Salutation #77

Let our Banner be unto thyself a symbol of unity, my people,

and let it fly in thy heart out of love of God and Country.

Yea, let this Banner fly in thy heart of hearts or not at all!

For if this one kind of love is absent in the absent heart of Man,

there shall our Country be found nowhere in creation.

- Salutation #10 (Old Defiant)

(Old Defiant vs. Old Compliant)

Peace, I salute you.

I should like to emphasize in us again,

my brothers and sisters of the Promise,

the importance of unity over division -

especially in the midst of this brewing crisis

between our President and our Chief Justice.

Remember,

I am not writing here

about the impeachment trial

- or any external event that must also concern us -

I am writing primarily about you (about us) -

the citizen-servant.

For everything that proceeds in our Republic,

proceeds from the concentrated strength of its spirit

in your soul (our souls).

As regards the impeachment trial of Chief Justice Corona

and the divisions it is sparking in our nation,

if you are in any way interested

in what I have to think about the matter - personally,

please refer to the running commentary

I have opened here.

However,

if you are still sincerely confused about the matter,

you may inhibit yourselves from participating in the public debate

and remain in the safety of your own areas of service.

It is never fair to have to be made to choose

between two co-equal, independent branches

of our one Republic government

in the Responsible State.

Again,

our central focus here

is to make this an exercise in unity

so do not allow your own mind and heart

to become bitterly embroiled in the politics

and the divisions that must surround this event

- without having a clear mind -

as to where your freedom and your independence truly lies.

Completely refrain from adding your own flame

to the many conflagrations that threaten to consume our Country

but rather add it to the unifying light that gives her comfort and warmth,

bolstering her strength to see us all through this long night;

this longest night...

- selah -

(I am reposting this piece from 20110402.)

Something's missing from my Philippines. Something vital.

Who knows her?

These days, everybody seems to be living for themselves alone. It seems no one remembers her.

By this, she is grieved and therefore, draws further and further away into isolation.

For the spirit of Country, my honorable compatriots, is a spirit of self-belonging. It is a self-cognizant, collective sense of self.

And the Republic is a guardian to a people orphaned by war.

Thus, if the people are divided in their hearts against each other, they are scattered.

And the people are scattered because of those distant and faded hearts; hearts that seem to no longer recognize the spirit of this Republic; hearts that have come to accept the rule of War.

Hence, the spirit of Country is diluted.

And when there is no substance left in our remembrance, when there is no peace left to abide in our belonging, when there is no truth left to empower our will of Country, we shall cease to exist as a nation.

But while our history still fills the hunger in our souls, while there is yet a common longing for better days burning in our hearts, while there is yet those who remember and believe, while there is yet even a few who are brave and true, by the grace of Almighty God, war will never have us.

Truly, my nation, this is not a very good time for the spirit of war. For this is exactly why the colors of our own Country is called Old Defiant.

We have a choice. Let it mean something:

Let us defy division, let us defy corruption, let us defy poverty, let us defy evil and prosper, my fellow Filipino compatriots - together this time.

Let us defend where we must, O my nation Philippines, and leave all else to the invulnerable, omnipotent defense of the LORD, our God, the one Sovereign of all nations.

---<--@

Mabuhay ang Pilipinas! God bless us all.

The Truth

20110707

Salutation #31

(Who is Greatest?)

PEACE be with you, Starshine -

The question may arise

from issues arising from the most recent history of our world

about the better undertaking of Country

between an orphaned nation and its Republic

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

its original line of hereditary rulers -

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

Let us bear in mind - first of all -

that we now live in a different paradigm

than the one before our age:

The better undertaking of Country

is the one best able to fulfill its mission

mandated by heaven

and established by the LORD

from the autumnal dusk of our faded Eden -

at the very beginning of exile time

and the long march of our nations -

whether which one, it depends singularly

on its will of obedience

and submission to the truth

invested by God in all human nations -

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

The nearer we are to the Peace that prospers,

the further we are from the War that scatters -

the nearer we are to the War that scatters,

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

and the worse shall the atmosphere of our Country become.

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

Likewise, a Monarchy that is no longer possessed

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

being eternally invested by the LORD

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

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

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

No Country upon this earth at this point in time

is truly ignorant of the calling

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

for the world upon which we have all invested

our lives, our labors and our fortunes together as nations

is but one world and it lies in great peril.

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

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

Therefore, we must always seek

to preserve the national good will in each our selves.

Let us say, "peace be to all the nations

of the one family of the nations of Mankind -

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

For it is sufficient for us to know

that all human nations are ruled by their remembrance -

not by any random chance, and never by War.

And since we are a Republic,

my honorable Filipino compatriots,

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

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

- or think that we are better -

than other Countries but by being better

than our own worst selves.

For it is only by besting the false image of ourselves

that we shall truly succeed - together this time.

What we shall attract come 2012

at the time of our testing as nations together this time

depend singularly on the convictions we are building here today -

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

Individual awakenings lead to a national awakening

(

2009-2012 - work of the heart).

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

(

2012-2045 - work of the hands).

- selah -

Starshine,

the greatest undertaking of Country upon our earth

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

if you choose to grow where you are planted,

if you choose to shine as you should

in the darkness where you are most needed,

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

through the blessings of Providence Divine,

then that place is the greatest place in the world

for you and for everybody around you.

The greatest is the most faithful.

---<--@

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

On Obedience

20110402

Salutation #1

(Salute to the Stars)

TO ALL MY FRIENDS,
who are my companions
near or far, alone or with others,
known or known to God alone
who are from always to always
one kindred grace, joined in truth.

I salute you with much love
being fond of my desire to serve you

through what gift I have to give
that we may fulfill each our parts
as common vanguards of autumnal Eden
entrusted with the peace of our nations
being bound to the one promise of old
to become as numberless as the stars
and sanctify the hopes of our humanity
by bidding them, turn away from War.

Let War's ambitions remain in itself

having no particular truth of it's own;

comprehending not itself from itself
knowing nothing apart from nothing;

perceiving creation as darkness entire

and not the great wonder of living light
that amidst the vast emptiness of space
fill the silence of the void with glad tidings
that bear aloft our hope for human life
and the pursuit of life's great promise.

We shall stand for something!
---<--@

O MANKIND, my nations,

saith the LORD, our God,
where is thy one heart?
The heart that yearns
to be one as I AM one.

O ye believers, listen:
Have thou loved the other?

Have thou seen through

Babel's confusion?

O ye peoples, gather about!

Return to Me, O my portion,
come and learn again My ways
for My ways lead thee to life
and My peace is thy only path.

Know ye the Truth

and I shall set thee free.

I am the LORD, thy living God:
Behold! I am but one God alone,
worship Me not with thy divisions!
Serve me not with wars' ambition
but turn away, O stars of Abraham,
and serve the life of My creation.
---<--@

Old Defiant vs. Old Compliant

Something's missing from my Philippines. Something vital.

Who knows her?

These days, everybody seems to be living for themselves alone. It seems no one remembers her.

By this, she is grieved and therefore, draws further and further away into isolation.

For the spirit of Country, my honorable compatriots, is a spirit of self-belonging. It is a self-cognizant, collective sense of self.

And the Republic is a guardian to a people orphaned by war.

Thus, if the people are divided in their hearts against each other, they are scattered.

And the people are scattered because of those distant and faded hearts; hearts that seem to no longer recognize the spirit of this Republic; hearts that have come to accept the rule of War.

Hence, the spirit of Country is diluted.

And when there is no substance left in our remembrance, when there is no peace left to abide in our belonging, when there is no truth left to empower our will of Country, we shall cease to exist as a nation.

But while our history still fills the hunger in our souls, while there is yet a common longing for better days burning in our hearts, while there is yet those who remember and believe, while there is yet even a few who are brave and true, by the grace of Almighty God, war will never have us.

Truly, my nation, this is not a very good time for the spirit of war. For this is exactly why the colors of our own Country is called Old Defiant.

We have a choice. Let it mean something:

Let us defy division, let us defy corruption, let us defy poverty, let us defy evil and prosper, my fellow Filipino compatriots - together this time.

Let us defend where we must, O my nation Philippines, and leave all else to the invulnerable, omnipotent defense of the LORD, our God, the one Sovereign of all nations.

---<--@

Mabuhay ang Pilipinas! God bless us all.

The Truth

Bangon Pilipino

Kaya mahirap ang Pilipinas ay dahil mahirap ang Pilipino. Ang bansa po natin ay naghihirap dahil napakarami pong Pilipinong mahihirap.

Paano po natin malulunasan ito? Babangon po tayo.

Marahil ito ang unang sasagi sa ating mga pag-iisip: Imposible! Nakakahirap po bang isipin ang isang maunlad na Pilipinas? Kapwa ko mga kapatid sa pangako, mas kawawa po tayo kung hindi tayo matututong maniwala muli at bumangon.

Marahil sa lalim ng mga sugat sa puso ng Pilipino ay minarapat ng marami sa atin na tumalikod muna sa mga sakit ng ating Inang Bayan. Ngunit bago na po ang panahon ngayon. Ang lahat po ay hindi na katulad dati. Ang bansa po natin ay nagigising na sa kanyang sarili at marahil ito po ay inyo na ring nararamdaman sa inyong mga puso.

Marami sa ating mga Pilipino dito sa Pilipinas at sa buong mundo ay may mga parang hinahanap dahil ang ating Inang Bayan ay tumatalima na po sa tawag ng Diyos niyang May Likha: Tayong lahat po ay hinahamon na nitong bagong panahon na bumangon.

Marami pong problema ang Pilipinas. Hindi natin mapagkakaila ito. Kaya sa mga epektibo at makabagong solusyon po sana tayo maniwala ng buong loob at hindi sa dami ng mga problemang ito. Dahil tayong mga Pilipino lang po ang pwedeng magbigay ng lubos at makahulugang lunas sa mga ito para na rin sa bayan nating Pilipinas, wala na pong iba.

Ang katunayan po nito ay ang solusyon ay nasa atin din. Kaya nating bumangon, kapwa ko mga kapatid sa pangako, tapang lang po ang kailangan. Tapang na maniwala muli sa Pilipinas at sa isa't isa. Pananalig lang po sa tawag ng Diyos at pagsisilbi sa tawag ng Inang Bayan.

Bangon na Pilipino: Mayaman, mahirap, bata't matanda, lalaki o babae - lahat po ng nagmamahal sa Diyos at sa Pilipinas. Lahat ay magkakapatid sa Pangako dahil ito po ang lupang ipinangako.

Mapalad ang Bayan na ang Diyos ay ang PANGINOON.

Mabuhay po tayong lahat.

---<--@

The Roots of the Problem

My fellow Filipino compatriots, to begin to understand the essence of the challenges that we as a people must presently overcome, we must understand the roots of the problem.

Here are the roots of the problem. They all feed into the one tree - the wrong one - which is the tree of the desolation of war. It shall certainly bear its fruit, but not for us, my dear people.

If we are wise, my nation Philippines, we shall begin now to lovingly tend to our own undertaking of Country - that we might work to bear the good fruit of our peace for ourselves and for others as ourselves which are those fruits pleasing to God and edible to all of humanity in time and unto eternity.

Here are the roots of the problem as regards to our Philippines:

Luzon - Corruption - diminish corruption in Luzon, spiritual - individual. Bind this evil in Luzon and its tide shall diminish all over the Country, bringing honor back to politics and integrity to our seats of government.

Visayas - Geography - unite the Visayan Islands, technological - national. Bind this evil in the Visayas and it shall act as a bridge that shall further unite the nation, consolidating the spirit of our people.

Mindanao - Division - build the peace in Mindanao, human - social. Bind this evil in Mindanao and we shall obtain from God, the strength to bring down the blessings of His peace all across our one Republic whole.

To uproot these problems from their roots is to also liberate each of the three stars in our Old Defiant to shine all the more brightly for each other. It shall make our Republic progressively stronger as Old Compliant (the false image of ourselves) becomes progressively weaker.

Palawan, we shall consider as a separate challenge distinct from the main challenges specific to Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao:

Palwan - Conservation - promote the national conservation of Palawan, ecological - political. Bind the twin evil of the rampant exploitation of the natural systems of Palawan beyond their ability to sustain and regenerate themselves as well as the resulting displacement of the indigenous peoples who are its rightful stewarts and we shall as a nation obtain for our generations a natural sanctuary; a place of spirit and rest where everything is connected with everything.

The challenge of Palawan concerns all the three stars together: It is here in Palawan where we shall as a nation learn the first principles that will lead us towards Energy Independence in 2045.

If we dislike something that is not ours as a people. Let us all the more perseveringly cling to our Old Defiant, imploring the efficacious aid of our one Almighty, instead of clinging to those things that shall soon be swept away by the rise and fall of the darkness of exile time.

If we are to be left holding on to what is ours, we must first learn to let go of those things that should in no-wise belong to us.

---<--@

Mabuhay ang Pilipinas! God bless us all.

We will be described as human beings by promise of our birth,

citizens of the one Republic of the Philippines by will of national destiny,

believers of each our own honorable religious tradition by light of each our own individual faith and human reason,

common peers from among common peers in common creation by purpose of divine design,

and kindred beings belonging to the one family of humanity by nature of our common good will for all the nations of Mankind.

A Filipino is the heart that loves the Filipino nation.

20110201

I am just going to speak to you freely about some things here...

Some of the things I am feeling I find difficult expressing in words. Because if I do, they will become distorted. Usually, these things just need a little more time. But sometimes, they do not need any form of expression at all. Regardless of which it is, what I put down I must put down or else not at all.

But let me tell you of what I am feeling instead of what it is all about. You know that line between patience and impatience; where anxiety meets daring right at the confluence of faith and hope. I am there. Because, my fellow Filipino compatriots, the world is speeding up again.

You know that holiday lull, that sense of a calm in the storm? It's over now and the calm that we felt we now realize was the calm right at the beginning of it.

Moreover, we can no longer afford to be insular in our thinking as a nation. I know this thinking because I used to have it. Before I left for overseas, I thought Filipinos were all there is to our world.

But our world is a community of peoples - a family of nations.

And it is getting smaller in a sense that we must be able to take it all into our mind and hearts to understand how we fit in and how to go forward from where we are.

What's happening in Egypt seems far but it is no longer so. We must remember we are now presently living at a transition into a different age; a twilight if you will, and that in this twilight, it is so easy to be lulled into a deadly complacency.

What we have discovered so far about ourselves as a nation seems easy to dismiss. For they are mostly immaterial in nature. But the work of the heart always precedes the work of the earth. Indeed the calamities we must now face on a planetary scale have all precipitated from a neglect of these same things.

I know that there will be those who will find their security in complacency; that there are those who will deny themselves the effort and the concentration to even attempt to understand the work that is being proposed to us. Indeed I am fully aware that there will be those whose hearts God will harden. It is written.

But it is not for the unwilling that I am writing, it is for you - my fellow Filipino compatriots - for us and for all those other free and willing citizens of our kindred nations in general - all the people of the peace - so that what belongs to you might always be yours in peace and good will. And that we all (including myself) might become better for it - as a nation, indeed as one family of nations.

For in my heart, O my nation, as I know you do, the colors I have chosen to wear is that of our Old Defiant. So I will have nothing to do anymore whatsoever with that Old Compliant: I reject the lie of war (and its train of social and personal sins along with it). Therefore, I must tolerate no division in my heart and strive to constantly uphold the honor of the LORD in my soul. For the LORD is God and He alone is God, one, peerless and eternal: My one, triune Perfection.

So what is happening in Egypt affects us indeed. Therefore, may peace reign in Egypt. May the people over there including our fellow citizens find safety. Above all, may peace reign in the Middle East and in our native Philippines. Let us not forget to put these in our prayers to God today.

We do not have to exceed our promise nor must we hold back on it: We are one whole sky after all, my honorable compatriots.

Today is the first day of World Interfaith Harmony Week: Try to learn something about those who are different from you and use this learning to enrich your sense of our nation today and all this week.

For me particularly, I think the Muslim hijab (head dress) is a beautiful thing. As a Roman Catholic Christian, I see it as a true symbol of a woman's right to choose; it is a practice that encapsulates a freedom that is not license; a responsible freedom; a freedom that leads to good things; a freedom that is pleasing to God Who Himself is free.

---<--@

Mabuhay ang Pilipinas! God bless us all.

Forward Thinking

20100905

I have no idea how to begin this...

First of all, this blog is a continuation of the conversation we were already having on Planet Annelies. But this time, I am having this conversation with you, my nation - WE, the Philippines.

There is an entire ethos behind this conversation, O my nation. And I would that you bear with me on this as I begin to tell you about these things...

Old Compliant

Today, I would like to tell you about "Old Compliant":

Old Compliant is the false image of Old Defiant. It is everything we are not supposed to be.

It is always good to meditate upon those things we are not, O my nation, so that we may put all of our energies into achieving for ourselves and our generations who we should become in time - who we have always been in eternity.

The way of the world is evil and cunning. And those who have come comply with its mercenary ways have consequently come to adopt it.

We do not belong to this crooked way.

Our nation belongs not unto this world. In fact, no nation does.

Our being here as nations is a test of our belonging together as citizens to each other. It is a test of how committed we are as human beings to achieve the purpose of our being together in time - of how strongly we desire to build upon the peace of the LORD, our God, the humble beginnings of newer, better, and brighter things.

None of us is perfect but that's why we have the shelter of our togetherness and peace. Like the stars in the night sky, we are by the light of each other, one whole sky.

We are not meant to achieve a perfect peace upon this earth at this time but we are expected to embrace this truth as perfectly as we can - for God and Country.

For all of humanity were meant for better days - much better days. But to achieve this we have to go through this world together as transients - exile nations.

The way of the world says this desolation is all there is and for two thousand years till midnight hitherto we have been awaiting for our time to come:

This is our time - Old Compliant we are not.

---<--@

Mabuhay ang Pilipinas. God bless us all.