Thanksgiving 2012

During my time in America,
Thanksgivings always felt magical...



In a land as diverse as her peoples,
there's something universally appealing about gratitude
that brings all these dreamers together...
even for one special night.

The spirit of thankfulness
brings into mind all the blessings that were
and so makes the heart ready to receive
all the blessings that are to be...

I guess that's why
I still believe in Thanksgiving,
for I am a dreamer as well...
and this fall 2012, well...

it refreshes the dream.
---<--@

Independence Day 2012

God bless our Country,
may the LORD forever preserve our Nation
in the freedom of His sons and daughters
and give us Peace.

God bless our President,
may the LORD direct and unify the will of our Executive leadership
toward that Vision He hath vouchsafed for this Nation
from the foundation of the world.

God bless our Congress,
may the LORD form and guide the will of our Legislative houses
that our laws ever remain faithful to their original purpose and intention
as expressed in His Eternity and as written in the hearts of all Mankind
for the safety and progress of our people
through all our generations.

God bless our Judiciary,
may the LORD strengthen and preserve the will of our judges
that they may in each their respective Courts at all times display
the splendor of His Wisdom, Mercy, Forbearance, and Judgment
as a pledge of the final victory of His glorious Beneficence
as it is in heaven here on earth.

May all human dignity be honored and preserved,
may all human promise be recognized and fulfilled,
may all people especially the very least of our brethren and sisters
find their way to lasting happiness in this life and in the next life,
everlasting peace and unimaginable abundance.

AMEN.



May we all have
a deeply meaningful and fulfilling commemoration
of our 114th Independence Day (this 12th of June, 2012).

Mabuhay ang Pilipinas, 

long may our remembrance serve us!

---<--@

Salutation #86

Of the Responsible State,

it must be said - there is no state more superior,

regardless of it's present governing framework,

than one that brings peace to the people.

A state must be judged by the people and the people by their peace.

A peaceful nation is a happy people ruled by a just state.

This state (the civilian leadership and its necessary administration),

regardless of its governing framework philosophy (in its present evolution),

is a just state - it is a Responsible State!

As all that is truth

cleave unto each other in the ascent,

so does freedom become ennobled

by the ennobling presence of freedom.

(Crossroads)

Peace, I salute you.

What's really on trial next week?

I want you see behind the externals

and look above the personalities involved,

and to perceive this impeachment in terms national

which extends across the life of our generations -

What's on trial next week

is an old and oppressive system

of selfish elitism and mindless factionalism -

a system which is disloyal to the life of our Republic;

a system we, the people, have allowed to endure

and have now the rare opportunity

to directly check and peaceably correct.

You feel the subtle effects of this system

('tis a rule of War, a mindless paradigm of division)

for it is like a tyranny without a tyrant

and its unfamiliar spirit is here in our midst

because we have allowed it to creep deep into our culture -

right into the very nook and cranny of every Filipino home

the sacredness of which our Constitution

- explicitly protects as inviolate -

because it is from each of our homes

where both our fortunes as well as our futures

as one Republic whole are broken or made.

(And War would have us all undone, my nation -

from weak to strong, and from lie to lie.)

Each home in our Republic is a bastion of Country,

for no matter how it is built - how magnificent or how humble -

each of our homes is dignified and defended by the laws

that we owe to each other equally - to recognize and uphold -

laws kept so that kings and presidents may not enter

any one of our homes - from least to great -

(but especially the least from among all)

without each our express permission -

let alone the spirit of War!

- selah -

My beloved people,

in exactly one week from now,

we shall arrive at a crossroads...

(only one of the many along our straight path)

where we shall each perceive

two paths leading out into the distance.

We shall each invest in a choice - as a nation -

a choice we must make more through our faith

- in the workings of God and of Country -

than through individual knowledge of any kind.

So that if we are still not established upon the truth

of who we are as a people and why we are as a nation,

when the time comes and everything speeds up once again

and the currents become for us turbulent -

we might get swept away - again -

into a place in time

we don't ever want to be.

We have no other home away from Home

- here upon this world of earth and fire -

than our one Republic of the Philippines;

we are but one vessel, one boat, one ship.

My brothers and sisters of the Promise,

we can no longer afford to be complacent.

There is no pulling ourselves back up river

for once it runs down water,

it must eventually reach the sea.

---<--@

Think about it -

Then God said, "Let there be light"; and there was light (spirit).

And God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness (judgment).

God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day (authority).

- Genesis 1: 3-5

Power is what calms the sea, it is what divides the waters, it is what distinguishes the light from the darkness.

Among the nations, power is the presence of authority.

Likewise, lack of authority is the absence of power.

(Please also see - One Song Meow: Power.)

The Paradox of Power

Sheltering Wings

Salutation #81

Kung walang corrupt, pwede na uling mangarap.



(Dream the Dream)

Dream the dream -

Encourage each other.

Expel the spirit of War

even while we are in the midst of it.

Expel the sins of the last great age of War

by our common ascent into the unity of Peace.

Re-establish the Republic from its roots

and know thy own Country to the last fruit.

Re-constitute our culture of peace and good will

and stretch it forth across all our 7,107 islands -

Reclaim our beloved archipelago from the darkness:

A Country led by a vision, bound by law -

An undertaking of human civilization wrought

upon the unknown earth by a people, faithful and true -

One nation, virtuous and free -

One nation fortified by history, unified by charity

and made meaningful in the truth.

One nation united across all our generations

into one labor, one heart, one destiny.

Strengthen this one nation - from the center -

manifesting a responsible citizenship, each to another;

one true belonging from among many other true belongings

faithful to God and to each other as keeper and friend.

Nurture the sheltering wings of our one Republic peace

growing in thy hope and in thy love and in thy labors

embracing all in All - until all is one vision -

and the rest is darkness.

Disown the darkness.

Defend against it.

Do not fight it.

Defend.

---<--@

Think about it -

It is human to fight for right causes. It is not human to fight against Justice.

It is human to know when to stop fighting. It is not human to forsake the cause of Peace.

It is human to hope for self and for others. It is not human to despair of either self or of others.

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.

Salutation #75

A Nation at peace with its own truth is a Country at one with its own heart.

(The Pursuit of Happiness)

Happiness is not a freedom to do anything.

Happiness is the ability

to consistently do the right thing

in spite of everything.

Therefore,

a happy person is a person

in possession of his or her own freedom.

One who obtains happiness

by striving to live a life

that is truly free.

- selah (pause for thought) -

Now,

a lot of people look for peace

for all peoples have an idea of what happiness is

but only a few know where to begin.

No one can tell you what the truth for you is like

but you can listen to others

to find out where to begin looking

for thy own truth.

For your peace is your own.

But your peace is never meant

to only be yours.

For you are like a star - that -

once aflame must reach out to shine

for other stars across time and distance

- against the Night.

Truly,

the individual is important.

But this importance must exist

within a community that values it.

This is our liberty.

- selah -

Once you are in possession

of the truth in your own heart

- O Beloved of the LORD -

it may only be taken away

by your lack of vigilance.

For no one can dictate to you

what you must will to cherish forever

- in the city within thy own heart -

within those worlds within thyself.

Heaven and earth may only give thee

good counsel and due caution.

So be careful of the false images

that are specifically intended

for the ruin of your dreams

and the overthrow of thy own peace.

For once you are in possession

of thy peace in thy own heart,

it may only be uprooted

(and may God forbid it)

by your freely giving it away.

---<--@

Salutation #74

The one music in you is the one music in me.

(The Filipino Dream)

Know the (Filipino) Dream, see the (Republic) Vision.

- selah -

There is a dream in myself which is for myself.

There is a dream in yourself which is for yourself.

But the dream in all ourselves

- must exist -

within a greater dreaming.

This is our national dreaming,

which from the time our nation was conceived

- in the Mind of God -

till the moment our nation is once again received

- into the Heart of God -

constitutes one whole dream.

This dream is the Filipino Dream.

And everyday we wake up

with the love of our nation in our heart

is everyday we add to the splendor

of its eventual awakening.

For every day we improve our lives

and the lives of our Countrymen and women

is every day we realize its Promise

in each ourselves - for all of us -

together this time.

Because the Dream which is ours

is one continuous dreaming

and each of us contribute

toward its completion

in each ourselves.

It may only reach its fulfillment

when the national destiny is reached

by the last of our generations.

When our Country is perfected

by the God of all Countries.

No one can truly define

- the Filipino Dream -

but the Filipino.

And each of us contribute

toward its completion in ourselves.

Now,

our national dreaming,

my brothers and sisters of the Promise,

is NOT a material dream.

And of this truth

we should be especially vigilant:

For the happiness we desire

- as individuals and as a nation -

is not a thing of the earth

but a happiness in the spirit.

---<--@

Also, please refer to Salutation #20 (Freedom and the Filipino Dream)

Unconquered

DREAM, my precious Starshine,
and be thankful for the dreaming
more than the dream itself -

For as tomorrow remains unwritten
yet every hope is made secure
so trust you must in thy dreaming
more than in thy dream itself
for as the eagle soars with wings
knowing not how it must fly
so must your own freedom become
more than what can be held by hands:

Thy freedom, dear Starshine,
like thy dream and thy dreaming
is a thing held not by grip
but a thing beheld by thy releasing
for to hold freedom tightly
like it is to deny it's flight
is to lose it entirely.

For thy freedom walks
upon the unconquered grounds
and wills to take it's flight
untrammeled and untamed.

So seek of thy freedom,
my precious Starshine,
but in thy seeking know -
here and Now,
that freedom lives in the giving
like every dream is in the dreaming
for it is always in the giving
that we become free.
---<--@

20110623

Salutation #20

(Freedom and the Filipino Dream)

My fellow Filipino compatriots -

Is the Filipino truly free?

Not while Country flounders

and ignorance of it reigns...

Not while our one Republic sky

remains shattered and broken

and our Peace is left unspoken.

- selah -

What is thy vision, O my people?

Is it so difficult to dream

- nowadays -

that we have forgotten the dreaming

that in ourselves as ourselves

require our constant true believing?

Have we forgotten the daring

that must accompany the dreaming

that can not take to its flight

without our surrendering

to the greater dream of Country?

- selah -

Shall we be forever fettered

by this lingering gloom, this unbelief,

this stultifying lack of conviction

in the nation in ourselves?

Shall God forever deny us

the Peace of our one Republic whole?

- selah -

Does our freedom consist in chains?

Indeed, freedom is a bond

but it is a bond of truth

- as a vow -

forged in the fire of brotherhood.

It is a liberating, expansive experience

of all that is good in the ascent

toward the unity of God

and the perfection of our humanity.

It is not a fear of responsibility

for our freedom is not the so-called freedom

of tyrants and cowards

but a courageous acceptance of the same.

It is simply the happiness of knowing

you are who you ought to be

in the LORD and among your fellows,

a citizen, true and true.

- selah -

If this has resonance in you,

let it rekindle in your heart

- a willingness -

to make this Republic of ours,

according to the freedom of our gifts,

truly a home away from Home for all Filipinos.

Is the Filipino truly free?

Do not look for the answer in others

seek the the answer in thyself!

---<--@

Salutation #21

(A Revolution of the Heart)

My fellow Filipino compatriots -

If it is so

that the need for adaptation

has outpaced the agility of our Republic to react

- as it is being evidenced now -

by our vulnerabilities to disasters of a natural source,

we must take this concern to heart,

my honorable compatriots.

Because if we are now being outpaced by these

what more of man-made calamities

which are much, much more unforgiving?

Or is it so

that these natural sources of nemesis for our Country

are being presently aggravated

by the willfulness of persons

who desire for our nation no good will at all?

Persons who from motives

ranging from blind self-interest

to a complete and utter collaboration with the evil in all evil things,

bring down upon our common folk

untold suffering at our expense?

All the more must we endeavor

to awaken to the calling of God and Country within ourselves,

O you of noble Filipino heart

- because -

if we can not preserve ourselves against their scandal,

we shall lay ourselves prone against their evil

and will fall with the very same cohort

as those who seek to overthrow

the rule of God in our lands

and sow confusion in the hearts of our people.

For the War to liberate the soul of this Country is in our hearts

- let us remain vigilant -

and let us complete our remembrances with each other,

invoking the LORD for His guidance

and His most efficacious assistance - always.

As the slogan from my home Province of Cavite goes -

Let us make this is a revolution of the heart.

---<--@

Salutation #22

(A Nation with a Soul of Submission and a Republic with a Heart of Peace)

To each of you, my honorable Filipino compatriots,

and to all our generations, Peace - mabuhay!

Our original line of eternal election* lost (to War),

(*that is, our hereditary rulers - kings, queens and princes of old)

we are survived still by the nation in ourselves -

for we are a nation, O my people,

born and bred in battle

and as thus, my brothers and sisters of the Promise,

our hearts can no longer be divided

for we are a people

inclined by the Providence of God

in our heart of hearts

to an understanding of His peace -

one lineage of hope, 7,107 islands strong.

A Republic undertaking of Country

is like a phoenix

born out of the ashes of fire and revolution -

it is therefore,

an endeavor of our generations

established not in War

but in Peace.

Our Republic therefore,

must be built up from the fostering strength

of its own abiding will of Peace.

For as no human hope may be realistically built

upon foundations wrought in War,

a Republic that must prevail

must prevail first from the fire of its own revolution

and emerge from within

its own ashes where from

this Country must eventually emerge

from War into Peace.

Our Republic must therefore,

for it to serve as a guardian to an orphaned people,

be brought up

- here in our heart of hearts -

in the spirit of the absolute defense.

And so the best indicator of the Republic will

to preserve itself (at any time)

- in the first instance -

is the prevailing state

of its national military forces,

its spirit as well as its capabilities,

namely the entirety of its willingness

and ability to fulfill its constant mission

as well as

- in the second instance -

the watches of its community police

who are the custodians of the civic peace

and all of its first responders

whether professional, reserved, or volunteer

who are the extensions of the good will of the state.

Now, the watches of the community police -

more than enforce the law,

deter criminal activities,

and combat criminal structures,

must be custodians of the peace of the community

and are therefore

free agents of the cause of justice

inspired by a sense

of the vision of the nation in themselves

who more than quash evil by force of law

promote by personal example

as well as by extension

of the instrumentality of the policing institution

the whole individual good

- human dignity as well as human promise -

in the spirit of the community good

for the law and its prescripts belong to our courts

but to our own national police services

must primarily belong the order of the peace

of our civic communities.

Blessed indeed is the nation served

by the unblinking vigilance of the watches

of their own loyal police, fire, rescue,

and various civil defense services,

including its rehabilitative institutions,

- at all levels and at all times and places -

professional, reserve, as well as volunteer.

As to our noble military services,

charged primarily with the defense of this nation

standing faithfully with the Republic favored by God Almighty

with the Sacred Life and common good of our generations

to the very last of our generations

and so by equal extension

our national peace and good will

with all the other nations

of our one family of the nations of Mankind

especially here in our region, in our continent of Asia,

and across all the continental wholes of our needful world

caught adrift between heaven and earth -

Preserve the sense of the person of the soldier in yourselves.

Do not be influenced by evil affairs!

Do not be so swayed by those present things,

passing and obsolete in themselves

- empty of promise -

being manifestly vain by their very nature;

things that you know so very well

in your own heart of courage and peace,

have absolutely nothing to do with the good in yourselves

which though vulnerable is of a nobler and lasting substance,

more in keeping with the virtues of your profession.

Therefore,

Beloved of God,

do not be so swayed by those present things,

so as to become bitter

or fall into the darkness of despair,

neither allow your soul to become fraught

so needlessly by anxieties about tomorrow

for tomorrow is here now

with you today.

- selah -

For you are the path that opens

who know by your own heart

the Republic belongs to those who love it

and the nation to those who take this love to heart.

If the times are dark, it is not because of the true:

As every lion waits for its time, so must you.

Indeed, however long the night,

it can not last forever.

---<--@

Peace is original to our state. It can not be won in battle nor can peace ever be attained through war.

Peace, as it concerns our nations, can only be re-established among the hearts of the people.

---<--@

Mabuhay ang Pilipinas! God bless us all.

The Two Questions

20110503

A Man in White

I had a dream last night of a man in white.

I was sitting in a classroom-like environment, distracted. He came up to me like a strong, strong embrace. I instantly came back to focus - feeling embarrassed for a moment. Then I felt this surge of utter amazement upon realizing that this man touched my person. I was dumbfounded.

It was the Pope of my youth - Blessed John Paul II. And he had the indefatigable vitality of a Saint of God!

The Lord Christ is giving the world a new friend, alleluia to the LORD! A new star appears upon the firmament of our heaven, alleluia to God - Amen.

Blessed John Paul II, pray for us.

The man in white said to me, "be strong"...

Blessed John Paul II, pray for us.

Son of Poland and Son of Holy Mother Church: Friend of the youth, friend of workers, friend of nations, friend of freedom, friend of peace...

Blessed John Paul II, pray for us.

Glorified be God in all His Holy Angels and in all His Saints!

---<--@

The 3rd Cause: The Cause of Justice - Harmony

Justice would seem as love to those who are familiar with her but to those whose hearts are far away from her, she is their chief terror.

Two things the heart of Mankind needs: Love and Justice.

The original state of Man is one of unadulterated goodness. In this original state, Man knows neither good nor evil but is wholly submissive to the nurture and protection of God, his Creator.

In this original state, the promise (human potential) of Man is completely in harmony with his freedom and his dignity constantly preserved by the golden Presence of the LORD, his Eternal Provider and Holy Sustainer, in all of living creation whether seen or unseen.

The root of all that is evil lies in understanding Man's departure (exile) from this original state since that most primordial of evil was a sin that was inflicted upon him by another.

For the fall of Man was an act initiated by the serpent of Eden.

Man was offered a knowledge to command all things, a knowledge over and beyond God Himself so that Man might become like God and therefore, apart from Him.

By this lie Man was deceived. Because none may offer this knowledge but the LORD God alone.

And no creature whether in heaven or on earth may ask this of the LORD without sin. For the serpent offered Man the knowledge of God Himself.

It was this lie that caused Man to break away from his original lineage of life and of light.

It was this evil that have caused the heart of Man to become divided, necessitating his departure from this original state.

Man came to exile grief and time itself was torn asunder. Heaven was grieved and its gates was shut at the autumnal dusk of faded Eden. S

o began the long march of the nations of Mankind.

Now, that which caused this departure was disobedience of which Man is guilty. But that which caused this disobedience was not of Man. It was of the serpent.

Justice is a result of this first principle.

The creative ideal is an expression of this original state.

It is the timeless expression of the absolute good longed for by every human heart.

It is as an unspoken promise understood by the heart of all Mankind and duly expressed in the Ideals of the States that legally govern the nations to whom this creative ideal is entrusted by God.

Justice primarily concerns itself with the creative ideal. What concerns Justice is the restoration of Man. Therefore, all meritorious acts of Justice as a virtue must be that which serve to restore Man to his original state.

In this way, Spiritual Justice is a pursuit.

For Spiritual Justice must concern itself with the human community as a whole. It is always vigilant, it is always in motion.

It drives the juridical sciences according to the needs of the good in the context of the realities of every present time.

What seeks to banish the evils in human society,

what seeks to redress the legitimate grievances of the community,

what seeks to safeguard the individual good and the common good,

what seeks to fulfill the requirements of the creative ideal expressed by the hopes of every nation and mandated by the ideals vested in each its Responsible States,

all of these are acts of Spiritual Justice.

It is what imparts force of truth to the individual will to preserve through human institutions, the peace and the order of civil society.

From Spiritual Justice spring Temporal Justice.

Now, Temporal Justice is a remedy of law. Its merits are derived from the prevailing judgments of the law courts which are always relative to the needs of the present realities it has been called to serve and redress.

Its proximity to the realities of these needs in time and its efficacy according to Spiritual Justice is always underpinned by its faithfulness to the creative ideal.

Thus, it is never anger nor the spirit of revenge that drives Justice but Justice itself.

Its relationship to the 4th Cause (Benignity, the Cause of Minorities) is not incidental.

For what concerns Justice is the total defense of the good - even the ideal good.

It is law that seeks to bind what evil there is.

---<--@

A Nation in Motion

We are a nation in constant motion.

As a people together, we are travelers.

The open way and the journey whether by air, land or sea, are important considerations in everyday Filipino life.

The Filipino is a traveler. Our soul is a pilgrim soul.

There is no part of the world where we are not represented by our own compatriots in diaspora. These present days, not a lot of Filipinos may express surprise at the fact that we have been to almost every nation on earth.

Mobility is part of our nature. And this is true in more sense than one.

Whether for business, work, family or pleasure, we are a people constantly on the move.

Here in the Philippines, we are beginning to re-discover anew our inherent passion for discovery and exploration.

Whether by air, land, or sea, we are as a nation stretching forth to encompass all 7,107 islands we call home where a thousand destinations await us.

We are a maritime nation. But a

ll our movements as a people together are centered and guided by our attachments to the land.

Therefore, t

he hub that connects all air and sea movement is land movement.

Land movement means roads, traffic and transportation management facilities and similar infrastructure.

When we should build, we should always build outward with this foundation in mind.

My honorable compatriots, how we see the open way and the journey is important. Because through individual perspective, we come to understand what our national mobility require as a means to our own common good.

For the open way and the journey is a kind of freedom. Without it, the Filipino soul will shrink.

Therefore, the more open the way, the freer the journey, the more joyous the Filipino dream.

The way we view the world at large and our own place in this world is influenced by how far and how deeply we are able to imagine ourselves able to penetrate into its regions.

This view must always begin at here at home.

For we are not only opening up to the world, more importantly, we are opening up to each other.

---<--@

Mabuhay ang Pilipinas! God bless us all.

TRANSPORTATION SECURITY is a right of every Filipino citizen.

I

t is therefore, every Filipino's duty to make sure that our roads remain open and safe for all - both for pedestrians and motorists alike.

Obey the rules of the road!

To the Class of 2011

DREAM BIG DREAMS!

Your nation, dear starshine, is in need of your dreams. So you must dream big!

I kid you not, there is a strain of thinking in Filipino society these days that is so smallish, so restrictive, so constrained, so limited, it predisposes the unwary to a life of penury.

Don't you know you are the equal of any of your contemporaries on the planet? What dreams the youth of our world today are capable of - you are capable of.

So don't sell yourself short. My advice to you is to go and dream those dreams.

Dreams are all about possibilities. They are the "stuff" of yet unborn realities.

If you shall ask me what is this "stuff"?

I shall answer you with a question - "what are your possibilities"?

We are not a material (i.e. unspiritual) people, starshine. Everything you really need is already in yourself.

The plight of many of our poor people here in the Philippines is desperate indeed. But material poverty is no obstacle to the human heart. Many successful Filipinos will attest to that.

The only kind of poverty that truly impoverishes is the spiritual kind. Remember, we are not a material people, starshine.

Everything you really need is already in yourself.

Let go of the thinking that money is the goal of education. Better yet, let go of the thinking that wealth is about money. Money per se is not wealth. Wealth is much larger than money.

Learning itself is wealth. The ability to dream is wealth. Virtue is wealth. Health is wealth. A good friend is wealth. A good family is wealth. A lively faith is wealth. A healthy parish community is wealth. A vibrant and prospering barangay community is wealth. A strong and faithful nation is wealth. There are a lot of things other than money that make one rich indeed and you may add them all to this list.

So do not be restricted by the thinking that money is the ultimate end of your life's labors upon this world.

Let your dreaming be a dream of happiness. Let it be one of sweet release and of joyous realization.

What you believe in your heart, dearest starshine, are like seeds planted in your soul. So it is very important for you to know where these seeds come from and what these seeds are.

Because the souls of the young are fertile ground indeed. You must, especially in your youth, be aware to nurture only those things in yourself that shall lead you to your dreams that you may work sedulously to awaken these dreams in yourself - that you may bring it out into our needful world.

There are things - truths - proper to you. You must seek them and come to an understanding of them that you may come to know who you are as God intended you to be - who you must be and therefore, work to become.

You must become this person, dear starshine, and when you do, your dreams will come true.

Find yourself and the rest will follow.

The real secret to making money is not the desire to make money - it is simply the willingness to be yourself.

Money is a by product of the knowledge that comes with being happy with who you are - mature in your gifts, secure in your faith, steadfast in your hopes, and alive in your love.

It takes a lot of hard work to be happy - but isn't happiness the ultimate aim of all human labor? So why be skimpy?

Go and dream big dreams!Some people study with a view to making big money and end up sad and broken. They think with their minds by excluding their hearts.

There can be great desolation even in the midst of great material wealth. This is a sad fact indeed.

You must not be this way, dear starshine. You must always lead with your mind but think with your heart. For we are not a material people.

Jesus taught, "seek ye first the Kingdom of God and all these things shall be given you besides".

Isn't this the same as to say, "everything you really need is already in yourself"?

Think about it, our precious starshine, and don't forget to pray.

Find yourself, Beloved of God: Believe.

---<--@

Mabuhay ang Pilipinas! God bless the Class of 2011.


Dreamer of Dreams

20110416

The Republic Peace

THIS PEACE can not be enforced from the outside, as by force of arms.

Our Republic Peace is first and foremost, a free and willing observance. It is born of promise; a dream in the wing, born of a proven reality.

And if this necessary reality require more proving, my honorable compatriots, then let this be our striving - together this time.

Peace may only be embraced as its remembrance is honored - by all, from least to great, it is thing that must be present in the heart of the people.

Peace is a role of nations - it is the necessary atmosphere that guarantees national progress and human development. Peace is the responsibility of the national government - it is the necessary medium of political cohesion and meaningful national dialogue.

Without it, nations perish and governments fail. Entire civilizations depend on it.

A deficiency in the vision of peace is a serious lack. For the Filipino dream will always remain a counterfeit dream for as long as this dream is not our own dreaming together.

So what are we, my fellow Filipino compatriots, and why for are we born to this particular time and place?

If I say I am Filipino and you say you are Filipino, what binds us in love and truth? What makes of you and I, a nation distinct but not apart from other nations?

It is this peace. So what is it?

It is a belief, a sacred trust embraced across our generations, that we shall as citizens together prevail over the unknown earth. It is an unassailable truth founded on the guarantee of a clear vision of the national destiny.

It is a remembrance of God and Country. This remembrance is an essential component of the sacred trust of our one undertaking of Country.

So what is this undertaking of Country?

It is the indivisible labor of all our generations, under the eternal vigilance of God Almighty, to bring this peace to pass, from hope to hope, strength to strength, across the wide, barren desert expense of exile time and into our Home in eternity. It is a work of return to our Eden rebuilt.

Now, there are many undertakings of Country upon the earth, yet we are each called to the labor of one and this one undertaking of Country is our Republic of the Philippines.

So what is a Republic undertaking of Country?

It is a guardian to a people orphaned by War. It is this guardian spirit that preserves the necessary Republic form - for the nation. If we are to remain true to the Republic form, we must come to realize its potency in ourselves.

We shall be to each other, a keeper and a friend.

For just as a nation is not a nation without the LORD, a citizen is not a citizen by his or herself alone.

Our Republic government must be a shepherd state; a responsible steward of the Causes that advance the peace of our people - a servant after God's own Heart, a Responsible State, willing and able to be generous enough to freely respond to the needs of a hurt and wounded people in disinterested, selfless and loyal public service.

We have to work to realize in ourselves with conviction of heart that as a Republic, we are across our generations to the last of our generations, under the eternal vigilance of God, one work, one people, one destiny.

The deeper the roots of our Republic peace (that is, the more this peace becomes present among our people), the stronger its hold on the ground of its own truth, the more trusted its fruits.

If we do not understand Country, we shall be as wandering stars, scattered, having no certainty of its own light; without a past, without a present, and without a future.

If we are to be as real stars, those that arc in the sky, being certain of its own light (that is, my fellow Filipino compatriots, being certain that this light is not its own and shall therefore end up possessing that Light) we must know that we are as a nation commanded by God to -

build up the earth,

love the least,

protect all minorities,

preserve and uphold justice,

observe the law,

and cherish Sacred Life

- and that we are as thus arrayed as a Republic because of our common will to carry out this divine command, for our own good and the good of all nations.

That we are gifted with a will of Country is proof that the nation is alive in ourselves and that God has preserved this reality in our hearts not because of what evil there is but because there is merit in our people.

So we are a Republic, my honorable Filipino compatriots, and the first rule of service in the Republic form is this - know that the real treasure of this nation is the people.

Therefore, O my people, you shall live to love the LORD, thy God, in everything and with everything.

We shall be victorious according to what dignity and promise we shall together work to accord and help to realize in the very least of our Countrymen.

So we are a Republic - a lineage of hope 7,107 islands strong, one work, one people, one destiny.

Only one thing shall ruin us, my honorable compatriots, War in the heart.

Because the craft of all nations is peace.

---<--@

Mabuhay ang Pilipinas! God bless us all.

Vision.

20110303

The Common Market

Time, Territory, Treasure: Of the three elements of Country, one characteristic sets this one apart - it is material and therefore, temporal in scope. Therefore, every consideration must be viewed with regards to the Common Market with this nature in mind.

It is limited in its material nature.

The problem with wealth and wealth generation, most especially here in our midnight world, my honorable compatriots, is that the definition of wealth and its honorable pursuit is often profaned by things that are the means created to attain to our prosperity.

The Common Market serves the national wealth. And this wealth is not wholly material. The building up of the (inhabited) earth is a labor that is an economy of both matter and grace.

The end that the Common Market serves is in fact, spiritual. For the happiness that it enables Man to pursue is ultimately one that must transcend it.

The true Filipino dream is freedom.

This freedom in the absolute sense is freedom from all forms of temporal bondage; an end to suffering, an end to war, an end to exile tears and a return to our original Promise.

In terms of the national destiny - this freedom is the natural birthright of all Filipinos.

Therefore, this national destiny must be perceived by all Filipinos to be available to all Filipinos.

---<--@

From Emerging to Developing...

Once again, my fellow Filipino compatriots, we are feeling the effects of our own vulnerability. God love the Philippines, O my nation, but there is still a quite significant lack of opportunity in this Country. The repatriation of our OFW's fleeing the turmoil in the Middle East have forced this issue upon us now.

We have much work to do: Opportunity is key. For a culture of opportunity is a culture of hope and a culture of hope is the cradle of leadership. It is where leaders beget leaders and where service is distinct from servility.

The refining place of nations is like the birthing place of stars; a place of great internal activity. Here the dust and the darkness of the void is transformed into energy and light. Therefore, given the troubles of this present time, we are not far from this culture of hope, O my nation. The labor that through our ages in time will take us through from emerging into developing only takes humility and heart.

First and foremost, we must work to achieve a lasting, durable and meaningful peace through to next year. We owe it to God and Country to devote ourselves to this essential task. Because we can not harness our fullest potential divided and dark from within our own self - without this peace, my people, we are only a shadow of our real nationhood.

Indeed, we must complete our remembrances through to next year.

In every Filipino individual (most especially in our youth) are the seeds of something great and these seeds of human potential are nourished first and foremost within the embrace of every Filipino family.

Do you yourself share this conviction?

Then let us work for a culture of hope and desire in our hearts to obtain from God the peace that ensures the order of our generations: A culture of hope nourished in an atmosphere of peace is a culture of life.

If we are to really become one of Mother Asia's new tiger economy, we must work to inculcate in our culture, a real appreciation of the raw power of our local potential as a nation. As I have written to you before, my honorable compatriots, there is merit in our people - we are a nation not because of weakness or evil but because of what good there is and what good there is is because God is and that is all: He is the LORD.

What of the movements seizing those undertakings of Country in Middle East Asia? Are these mass outpourings of popular sentiment secular or are they religious? They are neither. All of these movements are essentially human because of the fact that they are national. They are by nature civic in scope and are therefore fueled by issues that concern the citizenry.

Therefore, only in human terms can we attempt to perceive them. There are no precedents to these events. However, there still remains that familiar danger of distorting the essential nature of these movements.

It is important that we arrive at a right understanding of these things. Because the current of these days events lead us on toward solutions - if we are attentive.

Darkness is but darkness that does not lead us to the light: As we are a nation distinct but not apart from our other kindred nations, we must not be one to stand aloof from the suffering of other peoples. If we are to love others as ourselves, we must understand that they too are as ourselves - human with common human needs.

There is a risk that these movements might become radicalized.

Therefore, we ought to pray for and respond to these needs not just as human individuals but as a nation in ourselves - ever with an understanding heart and a willingness to be decisive.

---<--@

Mabuhay ang Pilipinas! God bless us all.

Common Human Needs