Carry on, Sir

We stop not to argue
- in the shadows - about the Night
and the maddening depths of it.
Lest the Darkness overtake us
with madness.

We stop not
carrying on along the way
for our discourse is about the Morning
walking together as if with Christ
on the Road to Emmaus.

Carry on, sir. 

Remember always your promise (to yourself)
during your inauguration speech, that you are beholden
to the loving remembrance in your own heart - my kuya Noy -
of a memory both personal as well as national in their natures:
Use it to see clearly, and with steadfast faith in God
and diligent attention to His Providence,
continue to express through thy august Office,
the Executive vision that you want for our Country
to particularly possess - in your own time.

The vision of a Government
that is accountable to its own authority,
aware of its responsibility - to the mandate -
it has variously received from the one Nation
on whose life and promise, the Responsible State
derives from the Divine Providence of God,
it's powers to govern - with virtue and wisdom,
within the particular framework of a Republic undertaking of Country,
the greater wealth and the greater good, both spiritual as well as material,
of the common generations of our people - unto the last of our generations
- forever.

I pray your spirit be clear even when all things are not -
that you, dear Sir, in your own solitude may always, always have a recourse
to the Love of the LORD present and ever so near to thy own heart.
And so may God love thee and keep thee and bless thee forever.

May a living Remembrance of these times - kindle in thee, its own virtue -
that all things God may reveal to thee - come necessary to the account of thy heart
that thou in the Sanctuary of the love that you keep in your soul may reach out to the darkness
through a fire born of greater things, and a light forbearing in hope, be ever capable of the embrace
with which God embraces all individual realities - in the Spirit of His abundant Peace
- a seed of the ultimate experience of Country.

You are the center to which there can be no rising nor falling, the center unto which the powers of the Nation must derive their constant measure.

The wings that shelter our Country must continually form and re-form themselves, at the rise and fall of each and every moment, from thy Office. No where else may it rely upon for its life and life's purpose.

There could be no rising nor falling in your commitment to your Office - its lineage, virtue, and authority are all you have to bring down from God and heaven the necessary strength to power the flight of our Republic toward that promised Dawn - and verily, these are all you need.

May they humble you and in God, make you ever persevere.
---<--@

Personal Reflection -

A faithful President over a perfect one - always.

I do not always agree with our President Noy
but I implicitly know we walk in the same direction. 

He may seek to express within our Republic journey,
matters about our National Dialogue that are varied and distinct
or even, at times, seemingly antithetical to my politics, but never will I forget -
that the journey we all must take - under this season of sky - is but one, long march -
from the depths and the darkness of Exile unto the Light and the Promise of an Eden Rebuilt -
for our Nation and its own emergent Republic motion under heaven, and therefore, for all Nations.

Tyrants are not as fortunate to as be blessed with any prevailing sense of a National direction
let alone agree with anybody - with consistency on which way is forward and which way is back.

The Lion of the Sea

I saw a City,
a City by the bay
and the throne of a Lion -
the Lion of the Sea.

I saw you, O City,
all covered in grime
like a widow weeping
the victim of a crime.

Return again, O Lion,
thou great lover of brav'ry,
reclaim again thy City
let thy Justice roam free.

- selah -

I saw a Nation,
a Nation by the sea -
a poor and forlorn people
awaiting for thee.

O saw you, O Nation,
despairing in the darkness
like an orphaned son -
alone amidst the madness.

Awaken then, O Lion,
O ruler of the free -
reclaim again thy spirit
and let thy glory be!
---<--@

(original produced 20110611)

Salutation #179

All true renewal comes from the center, so it is with us:

Our Nation has a center, and it is found in God - our one, true Sovereign.
Our Government has a center, and it is found in the Office and the person of the President.
Our Republic has a center, and it is found at the heart of every citizen who yet believes, We are.

(Rule by Council)

Leaders beget leaders;
true servants beget no slaves.

a President is not a ruler,
a President is chief steward to a Ruler -
a servant of free and human government
and a choice instrument of Divine Providence
being the primary caretaker of a Republic
chosen by freedom to do Liberty Justice

in person and in Office, a Shepherd 

to an orphaned and wounded people -
our humblest Servant, and bravest Defender,

the one most accountable to the Nation

and the one most responsible to God.

So rule by Council,
to the voice of Wisdom, give ear -
give patient ear, listen and learn to listen.
Hear for the sake of hearing and
know for the good of knowing,
ever in the quiet of thy heart -
always discerning a path,
always looking for ways,
always seeking for solace,
always thirsting for answers
- in behalf of thy people
and on their good behalf -
bearing together with many voices
seeking in the number of their counsel
to decisively arrive in freedom and safety
to the Several Pillars that give to thee
thy own strength of understanding
that thou mayest decide
for thyself alone
what is truth
and pray that God
may confirm it for thee.

Remember always
thy service to thy people
is a Calling - not an ambition.

Therefore,
pay good attention to Who calls thee
and Whose pleasure it is that raised thee
to the glorious Calling of thy own election.

Recall to thy heart -
it is a noble thing indeed
to be called a Servant to thy Nation!
For thy calling is to freedom; to the Liberty
that breathes life and hope to all thy generations.

So remember the chains - lead and exhort thy brethren -

and work with all of thy people through thy one Republic
to break the long bondage that keep thy Nation Earth-bound

walking humbly before thy God, our Holy Redeemer,
in the path of those great Liberators of old,
the Peace Bringers and Defenders of the People,
who at many times in the History of Mankind arose
to lead the Nations and to break the Evil which prevents -
for thou art called to walk in faith and grace as one of those
who knew, named or unnamed - leaders beget leaders,
and true servants beget no slaves.

Thus, govern by principle,
and serve the Justice of thy Peace -
Enlighten thy people, speak sparingly
and exemplify thy own truth in thy own life,
however you can, with what Grace you should,
ever in harmony with thy own sufficiency,
ever at peace with thy self and thy God,
standing steadfastly.

Do not rule by dictate.
Do not govern by personality.
Do not pander to base instincts.
Do not seek infamy with the venal.
Do not be filled with pride.
Do not be sorrowful.
   (Cultivate a joy in thy soul
   greater than all the sadness
   this world may inflict)
Do not be envious.
Do not be vain.
Never despair.
---<--@

To humble men and great presidents alike... salamat po.

Lion of the Philippines!

Hail to the Lion -

defender of the people,

born and reborn again anew

through the spirit of thy election

resting mightily in thee!

Hail to the Lion -

guardian of the free,

reign over the darkness,

lead us ever unto the Morning

and onward to destiny!

Hail to the Lion -

keeper of the memory,

grant that thou may always remember -

thou art the scion of all our heroes

and faithful forever!

O Lion of the Philippines -

may the timeless glories of our nation;

its life, its love, its faith, its promise -

ever shine its eternal light upon thee

that it may in times of trial

and through deepest darkness

preserve in thee thy vision:

For God and Country!

---<--@

Hail to the Lion!