territory who only want to earn an honest living and nothing more.

Malaysia as a whole after all has invested time, prestige and treasure in the development of that region even enough perhaps to claim sovereignty rights but we should not abandon the claim of the Sultanate of Sulu and their grievance as regards to it neither must we compromise our friendship with Malaysia - we, the people, as represented by our government in the Republic state, should pray look for a more permanent solution to this pressing old problem to further make complete our present peace - together this time.

Above all, and highest of all - the Sabah issue can not be resolved by force of arms. It would indeed be an incredibly wrong turn of events to allow this to develop into open conflict; even a form of forgetfulness on an unpardonable scale, one that undoes the grace of nationhood.

Let us be patient. Let Malaysia be patient.

For I trust and believe we are better than the challenges that we presently must confront; that our peace together now is stronger and brighter here in the darkness than the darkness itself; that we, ever as our nations, are stronger than the night, this longest night, and therefore, truly belong to the morning and the coming day.

Peace is the test and to pass this test brings succees.

What ennobles is not might but right.
---<--@

Because it is also my personal hope that this issue is soon resolved - peacefully, for all:

Salaam. Shalom. Peace. Mabuhay po tayong lahat!

Valentine's Day 2013

Today we observe the power of overcoming love;
the love of God in Jesus Christ that leads every heart to love all in All.

It might not always mean - in the temporal sense -
the triumph of two lovers, but always the eternal victory of Love.

May we therefore, be blessed this day!

May God cause all our hearts to always, always be in love.

May our hearts and our spirits be glad
as we bear into mind today - the great wonder of triumphant love;
that love with the power to bear for all, to endure for all, and to hope in all.

And may the God Who is Love prevail in our souls forever!
---<--@



Proclaim the message of the Gospel in the Peace of Jesus Christ!

Salutation #171

The First Day,
God spoke Light
and everything in everything
and all that is in all
became for Him.



(The First Day)

Truth
imparts form to the formless.
Knowledge is made meaningful because of it.
Formlessness creates form.
Form allows knowledge to be studied.
The understanding of knowledge is the labor of science.
But the labor of Man is to know the Truth.

Man through his labor learns knowledge.
For knowledge is the reward of study.
He receives it only through his learning
and is taught to his mind only because
it has preceded his being.

For all knowledge have existed before Man
and is possessed by him according to his labors,
it is given him only for a time - and passes away forever.

It is vanity to love knowledge for knowledge alone is vanity.

The learned profit not without a love of learning
and keep it not if they were wise.
For the profit of learning
lies not in an understanding of knowledge
but in an understanding of the truth.

He is one who sees the field
and knows the treasure that is hidden within
and so he sells everything he owned to buy the field
that he may cherish it forever.

Knowledge is received but truth is sought -
one is the reward of virtue, and the other a grace of faith.
All knowledge passes away, it is like time - a thing borrowed,
but the truth once possessed is possessed forever.

Happy those who possess the truth!
They are those whose spirits are poor
who in their poverty shall inherit the earth.

Knowledge is burdensome yet
when placed in the service of the truth
become easy and light.

Knowledge profits not the soul yet
when understood in the truth
is the gain of wisdom.

Science profits not the man yet
when understood in the truth
is the gain of all men.

For all knowledge
that is kept like a treasure rots -
its everlasting value lies in the giving away,
ever like tears shed for love of others
ever like a light shone in the darkness of the night -
but the wisdom of this freedom
shall ever return to thee, darling Starshine,
for ever by the grace of God,
truth shall set men free.
---<--@

Salutation #170

Every gift of life... is wrought in love
and every love of life... is wrought in light
for the one light of life is... Jesus Christ the Lord.



(Christmas 2012)

MAY every Christmas bring us peace;
the beginnings of peace which is peace,
the workings of peace which is peace,
and the fruits of peace which is peace.

Because Christmas means -

I love you.

- selah -

So may all be in this love sheltered
and be brought forth anew each and every year
that all may through this love know in the truth
the spirit of every Christmas season
which is peace.

May all be at peace.
May all know the peace.

And may this peace be the peace
that was wrought in our world
by the Prince of Peace
which is Jesus Christ the Lord
that it may continue to serve
to bring our humanity forth
from darkness into the
one Light of God
everlasting.

May our journeys in this life
through Christmas be fulfilled
in the LORD, our God -
the Father, the Son,
and the Holy Spirit,
alleluia, alleluia,
AMEN.
---<--@

Happy Christmas to us all! 

Peace be among the nations - and -
good will to all men and women of peace.

May we never be bereft of the light of God's peace.



Christ chose to be born in a place of love
surrounded with nothing else but love,
did He not, darling Starshine?

For the giving is the gift.

Is not our Lord and Savior an awesome God?

Salutation #156

You can not see love
yet you feel it when it's near
and even more so when it is far...

The spiritual soul
implicitly understands this.

But to the unspiritual
this only brings confusion.



(Rich in all things, Rich above all things)

Starshine -

Is Mankind 
truly experiencing 
an awakening in the soul? 

We can feel our way
toward an answer to this
by how we learn to come to love
what we can no longer see.

We can not see virtue
but we can understand its worth.

AND if this love of the spiritual
overcomes our love for the material,
far from nullifying our national prosperity,
it will cause our people to become rich indeed -
rich in all things, rich above all things.

Reality is that our Reality is
99% invisible to the human eye -

   We can not see Country
   but we hope to understand its worth.
   For what is essential is formed in formlessness.

We are seen more than we can see.
And loved more than we are able to believe.

---<--@

Salutation #132

(Starlight in thy Sight)

Let us not believe 

so easily in the darkness

when it is yet so dark

and so easy to believe

in people saying,

"it is dark!"

There are heroes

among us everywhere, my people.

From all states of life, 

diverse vocations, 

and areas of Republic service,

private as well as public, 

high as well as low,

they walk namelessly with us.

We only have to trust

that we walk among them

- while it is dark -

that we may believe

at approach of morning

that we were right to believe.

Do you understand this?

Evil will try to inspire us

to do good for the sake of its name

and cause us to believe

with the conviction of faith 

that its causes are right and just.

Darkness will by its own power

attempt to inebriate us

even unto our every soul

and in the confusion,

cause us to believe

with the affirmation of hope

that Night is Day.

Let us not believe

so easily in the darkness.

For

darkness that is deep

is madness!

Let us be (the opposite) 

being a people, faithful and fair -

one in heart, at-one in mind;

a Nation, true and true -

spirit-minded, rightly-guided,

vision-inspired, human and just!

---<--@

You may,
as a way of further understanding this Salutation,
also recall into thy mind the One Ring:



The reliquary of the spirit of Sauron,
the power of which is a hidden deception
masked by the golden shine of its grand allure;
an evil inspiration that led to the madness of Saruman,
the betrayal of Orthanc, and ultimately,
the ruin of Isengard.



The power of a myth lies in the reflection of its truth.

Salutation #95

All truth leads to freedom

only because our freedom is constantly

being perfected by the freedom of the LORD.

Freedom that is authentic to our humanity

is always relevant to our human need to be happy.

It is not the false image

of that presumptuous freedom

that shuns the accountability

that is an inherent responsibility

of an authentic human freedom.

Therefore,

freedom is not free

that binds us to the Evil in all evil things -

freedom is free which binds us to the truth

of God and of each other in common humanity.

(Truthfulness)

To be truthful,

seek first the Source of all truth

for as God is, we are.

Truth is

the mother tongue of heaven:

In the truth we are able to understand

and through it we are able to be understood.

Truth is

the common medium of all virtue:

By the truth good is recognized and applauded

and because of it evil is revealed and punished.

Therefore,

love the LORD

in everything and with everything.

This is the path of all true things.

- selah -

Strive to be aware of this

and in thy own understanding

strive in all things to speak the truth,

mean what you speak, speak what you mean,

and own up to what you mean

- doing all things in love and out of love -

for God and for thy fellow citizens upon the earth.

Exercise truthfulness

with a compassionate regard

for the humanity of other people -

so be gentle when you should speak.

For the habitual grace of truthfulness

does not bind us to the truth - rather -

it binds the truth - through us -

into the active service of charity

so that truth is made available,

by the demands of prudence

and command of charity,

most especially when it counts.

The object of this virtue is truth itself,

that which fills with substance all things whole

and endow it with force and meaning

which is more than its words.

The act of this virtue

is the honorable expression of truth

and this honorable expression - being -

the explicit recognition

amidst our human need for absolute truth

that the truth that lives in other people's lives

(the particular reality of the individual good)

- must also be recognized -

as an integral part

of this particular virtue's

expression of right action.

For the truth must be

- by its own virtue -

is wielded for no other reason

than to make men free.

---<--@

Truthfulness is an expression of the cardinal virtue, Justice.

The individual exercise of truthfulness is therefore, simultaneously both a personal as well as a civic virtue.

The ancient Filipinos possessed this virtue to a high degree.

Real Stars

Some stars are fake, some are real -

of the fake ones, the heart can feel,

because of the real ones,

when one can tell -

it's their nearness to our earth

that makes it sell.

Real stars shine with a warmth

that often reaches us

and are full of genuine concern

but fake ones really don't connect

as much as we would like,

their light is not as warm and comforting

as far as the heart can tell

they could be as far from our earth

as heaven is to hell.

---<--@

Love Shines

III - Love Shines -

The Love of God is as bright as Day

and the heart of Man pines for its fullness.

The heart of Man awaits the coming of the LORD

like the Darkness awaits the dawning of the Light.

For we are the image of God

in each of ourselves,

the likeness of our Creator -

God fills us with His Love

and our hearts come to life in Him.

God comes to us

and He becomes God to us

by the Love we choose

to receive from Him.

For all of love is a giving;

a freedom that begins with God

and ends again with God.

It clothes us with the dignity to be

and empowers us with the grace to become -

the love of the LORD in each ourselves;

a limitless and omnipotent grace.

For the Lord Christ is the Light

and to Him belong the fullness of the Day.

- selah -

We are the love we give away;

what light we shine unto others -

For all of love is a giving.

It is a freedom.

We become all things by the love we freely give -

a reflection of the self that is shed as a light unto others.

The more we give

the more we become

the image of our true selves.

The less light that we shine

the less brightly we stand out

in the midst of the darkness.

A friend becomes a friend

by the reflection of the friendship

he or she offers to others souls

not unlike him or herself.

A father clothes himself

with the dignity of a father

by the light of the love

he gives away -

A husband clothes himself

with the dignity of a husband

by the light of the love

he gives away -

In the same way,

wife becomes a mother

and a mother, a sister,

and a sister, a friend.

---<--@

On Being Strong

Love the LORD, thy God, in everything and with everything. This is the truth.

---<--@

Our precious Starshine -

STRIVE.

Strength is primarily expressed in the masculine.

Strength is fidelity to the truth; a measure of its brightness.

It is the noble glow of its own conviction;

the ascendant magnitude of our every embrace

- of all those living and everliving things -

that belong to the timelessness in our souls.

Strength is secure in its patience

being sure of the reality of itself;

born of the light that understands

the exactness of its own truth.

It is not harsh and uncertain of its own reality;

born not of the lie that in the darkness understands not itself.

Strength is certain in its meekness.

It is a temper of the will that neither rises nor falls

but is even and steadfast against the assault of false things.

It is not a hardness that hides its unfamiliarity to its own virtue;

being established not by ignorance of the value of the beautiful things

it exists to serve and to keep.

It is not coldness. It is not distance. It is not decrease.

It is warmth. It is presence. It is increase.
---<--@

20110922

Poor English

It was reported in an article today that a Senator of the Republic of the Philippines feels himself somewhat less than his peers in the Senate for admittedly having "poor English".

Do I detect an unmistakable trace of colonial mentality here? As it is my thrust in this blog to also dispel the ghosts of times past here in our New, Old Philippines, let me counter the Senator's fears as regards the above issue.

Language is no substitute for heart. If you have heart, Senator, any language will do you. All languages are equally important to the man or woman who speaks from the riches of the heart.

So speak your own truth and in Filipino, if you want to, no one should judge you for it in this great Country of Filipinos. If anyone does, he or she is the lesser person, not you.

There shall come a day when we shall as a nation benefit from the wisdom locked away in their great lineages scattered among the languages of the earth. That time will not come sooner unless we overcome what holds us back from that future today.

So God bless you for speaking the truth, sir. The end of the troubles that plague our society will not come unless we recognize in what we speak, here in a Country as blessed with diversity of tongues as our own Republic, that morning heralded by the tongue of angels.

If I were blessed by God with a language of common expression other than English, I would still use it. So must you. Speak and be heard not by how loud but by how full thy words!

---<--@

Mabuhay, our noble Senators - God bless us all.

Virtue of Truthfulness