The Question

An angel asked me, "...and what do I love, O heart?" For I longed to know.

It led me to a shop and showed me a thing I desired for myself but could not yet afford. Something I knew I knew but did not really think about that much.

"I love all these things that you love, O heart, that leads you to be good", the angel said to me.

"I love all the good clothes that was made for you, I love the cell phone that you'd so wished for so much, oh and that laptop - I love that as well - for you, O heart."

"So how do you love me in return?" The angel's question seem to echo from deep into my being for the lesson has now penetrated me indelibly right into my heart.

There was silence:

"You shall love the LORD thy God as one LORD alone".

"Make peace with the all of creation: Divide it not. Say peace to the river, to the sky, to the earth, to the animals (and the trees) of the earth and the fishes of the seas, to thy nations good will and to all thy fellow human beings, life and abundance. Do this if you love me."
---<--@

Salutation #1

Can we navigate the earth from heaven at night with just one star alone?

No, we will most certainly need more than one!

Truth is, the more stars we come to know (who comes to know us), the more complete our map of the sky, the more precise our direction...

Starshine, we are the stars.
---<--@

(Salute to the Stars)

To all my friends -

who are my companions

near or far, alone or with others,

known or known to God alone

who are - from always to always -

one kindred grace, joined in truth:

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

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

Let War's ambitions remain in itself

having no particular truth of it's own;

comprehending not itself from itself
knowing nothing apart from nothing;

perceiving creation as darkness entire

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

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

(produced 20080902)

Salutation #158

Citizenship is in the soul - 'tis a seeking in the self -
an integral part of the blossoming of every human life.
So you breath it in your spirit, and you live it in your life

- you seek it like the motion of a love learning to love -
you long for it in yourself - until you are full for the truth -
until your belonging is absolute and your joy is complete.



(The Simple Message of 2012)

Two futures,
one dark and one bright,
is presented before the nations
of the children of Mankind.

We accept one by forsaking the other.

- selah -

How do we understand this?

By completing our remembrances as nations.

Certainly,
the paradigm of the last great age of war
that have prevailed over and utterly eclipsed
the spirit of our nations must be overthrown
by our willing acceptance of the times.

What is a nation?

What for is nationhood?

Personal remembrances make us human.
But it is our national remembrances
that make us citizens.

All depends on the smallest of thoughts.
---<--@

20110827

Salutation #47

A DEAF PERSON who goes through life learning to listen soon becomes wiser than a person who hears but never learns to listen.

While it is entirely possible - even desirable - to overcome this world without much speaking, without listening we are utterly ruined.

(The Wisdom of Listening)

If we are to proceed in the way of our learning,

from God to the communities embraced by His Providence,

we must learn to listen attentively to the reality

of the instruments of Providence.

It is always better to learn from persons

by our trust in the inherent good of others

- than to seek to unlearn -

the sincerity native to our good will

by nurturing any bitterness stemming from hurt

or from any perceived lack of good in the person of others.

This is always true with regard to those

whose littleness and difficulties conceal from many

the true value of their instruction

- all who are the least among others -

whom the darkness of this world blindly rejects.

For this must always come by way of false comparisons

that rob ourselves and others of our particular sense of uniqueness

and removes us further from the truth.

Therefore,

let us make it a rule of our everyday living

that it is always better to listen first than to ask first.

We must be listeners first and speakers last.

For much listening shall often reveal to us the answers

where much speaking give rise only to questions.

And counsel that is well-received

is worth more than a thousand questions.

But if we must know how to listen to the counsel of others,

we must also learn how ably we must bend - against our own will -

and this bending is the bending of obedience.

All our hearing amounts to nothing

if our listening does not lead to discernment.

For all our listening is a form of obedience.

It is wise only inasmuch as it leads us to the truth.

We must understand - first - that obedience merits much

only when we are taught in the way of mutual trust and respect,

in an atmosphere of understanding, and in the freedom of the truth.

When obedience fails,

it fails because it is given blindly

or when it is a choice wrongly taken away

or as a bondage that is forced against the will.

This is ignorance, timidity and oppression - respectively -

and it avails evil people much but then again,

by token of these same things,

it can also be said if we know how to listen to Providence

- that their evil is but a thing permitted -

by each and every one of us

who by token of their same evil,

are led to the leadings of the good.

For all tyranny that matures,

matures only because it is an evil allowed by the people.

Obedience - in a nation -

is neither servility nor weakness.

It is the strength to know the truth

as well as the resilience to uphold it,

in sacred remembrance of each other;

it is as the bending of a bow - aimed towards the infinite -

we let fly not because we are hurt,

we let fly because we have finally found

our peace with each other.

To not be ignorant, we must know to ask.

To not be timid, we must learn to know to ask.

To not be oppressed, we must learn to know

to always ask without fail.

---<--@

Most of the things that love says is never said at all.

---<--@

The Question -

An angel asked me, "...and what do I love, O heart?" For I longed to know.

It led me to a shop and showed me a thing I desired for myself but could not yet afford. Something I knew I knew but did not really think about that much.

"I love all these things that you love, O heart, that leads you to be good", the angel said to me.

"I love all the good clothes that was made for you, I love the cell phone that you'd so wished for so much, oh and that laptop - I love that as well - for you, O heart."

"So how do you love me in return?" The angel's question seem to echo from deep into my being for the lesson has now penetrated me indelibly right into my heart.

There was silence:

"You shall love the LORD thy God as one LORD alone".

"Make peace with the all of creation. Divide it not. Say peace to the river, to the sky, to the earth, to the animals (and the trees) of the earth and the fishes of the seas, to thy nations good will and to all thy fellow human beings, life and abundance. Do this if you love me."
---<--@

Our Land of Promise -

The nationhood that is our Promise shall not be as a house of cards, empty of substance, propped up by countless divisions, inspired by diverse and manifold hatreds;selfish, evil, reckless, irresponsible, and adulterous in the sight of God, Angels and Man.

We shall not be as a house in constant rebellion against its own lineages of truth - we shall not be this way.

We shall be the meaning that lives inside of our words, my beloved brothers and sisters of the Promise - the citizenship inside of ourselves - for ours is a spiritual renaissance.

---<--@

National Heroes Day and Eid al-Fitr 2011 -

This last Monday of August is National Heroes Day (August 29).

The following day, August 30, is Eid al-Fitr which is the event that marks the completion of the cycle of Ramadan for our Muslim brothers and sisters of the Promise.

Both of these days are legally recognized as public holidays in our Philippines.

In this pivotal year, my honorable Filipino compatriots, I bid us to welcome these commemorations as one nation and to honor these days, as citizens to each other, with remembrances proper to the peace of our Philippines.

Let us reflect upon this peace.

May we learn to keep it, one to another, as keeper and friend.

---<--@

Mabuhay ang Pilipinas! Peace. Salaam. Shalom. God bless us all.

Ignite

Starshine,
your addiction is to life.

There is nothing worthy
about things that cause harm -
Destruction is only good
if it brings about growth and transformation.

So remember this
when you shall desire to find yourself
when you shall seek to one day be
as stars looking out from yourself
possessed by your own light,
being by the one Beautiful beheld
seeing far into the darkness
of our needful world:
Make no provision in your heart
for evil things: Here, Now.

For there will come a time in your life
when you shall be confused
when you shall cross an imperceptible threshold
into an in-between world -
By the ebb and flow tides of shadow and light,
you shall wander alone with the Alone
and you will be compelled to look for those things
that are meant to be yours
as well as forced to shed away all other things
that should no-wise belong to you.

So listen to good counsel, Beloved of God,
for it is better not to begin weeping
than to weep until the tears that was begun
are all shed away by our weeping together
for before you can shed your own starlight,
our most precious Starshine,
before the love in your heart ignites,
you must first shed away all your tears.
---<--@

20110701

Patriotic Grace

Several days ago, I picked up "Patriotic Grace" by Peggy Noonan.

I got it at the bargain pile just right outside of National Bookstore at a local mall and was really happy about myself for finding it. You see, I identify with things like these - in some strange but real sense, I feel what the author is saying, I really do.

Now that I am almost done with her book (thank you so much, Peggy Noonan), I am finding that many of the things I have been quietly thinking about seem to be the very things that common people in America have also been thinking about - all this time.

Something that when I really sit down and think about seem strange to me. But I am so used to strange nowadays that this all seems to me as something not out of the ordinary.

So I bless the LORD, and praise His Name.

Salutation #25

(Equanimity and the Longest Night)

Peace be with you, Starshine.

You must get used to strange events

without thinking you are something else

but you and you alone.

Because these are extraordinary times indeed,

and we as ordinary people must live through these times

with the kind of grace necessary for us to remain ourselves

- just ourselves -

nothing more, nothing less.

For God is at work shaping our history with us, right now.

- selah -

The first half of the 21st century is the Longest Night.

From 2000-2045, especially after 2012,

everyday for us is going to be like D-Day at the beaches -

It is going to be difficult, I promise you.

But if you love God and Country - you will fight this fight.

The battleground is the soul of every nation.

For the War in Heaven is in the Heart.

I want you to understand - even as we go along -

that the Passage in Daniel 12 specifically speaks of this time -

that this is OUR time, dear starshine.

At no time do the stars shine all the more brighter,

at no time do their starlight cut all the more sharper

than the deepest of nights

and we are at a turning point, Beloved of God,

for here in our needful world, it is Midnight.

But in your heart of hearts, starshine,

when you know what it is

and who you it is that you love

- the utter simplicity and completeness of it all -

your heart of hearts

being that space within your soul

that you share with God and God alone,

it shall always be clear as Day for you.

For when God is on His Throne in Eternity,

the night shall yield for you

- its own opportunities -

even as the darkness shall as the tide

recede for you, our most precious starshine,

to give you room enough to build a life

worthy of your labors in the nation.

Cross the Minimum of the Times

by individually completing your remembrances.

Make peace with all you know and must hold dear -

individuals, their communities, and above all, other nations.

Unify your heart of peace, Beloved of God,

carry forward with you into these present times

every hope of times past

- as much as you can and as far as you can -

for it is through these hopes that the generations of the past

shall bless our present labors with their peace

and this will add power and momentum to our will

to see to it that the labor of these present times

is advanced down the line of our lives

from hope to hope and strength to strength

as a labor of completion in our nations.

Never allow yourself to be by evil inspired.

(I am now speaking here in particular with the USA -)

Our common battle

is the battle to unite the heart of Country

and to reclaim the mission of the Republic.

It is a fight to rebuild peace and reclaim good will,

within as well as without.

It is the labor of every human heart

invested by the LORD God

in both our undertakings of Country

as citizens to each other.

(But in particular of my generation

as well as of that generation after mine -

in behalf of all the generations of life.)

It is the daily fight to feed, clothe, shelter, educate, provide for,

employ, serve, nurture, protect and prosper our common people,

and to enable them to empower the Responsible State

to guide the course of both our nations toward God and destiny.

This is our fight, our longest night.

---<--@

We all are part of the strength that will deliver this world to promise. Or doom it by our own ill will for other people and other nations.

---<--@

Let us make this Country of ours work not by being better (or think that we are better) than other Countries but by being better than our own worst selves.

For it is only by besting the false image of ourselves that we shall truly succeed.

---<--@

The Question -

An angel asked me, "...and what do I love, O heart?" For I longed to know.

It led me to a shop and showed me a thing I desired for myself but could not yet afford. Something I knew I knew but did not really think about that much.

"I love all these things that you love, O heart, that leads you to be good", the angel said to me.

"I love all the good clothes that was made for you, I love the cell phone that you'd so wished for so much, oh and that laptop - I love that as well - for you, O heart."

"So how do you love me in return?" The angel's question seem to echo from deep into my being for the lesson has now penetrated me indelibly right into my heart.

There was silence:

"You shall love the LORD thy God as one LORD alone".

"Make peace with the all of creation. Divide it not. Say peace to the river, to the sky, to the earth, to the animals (and the trees) of the earth and the fishes of the seas, to thy nations good will and to all thy fellow human beings, life and abundance. Do this if you love me."

---<--@

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

The Longest Night

Revelation 12: 7-9

20110103

2011



2011 is the year before 2012. This year is going to be a defining year in the life of our nation. It is a year of choices. It is a year of much work, within as well as without.

I am letting you know all this at the very beginning of this year, my fellow Filipino compatriots, so that we may all know in our heart of hearts by the end of this year how blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD: Mapalad ang Bayan na ang Diyos ay ang Panginoon.

God has remembered us, O my nation!

Therefore, our hearts stir for a remembrance of Him and of each other in Him. God loves us and we are come to a knowledge of love. Therefore, if we love the LORD, for He is but one God alone, we shall work for peace in our hearts, in our lives, in our communities, and in our world.

It all begins here in the You and I.

Verily, we can not share with other nations, either through word or deed, what we ourselves do not possess as a nation.

If we truly love those other kindred nations, we must achieve peace for ourselves first. So let us work to dispel all forms of prejudices and misconceptions about us and learn to re-discover once more what is right about ourselves - together this time.

If we are to be able to look out to their suffering peoples with much truthfulness and meritorious compassion, then we must learn to understand how to break the rule of war in our own hearts first.

Therefore, we must come to a knowledge of peace that we may by our willingness be as a light to other nations; the light that God would have all nations to be for each other.



Indeed, we must complete our remembrances by the end of this year*. Our focus, being citizens of the one Republic of the Philippines, shall be the peace here in our own nation AND the peace in the Middle East. And I enjoin all citizens of all other nations who are likewise inclined to focus on their own peace processes AND the peace in the Middle East.

Therefore, my fellow Filipino compatriots, let us put peace - rightly understood - at the forefront of our national awareness. Let us make this year THE year for peace. And let us follow through our convictions with concrete moral and civic action.

Lastly, let us fear inaction and complacency. For we can not choose to remain lukewarm. Nor can we stay in the deepening darkness of these midnight times.

Let us engage the darkness; put out into the deep.

The time for peace is now. Today is the favorable season.

This is our time.
---<--@

The Question -

An angel asked me, "...and what do I love, O heart?" For I longed to know.

It led me to a shop and showed me a thing I desired for myself but could not yet afford. Something I knew I knew but did not really think about that much.

"I love all these things that you love, O heart, that leads you to be good", the angel said to me.

"I love all the good clothes that was made for you, I love the cell phone that you'd so wished for so much, oh and that laptop - I love that as well - for you, O heart."

"So how do you love me in return?" The angel's question seem to echo from deep into my being for the lesson has now penetrated me indelibly right into my heart.

There was silence:

"You shall love the LORD thy God as one LORD alone".

"Make peace with the all of creation. Divide it not. Say peace to the river, to the sky, to the earth, to the animals (and the trees) of the earth and the fishes of the seas, to thy nations good will and to all thy fellow human beings, life and abundance. Do this if you love me."
---<--@

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.

A blessed and meaningful 2011 to all. May this year bring forth the blessings of peace to our nation and prosperity to our families.

Mabuhay ang Pilipinas! God bless us all.


Revelation 12: 7-9

Salutation to the Holy Angels

I salute all the angels of God!
From the least to the greatest -
I salute all the angels of God!
From the highest of Seraphim
to the guardians of the souls of men.
I acknowledge your unseen presence
with due respect to the unseen reality
that hold back the assault of demons
in our poor world and in my poor life.

I salute all the angels of God!
To the angels of my enemies,
to the angels of my friends,
as well as those of my family,
above all to my guardian dear,
my own angel, faithful and true -
who have known me from eternity;
who came to this world at my birth;
who shall fly me away at my passing.
May God's grace see us through evil
with bonds strong against temptation.
May God bless and purify our friendship
into an union of love that will last forever.

I give thanks and adoration to God
For all the angelic hosts of the LORD.
For the battles they fight
and the victory they proclaim
under the banner of the Lamb,
the leadership of Michael,
and the Queenship of Mary,
by the power of God,
on behalf of suffering mankind.

To the most high and sovereign God
who rules all true things
seen and unseen
and turns all things to good
for those who love and fear Him
may glory, honor and praise belong
forever and ever.

AMEN.

*the time for the completion of our remembrances is till the close of 2012. To be honest with you, I deliberately made it early here to make sure we make it on time - 20110723.