Gaza

The desolation of Gaza

Gaza. Gaza is a victim. Trodden ground. Trampled people. Gaza is bleeding. Crying out. In the silence. Afraid.

She is afraid of HAMAS. She is afraid of Israel. So Gaza weeps. As the media puts words in her mouth. True and untrue. Regardless. Gaza weeps. And she bleeds.

Her children are crying. Their future is dying. But the war is louder. A beast has her in its grip. Why is no one fighting for her precious ones?

Death? Life? In the middle is Gaza. In the middle Dying. Trodden ground. Trampled people. Crying out in the silence. Afraid.
---<--@

I love the inhabitants of the Holy Land. Absolutely. Relentlessly. I love them all with a singleness of heart.

I realize there are nations in that region. And that the region itself is under siege by the domination of war. So I do not like to choose sides.

I hate playing one nation against the other. It is easy to do. That is why it is wrong. For the same reason hatred is wrong. Hatred must choose a side.

Love holds to no sides. And love is hard. Compassion is difficult in the midst of conflict. But entirely worth it. For hatred produces nothing, leads to nothing, is nothing. In love, everything finds itself again.

So all this wounding is painful indeed. But the hatred that feeds it is a fire that will be extinguished by its own need to burn brightly.

It does not matter the sides. Love is eternal. Unity is eternal.
---<--@

HAMAS started this conflict. HAMAS has no business launching rockets into Israel. Nations can not be destroyed from the outside. What for is this being done? It has stirred up a hornet's nest.

Neither HAMAS nor Israel has total control of the situation. War has taken control of the situation. Everything is being drawn into its gravity.

Therefore -

Honor the truce. Dictate one condition: Alleviate suffering Gaza.

Wrest some control back from the main enemy. From the war itself.

Set the end conditions. Begin to contain the conflict. Be reminded of thy common stewardship of the region and of its fledgling tomorrow. Draw it near.

Fight your battles. But leave the common people out of it.
---<--@

Our world is a fragile, beautiful world. It instantly turns to dust and ashes when we disagree. Our world is a beautiful world. It is vision. Can you see?

Let us build. Though at times we disagree on how. Let us have vision. Our place in this world is here. And it is also there. Let us believe. Let us build it. Can we?

What we sow in questions, after we have partaken of the seasonal harvests of understanding, we reap in more questions. What kind of a world do you believe in? 

What do you see, darling Starshine?
---<--@

Let us from all nations and all faiths hope, work, and pray together
for meaningful, equitable, durable Peace in the Middle East.

Salaam. Shalom. Peace. Mabuhay po tayong lahat.

A Renewal of Hope

I love you, Holy Father Francis

May thoughts of Peace grow in the Middle East.

Saint John Paul II, pray for us and for peace in our world.
Saint John XXIII, pray for us and for peace in our world.

Shalom. Salaam. Peace.

"I will turn them back into their nations
and return them to a memory of themselves
unto the work that I have purposed for the earth
that they may understand again the value of peace

so that I may prosper them through their generations

and bring them back to a memory of each other."
---<--@



I love the Holy Land
and have often thought -

If Israel is attacked, I am an Israeli.

If Palestine is attacked, I am a Palestinian.

If both Israel and Palestine are attacked -
then I am Israeli and Palestinian both.

But when they attack each other,
I am sorely grieved...

I am sorely grieved
for the least, the defenseless,
and the voiceless among them both.

For when both attack each other,
it is never the blame of the weak
but always of the strong...

In this way, I find my voice.

So that when in my heart I affirm -
"let there be peace be in the Middle East!",
I become sure of my own sincerity.
---<--@


No Way

Salutation #116

Our world has changed and is still changing...



(Free Palestine!)

O people Palestine -

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

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

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

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

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

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

I shall never identify thee with War, O Palestine.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

AMEN.
---<--@


Support Palestinian Human and National Rights!

Towards the Morn

The journey of a thousand years

begins with just one day - and that day is today.

Towards the morn, O ye nations,

towards that awakening dawn!

Towards the peace, O ye peoples,

towards the twilight of the new!

Towards the LORD, O ye numberless stars,

towards that promise made of old!

Towards the Light, all ye living lights

away from the darkness,

where all our roads,

lead back to you, Jerusalem.

---<--@

Salutation #76

You might say, my dear Filipino soul, that that embattled region of our Asia, the Middle East, is not our concern - not our concern at all.

Ah, but it is!

Believe me when I say it, the fate of many nations depend on it.

- selah -

Here is a map of the region: Where are the divisions here?

My beloved brothers and sisters of the Promise,

hear me when I say -

The lines on a map are artificial

- insofar as we understand -

that these are not meant to scatter the hearts of our nations

nor divide and dilute the concentrated spirit of our common humanity

but to facilitate the temporal labor of our nations (as Countries upon our world)

that we may better bring continually forth and preserve

a wholesome and healthy sense of meaningful purpose to our world

sustaining an order built upon a just and abiding peace

among all peoples of the earth

according to the needs of every present time.

Now,

these lines become permanent divisions

that lay its dark siege against the life of our nations

insofar as the peoples of Mankind forget that

- Unity is Eternal -

and the hearts of the children of Mankind

freely and willingly permit

the War in heaven a place on earth.

Salutation #76

(The one Cause of Palestine)

Palestine is divided,

the sky above the heart of Asia

lay shattered only because we accept it.

Say thee with me,

I for one do not accept it!

Neither do I accept the manifold evils

that embattle her peoples, making them suffer,

in spirit as well as in temporality.

For my vision of the region

and every undertaking of Country that must animate all these favored lands

is not one of division but of unity.

So peace be with you!

Unity is Eternal.

Let this be your vision as well.

- selah -

To the nations -

When art thou going to stop

feeding the insatiable division that is slowly

killing the needful cause of the peace of Modern Israel

and therefore, making permanent the darkness engulfing

all the suffering peoples of that choice and blessed region of Palestine?

To all you with hearts to listen,

all my brothers and sisters of the Promise -

The "Palestinians" stand for a cause

for which all nations are in spirit purposed on earth

by the God of all heaven and earth.

If they were not

- in the eyes of many -

one people united in heart before,

all of this present turmoil, tragedy and grief

has certainly bound them together

as one nation now.

This is a truth that by any other name remains the truth.

Therefore,

if you shall say the "Palestinians" are an invented people,

then you might be implying that the cause for which they are united

is a fabricated cause.

And if you shall say that the Palestinian Cause is a fabricated cause,

this might indicate that you are unable to grasp the long view of the region.

And if you allow yourself to freely believe this,

for whatever reason, conscious or unconscious, you may allow;

if you fail to consider the realities on the ground,

you support neither Israel or Palestine.

Say thee with me,

I will never stand for nor tolerate terrorism

nor shall I ever desire the destruction of any nation

above all Israel whom one should love dearly

and to whom one should speak the truth.

Truly,

if we are not careful, O my nations,

if we continue to allow for the deception of War

to sow its scattering in each our hearts;

if we permit the beast of War

even a toehold in our souls,

we all shall fail.

- selah -

I have always maintained - to each of you -

that the Middle East is where the siege of War shall be broken;

that it is here where the darkness of the last great age of war shall be lifted,

however, I have also always carefully reminded each of you that this is a choice

and that we must make this choice today while it is still today.

For our unity is an integral part of our liberty as nations

- human nations, O human Man,

nations dreaming together this time.

Therefore,

my brothers and sisters of the Promise,

let this be the prayer in our heart -

Let there be peace across all of Palestine;

a peace to calm the storm at the heart of our Asia!

Let there be peace across all of Palestine -

for the sake of all the nations of our needful world,

including our beloved Philippines.

Above all,

let there be peace across all of Palestine

- a constant reign of truth -

for the sake of those long-suffering peoples

descended from the lineages of

both Isaac and Ishmael

(both of which are beloved of God as we are beloved of God)

and the nations God had intended for their safety and progress

for the honor of the LORD,

the glory of the unity of God,

and the salvation of many.

---<--@

Salutation #56

If I say "yes" to Israel and "no" to Palestine

then I only promote the division that will eventually consume both...

Its like saying yes without really meaning it.

When you say "yes" to Peace,

you do not say "yes" to War as well.

(Shining as the Stars)

The peace in the Philippines

and the peace in the Middle East

are equally important.

Each is connected to the success of the other.

They go in sequence.

For us Filipinos, Peace must be won here first.

For we can not shine as one nation with skies divided by War.

Winning the peace here

adds to the strength of winning the peace

in our ASEAN and outward

shining as the stars into Jerusalem

at the heart of our Asia, the Middle East.

So be guided: Do not be confused.

The peace in the Philippines

and the peace in the Middle East

are intertwined, within as well as without.

One can not prosper without the other.

Each one forms the other to become one whole sky.

So if we love one, we must also love the other.

In the former, we secure the blessings of unity for our nation.

In the latter, we secure the blessings of unity for our one family of nations.

Indeed,

we must shine for peace

and if it does not happen today

when?

---<--@

It is human to fight for love. It is not human to fight for hate. For when we fight for love, we defend. When we fight for hate, we only fight.

---<--@

Mabuhay po tayong lahat! Peace. Salaam. Shalom. God bless us all.

The Peace of the Brotherhood of Mankind

Breaking the Siege

20110923

Towards the morn, O ye nations,
towards that awakening dawn!

Towards the peace, O ye peoples,
towards the twilight of the new!

Towards the LORD, O ye numberless stars,
towards that promise made of old!

Towards the Light, all ye living lights
away from the darkness,
where all our roads,
lead back to you, Jerusalem.

The September 23 Palestinian Initiative

Today is September 23. I am well aware of the prominence of this date in the context of the Middle East Peace process of which I am an ardent advocate.

Today, I am anxious. I am not anxious in a sense that I am afraid. I am anxious in the sense that I am expectant. I feel I can not be anything else. I am praying for a break in the doldrums. I am expecting for the slightest bit of forward movement.

I am hoping for even a few people to chose peace in the Middle East.

I am praying for Abu Mazen and for Benjamin Netenyahu. I am praying for President Obama. I am praying for President Sarkozy whose solution to the deadlock I feel closely matches what I have in mind.

I am praying for the representation of my own Republic in the United Nations and for all notable nations who are represented there not to be confused by this seemingly intractable divide.

For the heavens above us have no division save for the divisions in the mind of Man. This is also true of the Middle East Peace.

The confrontation that is to happen today in the United Nations between the two sides is going to be very difficult.

It shall be fraught with deep and profound emotions supported by histories going back centuries. And these histories shall often be expressed in a form that appear outwardly prejudicial for they shall never be perceived by any nation in and of itself to run parallel to the unified experience of the United Nations.

Indeed, it is for this reason that the spirit of the Council stands; to reconcile human history to itself so that War shall be forever denied a place on our earth.

Nothing of good and lasting worth for any Country can ever be said to have been cheaply won. Everything we hold dear to our sacred remembrances as individual nations upon this world of earth and fire can not be said to have been so easily obtained by our generations.

So it goes as well for the hope we all must invest in the peace between Israel and Palestine and maybe even more because of the sheer difficulty of it all. Indeed, this dream of peace must be a wonder worth seeing unto its very fulfillment. It must be something worth standing for.

Having said all this and having considered the bravery inherent in this undertaking of peace as a whole as well as the virtues God has so generously invested and showered on all sides of our one human family, I shall now personally conclude that at the end of this day, September 23, 2011, if even a few people gets absolutely convinced of the need for Peace over War in our world especially between Israel and Palestine, then I feel that all this expectation is worth it.

Because it is for the individual to heal the wounds of the nations and the nations for the healing of the wounds of our failing world.

---<--@

Epilogue: Georgia vs. Troy Davis

Despite protests, the State of Georgia carried out the execution of Troy Davis. The US Supreme Court decided not to intervene.

The story can not end here though. Because even now, the doubt still lingers and the hope still stands.

Because if it were that an innocent man was sent to his death by the justice of the state to atone for the death of another innocent man, then the death penalty ceases to become an instrument of justice and becomes an instrument of injustice.

It is easily taken for granted that innocence is like a feather and guilt is like a brick and that such is the easy appearance of things always disinclined against the person of the accused.

Yet in a criminal case, when life is pitted against life, the person of the accused and the person of the victim when measured, each against the other, on the scales of justice measure equally.

For in our justice system, the feather and the brick must suppose no weight in and of themselves at the beginning of every criminal trial.

The prosecution must prove weight. The defense must seek to dismiss it. And the bench always bear in mind and heart in the singular interest of justice that these appearances matter.

In the case of Troy Davis, conscience is compelled by the peculiarities of his appeal to re-examine the case from the beginning of the trial where innocence is presumed until guilt is proven beyond reasonable doubt.

It may lead many to a re-examination of capital punishment in the United States.

---<--@

Peace is not an end to our battles but the beginning of our winning them.

---<--@

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

Breaking the Siege

Healing Work

20110921

On Capital Punishment and the Case of Troy Davis

This article on Yahoo News caught my eye -

Troy Davis is scheduled to be executed by lethal injection in the State of Georgia on Wednesday 7pm US Eastern Time.

The problem is there is an overwhelming upsurge of public sentiment to - at the very least - postpone capital punishment in the light of new developments in support of his case for the defense.

The prosecution is adamant. The defense is making last minute appeals. The public is becoming more and more anxiously divided on the issue.

But both the prosecution and the defense are integral elements of a justice system that must subscribe to unifying principles that safeguard a court's ability to preserve the peace of the state.

One of these principles are - the innocent must never be punished with the guilty.

My instant reaction is to agree with a suspension of the sentence. It is also the natural reaction of many other notable people including my Holy Father Benedict XVI.

I am a Roman Catholic Christian in private as well as in public. My faith has a lot to do with every aspect of my little life, its true - because if I had remained in my sin, if I had no Savior, I would not be speaking sense to you today.

It would be a grave miscarriage of justice if the court gives in to anger or the spirit of revenge or allow itself to become drawn into any political divisions that, having no place whatsoever in the consideration of these things, further deny the State and the community of the people their natural recourse to the remedy of law.

No one would deny justice to the victims and their families. Let there be no doubt that the causes of both Justice and Law serves their grievances first and foremost.

But to prevent the community from reaping further grief from what seems to be a reasonable doubt looming against the cause of justice, one must prove right to make this appeal to the government of Georgia to intervene and not make this doubt a permanent motion that would, in the interests of narrow-minded expediency, remove the peace of that State of the Union further away from the public trust.

And so I too find myself making this same appeal for the authorities in Georgia to intervene to suspend the execution of Troy Davis.

If the person is innocent and he is delivered to God guilty, the burden no longer lies with the innocent but with the community who condemn themselves with their blood.

This shall not go without repercussions.

Indeed, all human care and all legal means must be exhausted beyond reasonable doubt to make sure that the innocent is never punished with the guilty.

That the guilty should be punished without delay is a corollary of this first principle.

This is why capital punishment is never a remedy for failing to address the failures in the justice system of any nation - most of all, here in my native Philippines.

God bless the State of Georgia, God bless America and may the LORD prosper thy Republic that justice prevail for all thy peoples unto the last of their generations.

---<--@

Some more considerations on the Middle East Peace -

I reaffirm this once again. We must fully support President Obama's initiative to bring back on track the Middle East peace process. The political peace (distinct from the national peace) has the best chance of achieving itself under his watch.

It should be recognized that the protection of the Jewish-Majority nature of the undertaking of Country known as modern Israel is essential to preserve that Country's ability to decisively preempt another Holocaust and to defend the rights of the whole nation of Israel at home or abroad.

I say Jewish-Majority here because of the fact that in any undertaking of Country, there shall always be a minority and for this reason, the majority can not rule without justice and this justice is impossible if the minority of any undertaking of Country is not given full recognition as well as equal protection before the law. This must also be recognized.

Furthermore, the same exact thing must be expected of the nascent Palestinian undertaking of Country.

As a matter of fact, the 4th Cause applies to every undertaking of Country that draws its breath from the spirit of its own nation.

In this sense, Israel and Palestine shall be reciprocating unto each other greater and greater examples founded on good will instead of those descending cycles of ill will that have plagued and confused their peoples for a generation.

It must be conceded by both the State of modern Israel and the Palestinian Authority that the deadlock in the Middle East (along with whatever reasons, covert or overt, that have given this conflict the appearance of justice) can no longer be sustained in this new age.

Both nations must cross the Minimum of the Times - stop looking backward - and complete their remembrances under this present season of heaven.

There can be no other choice that will secure the long-term national success for both the nations of Israel and of Palestine than to make the choice for peace today while it is still today.

For peace is the craft of nations.

Both sides must be given an honorable exit strategy and an honest and dependable way of return for their common peoples out of this untenable state of division and away into unity and the promise of the new age...

that Peace may proceed from Jerusalem and good will spring up from the heart of our Asia to bring down from God in heaven the blessings of this new age for all our nations dreaming together of a better world for our common humanity, alelluia.

---<--@

Mabuhay ang Pilipinas! God bless us all.

Blindness

Salutation #52

O most beneficent LORD

and one God of all creation,

rekindle in the hearts of Thy nations

the desire for meaningful peace.

(To the Philippine Representation to the United Nations as Regards the Palestinian Initiative on September 23)

Mabuhay!

Peace, I salute you.

I bid you to act with caution.

Allow not the noble ideals of our young Republic

to get drawn into the invisible but all too real gravity

of the subtle spiritual division that exists

between Israel and Palestine.

Take no sides but the side of peace.

And the peace that takes no side but the peace;

belonging to God first and from the unity of LORD

unto the brotherhood of the nations

embracing all to the last.

Say the peace

- implicitly or explicitly -

of the one people of the Philippines

to Israel and to Palestine both.

Do not take your focus away

from both these kindred and most beloved nations

- especially in the lead up to September 23 -

and always see them as Nations first;

apart from the Common Market,

apart from the Responsible State.

Speak only for the people,

act only to address their needs,

and always be mindful in thy soul of County

of the cause for which nations exist upon this earth.

Listen to the plight of the Palestinians

and be aware of the frustrations of that nation.

Acknowledge their nationhood - first and foremost -

and the cause for which they now stand together;

recognize from the needs of our own nation

the justice it demands and the peace it requires.

Stand with them in their hour of need.

Listen to the anxieties of Israel

and be aware of the realities of their concerns.

See through 2000 years of tragedy and expectation

and place yourself beyond all that shall undoubtedly be said

- into the heart of the matter -

indeed, you must come alive to their remembrance;

make sure the nation Israel does not stand alone.

Be wary of the spirit of War

who will seek to impose upon thy reason

- by any means available to it -

its will of division

causing you to set aside the peace

for which our United Nations is founded.

Proceed from unity; speak from unity;

deliberate with unity in mind; listen with unity in mind;

provide counsel only with unity in thy heart;

act only within its bounds.

With much tenacity, courage and wisdom,

deny the spirit of War a foothold

- at least as far as our Republic may -

in that august body established

for the defense of the prevailing peace

of the one family of the nations of Mankind.

My prayers,

the prayers of all people of good will in our Country

and surely, from all the many other Countries,

spread upon their own spheres of responsibility

in this one world of ours so needful of peace,

shall be with you, Ambassador,

and with you all.

---<--@

Now is the time to stop living on our problems and begin working together toward solutions. To be able to do this, we must be able to build on agreements.

So let us make the way of our hearts clear. Let us cast off the spirit of division and break the rule of War from within ourselves. For peace has to start somewhere.

Finally, whose "side" are you on anyway?

A lot of people say, "I support Israel."

A lot of people say, "I support Palestine."

Not a lot of people say, "I support Peace."

Well, I do.

Why?

Because I love both those nations, don't you?

---<--@

Mabuhay po kayong dalawa kapatid na Israel and kapatid na Palestine! Long may our remembrance serve us. God bless us all.

The Peace of the Brotherhood of Mankind

20110916

Salutation #50

Who is responsible for the presence of War in the Middle East? No one.

Who is responsible for the absence of Peace in the Middle East? Everyone.

(Breaking the Siege in the Middle East)

Something looms in the distance

like a sword poised to strike;

there is a foreboding in the horizon

and if feels like a thousand nights

over the heart of our Asia -

- selah -

I cry out to God in Eternity -

to the LORD before the assembly of the nations!

Let there be peace upon our failing earth

and the glory of God restored in Jerusalem.

The two most important nations in that region

- Israel and Palestine -

must turn toward each other in peace.

For Israel is a nation; ancient and troubled.

And Palestine too; young and anxious.

Thou both are defined by thy need for justice.

Thou both are endowed with rights - as nations -

to pursue thy own course of peace and self-determination.

But not in the spirit of War and the darkness of division

shall any of thee hope to achieve this!

For no matter how bitter or painful the past

thou both have given birth to each other's present hopes.

O Israel and Palestine!

Do not rely on anything else

but the work of prospering thy present hopes

- thy common human hopes -

as nations dreaming together this time.

Not in names or affiliations made of mere words

not in empty appearances of power or wealth or titles

but in the labor set before thy heart by the LORD thy God

that He may prosper thee in each thy labors of Country

as peoples bound together in the freedom of thy gifts;

a lineage of victory before the LORD!

Each thy undertaking of Country,

may it be separate and distinct or singular and united,

is in reality joined together - so intimately -

that to distinguish between the two is difficult.

Especially Jerusalem which cannot be divided.

Yet the whole region cries out for unity!

This is the truth that they fight against;

those who speak peace but listen not to the plight of Jerusalem.

For peace is in not in their hearts.

Let the whole region speak to Mankind of unity!

Alelluia, Jerusalem is the City of the LORD's Peace.

Jerusalem is the City of the LORD's Peace.

This is the strength that they are so willing to renounce.

They whose hearts stand permanently divided

against our common humanity before God.

They who have chosen to harbor War in the heart.

For instead of rejoicing, they weep.

Instead of overcoming, they are overcome.

With bitter tears, they prepare for war,

and plunge their communities into the darkness.

The youth are brought up in division,

the men, the women,

they learn to call it by whatever name;

all are turned away from the LORD.

Yet peace reaches out to thee, O ye peoples,

for the faithfulness of the LORD is steadfast and true.

Rely on God and trust in the LORD - I bid thee -

O beloved Israel, O beloved Palestine - O ye peoples -

listen to the calling of the times!

Let the Peace of the LORD reign in Jerusalem

and let the glory of God shine forth from Jerusalem to Asia

and from Asia to the world.

- selah -

By the end of next year, 2012,

the choice for peace will no longer be a choice.

War will be let loose and the world shall descend

into another age of conflict.

What good are riches or the anger of Man

in the midst of the relentless hatred of War?

War will not distinguish between human being and human being.

For the beast of War seeks the annihilation of all.

The spirit of War will march to undo the nations - from each to each -

and seek to devour its ward to the last of its generations.

How will our times be remembered?

What will our posterity say of these present generations

who left for them a desolation?

O Israel and Palestine -

thou brothers, make peace!

Is thy long-suffering impotent?

Let it bear fruit therefore,

and let the nations follow thee

into brotherhood, into peace.

Hear me O Israel!

Hear me O Palestine!

You are loved - both of you.

Together thou art loved as twins.

May Peace prevail in our Asia

and may God bless all our nations

from Israel to the Philippines

from Siberia (Russia) to Indonesia

and from Asia to our needful world -

let this peace be for us a season

to bring rest and healing to our world

and blessings unto all Mankind.

---<--@

On Jerusalem -

If any of us wants a proper place to begin building on an understanding of the spirit of the times, one must think about the plight of Jerusalem.

I have previously advanced the concept of Strategic Secondary Capitals specifically for the sake of Jerusalem. Israel wants her. Palestine wants her.

Yet none for truly peaceful reasons. For both desire Jerusalem - zealously - but to the exclusion of the other and by extension, the rest of the nations of the world.

Why should the spirit of War be allowed to dwell in the hearts of the citizens of Zion and obscure the unity that is its living light?

Accept the will of the LORD as is. Accept Jerusalem as is. Truly, God has designs of brotherhood and repentance upon His City. Let Jerusalem be the City of the LORD's Peace for all the nations!

We can no longer abide with divided hearts and hope to enter into the promise of the new age. This may only become more and more evident as we enter into this century. The Middle East peace process is a symbol of this struggle to obtain from God a new unity of spirit and heart for all Mankind.

The real test of these times is the recognition of our common humanity before the LORD and a return of our nations to their rightful tasks of building up the inhabited earth as the one covenant family of the nations of the children of Mankind.

Each of us - especially the stars of our Father Abraham - is called to break free of the gravity of the last great age of War and become for each other the hope of the last 2000 years.

Peace must be desired and desired absolutely - especially in Jerusalem.

In a divided world, we should not concern ourselves with the lives of other nations. The question is - do we live in a divided world?

"If I forget you, O Jerusalem, may my right hand forget its skill. May my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth if I do not remember you, if I do not consider Jerusalem my highest joy." (Psalm 137: 5-6)

---<--@

God bless Israel and God bless Palestine, mabuhay! Long may our remembrance serve thee.

Breaking the Siege

War in the Heart

Salutation #18

(On Iran in the context of the Middle East Peace)

To all our national communities, Peace.

I do not see the threat coming from Iran.

I see the threat coming from the perception of a threat coming from Iran.

Whether one may be reacting to this threat

as in the US or Israel,

or one may be inadvertently projecting this threat

as in the State of Iran,

it will make no difference to any party

as long as it feeds the perception.

The face of the Dragon of War seem veiled

- for a time -

but once the threshold is crossed

and War is let loose in our midst, O ye nations -

will it matter to any of us then

what its chosen pretense may have been?

When we shall be left to behold the face of the Dragon

and our world descends yet again into another age of turmoil

will it matter to any of us then, O ye nations,

as the maddening darkness engulfs our generations,

what choice lie it sold to our hearts?

When the sign appears, it shall be too late.

- selah -

War is a creature of deception.

The perception itself serves the spirit of War

and War serves no nation.

This perception having been built and solidified

by years and years of division

is the gravity that might pull that embattled region

or worse,

our needful world

back into a new age of conflict

and reap for our generations the pent-up rage

of 2000 years of War.

It can only be counteracted by undoing what harm

years and years of miscommunication and mistrust

have created in and between the parties concerned -

the affected nations and their Responsible States.

Something that the politics of any side

seem averse at doing at this time,

or worse incapable.

My honorable compatriots,

that whole region is aching for a change

and I am becoming more and more convinced

that this change may only be effected

as a person to person, people to people transition

from national attitudes ranging from either ignorance and/or indifference

to one of a total commitment to peace and authentic human community -

from star to star, one whole sky.

If we shall continue on with determination with the path of peace,

here in our nation and here in our region

and especially

in the context of the Middle East peace,

between Israel and the Palestinians,

I am personally convinced that this perception of a threat

will eventually undo itself -

to the benefit of all.

But if we allow ourselves

and consequently,

our one family of nations

to be strategically directed by this perception,

it shall eventually lead that embattled region

to a place it does not want to be -

to the regret of all.

My fellow Filipino compatriots,

I believe all nations of our one family have a stake

at ensuring a viable option does exist for that embattled region -

the choice of a meaningful, sustainable, durable peace.

Hence, it is important that we are able to preserve this peace in ourselves.

It is vital that we can hold on to its vision

of a better, kinder, brighter world for all nations

even as it directly relates to us here in the Philippines.

Therefore, it is just as important

that we are able to make a committed and principled stand

on matters directly affecting it (such as Iran)

and the region (Middle East Asia, specifically Jerusalem)

central to our attaining it.

For this reason, I have thought to share with you

my own opinion regarding the matter.

I suggest you think about it, pray about it,

and even share it (as well as your own opinions) amongst yourselves

(or with me - for I am one of you).

Be concerned about matters of the peace -

in our nation, in our region, in the Middle East, and in our world.

Our world is in a perilous state

and though calamity might seem distant to many of us

here in our own Country,

when it arrives, it shall come to claim our nation

and all those communities under its wing

- quickly -

and shall neither relent nor discern

between rich, poor, young, old, male or female

of any creed, family or tribal affiliation.

For War is a devourer of peoples.

Peace is the key to a better world.

Not the false peace of the age that is past,

nor appeasement in any sense -

Peace as a paradigm whole, O my nations,

which is peace rightfully understood -

the necessary peace that prospers, O my people,

the belonging that preserves our generations.

---<--@

Terrorism is a crime not a cause.

---<--@

Mabuhay po tayong lahat! Long may our remembrances serve us. God bless all our nations.

War in the Heart

Salutation #15

The roots of War is ancient.

Therefore,

War was never a choice that can be made freely

by any nation as itself.

The real choice all our nations must always make

- in every generation, and in every present time -

is peace.

So let this be our choice -

let our freedom be always guided by it.

(An exhortation to Israel and Palestine for peace)

Peace, I salute you.

Will it matter to us anymore, O Israel and Palestine,

whatever permits the Dragon entrance into our midst?

When the threshold is crossed

and War has again entered into our world

I say to you now,

War will not distinguish

between our nations what it wills to consume.

For War is a devourer of peoples.

Something terrible approaches our nations...

What matters to us today

is the strength of our collective desire for peace

and peace properly understood -

Peace as a paradigm over War.

Be single-hearted therefore,

in this quest for a durable, meaningful, sustainable peace,

O Israel and Palestine,

and cast away thy lingering and sorrowful past.

Recall to yourselves today

the hopes of thy generations, past, present and future

and establish thy feet upon the truth of thy belonging together as nations -

I exhort you to work to complete your remembrances.

Do the past justice

and relinquish from your midst

the darkness that keeps its hold on thy futures together.

O Israel,

you may seek to build for yourself today

an impregnable fortress of isolation

but it shall still be a prison for you -

do not make this a permanent reality.

O Palestine,

you may seek to strike out

with a sword meant for thy defense

but for so long as this sword of nationhood

seeks to harm other nations,

it shall always seek to strike out at you.

But both of you, O Israel and Palestine,

if you build on the right remembrances

have a great potential to prosper together

in the embrace of thy sheltering wings.

I exhort you both therefore,

to work to complete your remembrances!

Do the undying hopes of past generations justice

- and labor now -

to relinquish from your midst

the darkness that keeps its hold on thy futures together.

- selah -

O Israel and Palestine -

thou brothers, make peace!

Is thy long-suffering impotent?

Let it bear fruit therefore,

and let the nations follow thee

into brotherhood, into peace.

You are loved - both of you.

---<--@

Do not look for answers beyond 2009. For it was in 2009 that this choice for peace was begun. Prior to 2009, there was no choice. After 2012, it will be no more.

---<--@

Mabuhay po kayong dalawa kapatid na Israel and kapatid na Palestine! Long may our remembrance serve us. God bless us all.

War in the Heart

20110520

Reviving the Middle East Peace Process

I was able to tune in last night to CNN in time to see President Obama's speech on the Arab Spring and the Middle East Peace Process.

I am no longer going to mince words about my convictions on the Middle East Peace Process.

There is a necessary shape that our family of nations must take in order for us to enter into the right door that will lead to the right future.

If our nations are presently conflicted, if America herself is presently conflicted, it is because this necessary shape is being presented to our hearts.

We know our common hope - we desire a better, brighter, kinder world for all men, women and children of all the nations of the one family of the nations of Mankind.

We desire peace, equality, freedom, justice, and prosperity enough to (at the very least) reach our own particular UN MDG's which are markers set in real terms to measure the growth of these ideals.

And now that the path that leads up to this hope is being presently revealed to our nations, we are becoming conflicted.

We are conflicted

and understandably so

because it is a path of peace - a road less traveled, as it were.

It is a heretofore unknown path - an ascendant, mountain way.

Because the necessary shape that must now permeate the prevailing order of the times (which is required as an adaptation to the new age) is simply

the shape of peace and peace as a paradigm whole.

We are now coming to the realization that our world must completely break away from the momentum of the last 2000 years and formally forsake the familiar but deadly gravity of

the last great age of War.

Lest we should not only get more of the same, it shall be dealt to us in magnitudes previously unknown to our remembrances.

My beloved friends, peace is the necessary shape. It is the one key that shall unlock the hidden promises of the new age before us.

If we are hesitating here today, this is good. B

ecause in this quest for a new age of peace, w

e are all pioneers.

This is why we are conflicted.

Now, I am of the conviction that the Middle East Peace Process is vital and must be concluded on paper under President Obama's watch.

Because a large part of this necessary shape depends on the Middle East Peace.

Indeed, the path that a mature America needs to take goes right through the Middle East Peace Process.

My fellow Filipino compatriots, this

too is our path.

As you know, our own Philippine Peace Process is part and parcel of a larger global movement which though complex, I have endeavored to present to you through this blog.

The whole world is shifting, not just us, and things are speeding up toward 2012.

(I have been trying to discern these things for years and have both Scriptural as well as empirical basis for most everything I am presenting here. Why I should do this is no longer a question I ask myself - it simply must be done.)

Our particularity as a nation distinct is entirely worth defending. But so too are our alliances with our friends just as equally worth fighting for.

We are to walk the way of peace and not only because we are allied to America (by irrevocable ties of blood and fire) but because we must remain true to the nation in ourselves: This we do by honoring our citizenships with each other as well as our covenant bonds with all the other nations of the one family of the nations of Mankind (represented in and by the United Nations institution).

And we must work out an understanding of this in ourselves: We must work out a conviction in our hearts that seeks to embrace all things in unity and in peace whether between ourselves as a community of citizens or between our nations as a a global community of wholes.

We live in a divided nation in a divided world but this external reality does not have to reflect the aspirations we should now maintain in our selves.

We are no longer part of the last great age of war.

This is why I have stressed the importance of keeping our mind and heart both on the goal of achieving the peace here locally as well as contributing to the larger peace processes specifically the one in the Middle East.

Because this particular perspective introduces us to our own potential as a nation distinct as well as to our own place as a contributing partner to the peace of other nations and breaks us out of our insular thinking within as well as without.

For we can no longer afford to be insular or xenophobic in a world of interdependent national communities.

We must be equally and openly committed to our nation as well as to our friends.

Or we should at least have informed opinions about the matter.

---<--@

My Concept on the Middle East Peace

I am naturally aligned with America on the Middle East Peace Process.

The only difference is that I am predisposed to deal more fairly with the Palestinian Cause.

I regard the Palestinians, by the sheer nobility and valor of their own adherence to their belongings to each other, as a nation endowed by God with all the inherent rights of nationhood.

I am putting my trust in the right things being motivated only by the good things I recognize and remember in both the nation of Israel and in the nation of Palestine.

I refuse to be by evil inspired.

I reject terrorism and the use of wasteful, needless violence on innocent civilians from any side, in any nation, at any time.

I reject illegal forms of waging war. I realize the evil of the spirit of war should be securely bound by laws national as well as international.

I am also naturally committed to the security of modern Israel as an undertaking of Country as well as to the nation of elder Israel as a whole.

I have sought to understand both their hopes. I have also sought to frame these hopes in the context of the times and in light of the prevailing climate of peace.

I regard the will of division itself as the enemy of both a secure Israel which I shall define here as an Israel at peace within and without herself and a young and resurgent Palestine, reintroduced anew to her own potentiality and promise as a Country entire.

I regard the relationship between Israel and Palestine as completely and utterly unique with no precedent in history and therefore am not bound by the limitations of the past in terms of finding solutions that contribute to a meaningful, sustainable, durable peace.

I will adhere to the 2009 Limit of the Times based on Daniel 12 and consider the entire time preceding 2009 as a one whole argument in favor of peace and peace as a paradigm whole.

I support -

1. A contiguous Palestinian National Territory built from 1967 borders w/ negotiated land swaps.
2. The Special Status of Jerusalem and the Concept of Secondary Capitals.
3. The Protection of the Jewish Majority status of Israel and the Recognition of the Rights of Minorities in both Israel and Palestine.
4. Provisions for the Care and Special Status of Palestinian Refugees.

And after the conclusion of the formal peace process on paper, I support -

1. A Two States, One Destiny Concept that works to preserve the uniqueness of the relationship between these two Countries on a Nation-First basis that puts their politics squarely in the service of each their respective nations.
2. The establishment of bilateral Nations-First agreements between Israel and Palestine on security, trade and knowledge exchanges.

---<--@

On the Arab Spring

It is the desire of the common people that have wrought for the region this moment.

The hopes of the least, so prone to become lost in the chase must be all the more perseveringly brought to both mind and heart at this time that it may remain present when the newness of things become established into the prevailing order of things.

My own Country is not new to mass movements of human hope.

May peace prevail in the region.

---<--@

Let us each continue to pray for peace according to the freedom of our faiths. And let us each continue to work for peace according to the freedom of our gifts.

Mabuhay po tayong lahat! God bless all our nations.

Support Sanity in the Middle East.

20101018

Who is to blame for the presence of war in the Middle East? No one. Who is to blame for the absence of peace in the Middle East? Everyone.

Harbinger

To the Palestinian people -

PEACE, I salute you.

The fight you are fighting is the fight to end the fighting. In this hope I pray, you are united in nationhood. And in this hope, I am joined with you.

The whole of our world is afflicted by a spiritual darkness. And much may be said about it. But unless it leads our hearts to a remembrance of peace and its promise, of God and the freedom of God, we shall never understand it.

You are a robust people yet war-weary. Persevere with us a little more. For all the nations of the world have a stake in the peace process of which you are a part - let us abide in our hopes for peace. The siege of war may only be broken from your region.

I bid you also to look beyond your region in Asia and to look beyond these times. What choices we make today affect the purpose of greater things. This is especially true of my generation from among your people and from among all the nations; a harbinger of much good or much evil.

The road to peace is not as much a linear path as it is like the numberless stars in the night sky, a shining out - together. It shall take one whole sky to lead us all out of this long night and into the promises of the new age; into that new dawning that await our generations.

By our turning into the light we turn away from the darkness. By our working the works of peace set before us we shall leave the persistent shadows of things past behind us forever.

Let me share with you the timeline I have -

2009-2012 - Complete thy own remembrances and establish yourself a nation and a Republic.

2012-2045 - We shall begin building - together this time - nation, commission, and mission. And in two generations (X and Y), God-willing, we will have turned this thing around as the one family of the nations of Mankind.

Therefore, let us abide in our hopes for peace. I have listened to Abu Mazen being interviewed about the peace process once and I believe him because his intentions speak to my heart. Rally to him and be sincere - pray for peace.

---<--@

I bid us all Mabuhay! God bless us all.

I continue to pray for peace...

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

"Wanderer, your footsteps are

the road, and nothing more;

wanderer, there is no road,

the road is made by walking.

By walking one makes the road,

and upon glancing behind

one sees the path

that will never be trod again.

Wanderer, there is no road,

only wakes upon the sea."

- Antonio Machado (18750726 - 19390222)

Typhoon Juan

Another super typhoon is bearing down on the Philippines - Typhoon Juan (International Codename: Megi).

If PAG-ASA had a storm signal number 4 in its warning categories, I've never heard of a signal #4 before this one: Signal #4 is now officially raised over the Provinces of Isabela and Cagayan.

PNoy and all the nation is watching this one very closely with zero-tolerance for casualties wrought through recklessness or negligence.

Godspeed to all our emergency response personnel and Godspeed to all our affected citizenry: Indeed, Godspeed to all of us affected citizenry - we are after all, my fellow Filipino compatriots, one nation.

---<--@

Mabuhay ang Pilipinas! God bless us all.