War Came

The War in heaven is in the heart.

War came for Palestine

- and I did nothing -

because I was not Palestinian.

War came for Israel

- and I did nothing -

because I was not Israeli.

War came for America

- and I did nothing -

because I was not American.

War came for Mexico

- and I did nothing -

because I was not Mexican.

War came for Europe

- and I did nothing -

because I was not European.

War came for Russia

- and I did nothing -

because I was not Russian.

War came for Africa

- and I did nothing -

because I was not African.

War came for India

- and I did nothing -

because I was not Indian.

War came for Korea

- and I did nothing -

because I was not Korean.

War came for China

- and I did nothing -

because I was not Chinese.

War came for Vietnam

- and I did nothing -

because I was not Vietnamese.

War came and I did nothing

for I am neither of those...

Then one day,

War came for the Philippines

and now,

I couldn't do a thing.

- selah -

My brothers and sisters of the Promise -

When War comes - repel it!
At the door of thy heart - hear it not!

Throw back its lies to its face

and make it drink its own poison.

For when the spirit of War

seeks to enter our world

it is through the human heart

- willing or unaware -

that it gains an entrance.

If you know War,

you know Peace.

---<--@

Revelation 12: 7-9

20110911 AM

Good morning, the Philippines!

Today is the 10th year remembrance of 9/11.

I'll take this opportunity to speak frankly with you about it.

9/11 is a day that changed the world. It is one of those moments that define us by the freedom of the choices we take as nations.

Its significance can not be lost to us here in the Philippines. (No nation on earth can forever hide from the pain of remembrance.)

Take note, my honorable compatriots, nations do not make choices. Individuals do that. Nations "take" a choice.

Now please, I want us to reflect about this as individual citizens.

It illuminates something about the liberty we, as the people, are gifted with by God; the freedom which is our inalienable right as a nation among nations.

Our democracy is strengthened by the depth of our individual understanding of a freedom that is responsible; of a liberty that is human.

It is this authentic human freedom that guides the unique vision entrusted by all our generations to our own particular Republic undertaking of Country. It is one of the nine common human needs and therefore, part and parcel of our common labor as citizens to each other.

It is our civic duty to seek, understand, love, and embrace this freedom and to protect and preserve it from its false image.

- selah -

Now, there may be condemnation about America in our world today. I can feel some of this same incomprehensible condemnation about America (and other Countries) here in our own Country.

There is a natural tension that exists between nations. But a hatred that is as blind as this may only be permissible in a culture where liberty is weak; the freedom of the people held captive by the darkness of the times.

In this sense, it is our constant duty - as citizens to each other - to liberate ourselves from who we are not.

As sacrifice is the price of Country, vigilance is the price of liberty.

All freedom that is irresponsible is an anathema to itself. This is a certainty. He or she who does not understand freedom will lose it. And a nation who does not know liberty will never discover the overcoming strength of its own truth.

With this, I shall ask again the question, it is right to hate as blindly as this? No.

It is this selfsame hatred which will prevent us from properly commemorating the essence of what we must now return to today, this 11th day of September 2011.

This was the hatred that brought upon the common people of America and all our nations, this longest night - ten years ago.

- selah - (selah means to pause thoughtfully)

Every year, I return to a reflection of the day that begun for our world, this longest night.

And every year, my singular hope is to further understand what brought us here today. Both the Scriptural as well as the Providential meaning of it all. And to bring this understanding to each of you who follow this conversation with me, by the grace of God, no matter how less or how much, as a guide to our nations - in particular to our one Filipino nation.

The Y2K event was a false start. If we had a chance back then to take a better road, only God can tell that now. What I can tell you today is we still have a chance to take a better road. And that road must begin - here and now - in each our hearts.

Love is the perfection of nations.

- selah -

So that if we make the choice of peace today as citizens, for every right reason, it will follow that our nations shall take that road of peace in our behalf.

This victory of peace in our hearts is the only way out of this war on terror.

We must forsake the War in that is raging in our hearts and drive away the darkness laying its siege against the truths of each our nationhood. This is the only way into the promise of the new age as well.

If we even begin to entertain the choice of Peace, if we begin to work on it in each ourselves, we also begin to fall away from the maddening thrall of War. And time being what it is, this season of the sky shall be our season and time itself shall be on our side.

Peace is the shape of the door that will lead our nations east, toward the dawn of this new age of thought and spirit. It is also the key that will open the way for every human heart to the vision that will lead our failing world to that promised morn.

Not peace which is the false image proposed to us by the spirit of this world but the peace which is purposed for us by the one LORD of All; the one peace which is the universal salutation of all three Abrahamic faiths; that very same peace that the whole of blessed Christendom celebrates every year in the Christmas season - the one prologue of all things new.

If this is our mindset, if this is the conviction we keep in our hearts, not only shall we overcome the mindlessness of the divisions that persist in our lands, we shall as human beings and citizens to each other, across our diverse national communities, prevail against the unknown earth.

For this peace is the craft of all nations.

With this, I leave you to your remembrances this day, mabuhay!

God bless the Philippines, God bless America and may God bless all our nations of our one family of nations with the peace that prospers!

---<--@

PHL in the ICC -

The one Republic of the one Filipino nation has recently joined the International Criminal Court. This is good news. It was further reported that our Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago has been chosen to be sent to contribute to the mission of that international body as the first Filipino judge of the ICC. This is also good news.

Our Miriam is as fierce as a judge could be. I hope Khadaffi sits in her court.

If Colonel Khadaffi ever loved his Libyan people, he should concede defeat for the sake of the nation which is still his own. Both sides have fought bravely. Both sides have lost enough time, treasure, and promise. Now is the time to sober up; now is the time to think about the present and proceed to the future.

When promise awaits, there is no time to waste.

My own Republic have already recognized the legitimacy of the transitional council in Libya. And so do I recognize in them, the prevailing will of the one Libyan nation.

---<--@

The Philippine Peace Process -

The Philippine peace process has hit a road bump.

I tell you the truth, as a rock stands against rushing water shall soon find itself washed away, we can not prevent the morning from rising here in our Land of the Morning.

If we love Israel and Palestine. If we love Afghanistan. If we love India and Pakistan. If we love America. If we love the ASEAN. If we love Asia. If we love Iraq and Iran. If we love Africa. If we love Europe. If we love South America. If we love Korea. If we love China and Japan. Indeed, if we have love for all the other nations of our one family of nations - broken and in need of this peace. We will love our Philippines first and restore our nation to its proper place in time and space.

To love your own and then others like your own.

(Is this the real work of our nations?)

From these islands shall proceed the peace that prospers or none at all.

I'm talking here about tangible, sustainable, durable, meaningful peace - the hard fought peace of the ages. The peace that all nations must need to work out - under this season of sky - with one another before the one LORD of All nations and not the fantasy, feel-good peace of popular fiction.

---<--@

To Prayer -

This afternoon we shall have our Sunday Evening discussion. I encourage all my fellow Catholics to go to Holy Mass today and all my fellow Christians to fulfill their Sunday obligations to God.

The Peace of the LORD be with us all -

O MANKIND, my nations,

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

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

Have thou seen through

Babel's confusion?

O ye peoples, gather about!

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

Know ye the Truth

and I shall set thee free.

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

(A Call to Remembrance)
---<--@

Mabuhay ang Pilipinas! God bless us all.

Citizenship with Fidelity

The Peace of the Brotherhood of Mankind

Common Ground

Healing Work

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

20110610

Remembrance as Virtue

Remember Now,

my brothers and sisters of the Promise -

Our remembrance is a virtue.

It is born from the cardinal virtue of Justice.

One who is guided by remembrance

can not be by evil inspired.

For no virtue may be used for evil purposes.

Remembrance does not serve

to throw the present into the confusion of the past.

It serves to add to the momentum of the present

the present hopes of every generation past.

If the present seem dim, O my nation,

it is because the future seem distant.

And the future seem distant

because the glories of the past is somewhere forgot.

Remember the good things and build upon it.

Remember the evil things

and let this lead you to a remembrance of the good things.

Never build upon evil inspiration.

It is not remembrance to hold on to a hatred of past misdeeds

and remain in thrall of the gravity of War.

For what redeems is virtue sufficient for every generation.

By virtue the long night is overcome.

---<--@

Salutation #12

War is a form of national insanity. It seems right only in its own context and in its own time. But for all nations without exception it is an historic fact that it is always painful to have to eventually wake up to its aftermath. And ultimately, all nations that must succeed must wake up.

War serves no nation...

(Time, Times, and Half-a-Time - Refer to Daniel 12)

PEACE, I salute you.

Winter is coming, O ye nations.

Time is the first 1000 years!

Times is the second 1000 years!

From the year 0 to the year 2000,

all the nations of our Mankind

have beheld the face of the Dragon (of War, or the Beast of War).

(Notwithstanding that, if remembrance serves us well,

it goes further than that - to the time of Abel.)

Within the last 2000 years every nation upon this earth

have been sorely afflicted - within as well as without -

without exception

by the devouring spirit of War

and we have all paid for it

with the lives and promises of our citizens;

our original lines of rulers decimated.

All our nations have become common witnesses

to the ravages of conflicts wrought by War in the heart;

conflicts that have evolved into wars

capable of engulfing the whole of our world,

conflicts that have produced unspeakable abominations,

conflicts that have spawned offspring after offspring,

and genocide after genocide.

Indeed, War lusts after all our nations equally

and respects no distinctions, weak or strong, least to greatest,

rich or poor, of whatever time, creed, or nation -

everything is devoured by the gravity of its relentless ambition

to bring complete and utter annihilation

to the sheltering peace of our brotherhood

and lay to waste all the generations of the children of Mankind.

Half-a-time is a choice - it is a quickening in the soul!

It is a call to respond to the gathering sense of the new age of peace.

And this choice is an individual thing to make.

It is a choice to exorcise the past

and become reconciled to the peace of the present times.

And though, it is not an easy thing to make

it is a necessary stand to take - to complete our remembrances.

For the consequences of not making this choice is insufferable

and we will not survive the onset of this last wintering

if we do not stand together

dreaming as nations this time.

You must therefore consider the whole of the last great age of War

as one entire argument - a time, times and half-a-time quickening.

And look no more for answers wrought in the mold of past things.

The difference between 1335 days and 1290 days is 45 -

2045 being the maximum limit of the labor of the times.

It commissions in particular, these two generations, X and Y,

to lay for the generations of life the foundations of a better age.

The sum of 4 and 5 together makes 9 -

2009 being the minimum limit of the labor of the times.

Because this choice, my beloved,

was a work of thy heart begun by the LORD in 2009.

Now, the world forgot the lesson of 2000

that the LORD, thy God, O beloved of my heart,

delivers from evil.

It shall not forget the lesson of 2012

for the LORD, thy God, O beloved of my heart,

delivers from evil.

2009 to 2012 then is a work of thy heart -

a time set aside for you to respond to the calling of the times

and make the choice to complete your remembrances

beginning from at a time, times and half-a-time

and from star to star, one whole sky.

2012 to 2045 is a work of thy hands -

for the work of thy heart must precede the work of thy nations.

This is our time to build a better world built on saner foundations.

This is our season to prepare each our shelters of Country

for the final winter to visit this earth.

Be thankful and respond to the calling in thy heart therefore,

incline thyself to the labor commanded by the LORD of this present time

and make the awakening choice at a time, times and half-a-time -

be present for the peace of this new age.

Exorcise thee in thyself the persistent shadows of past things

and stand thee together to create a new history in the here and now

for you must never again look past 2009 for answers to present troubles,

answers you must now as nations dreaming together

possess in the here and now of this present age of peace.

The spirit of War is ancient

but the spirit of Peace is equally ancient

and possessed of a promised victory

you yourself is capable of validating in your heart of hearts.

Let this peace therefore

rule each of thee in thy heart, O ye nations,

and enter thee, a brotherhood,

into the promise of this new age.

Winter is coming.

---<--@

My honorable compatriots, it all might seem so simplistic, I have thought.

But so too are the words, "stop fighting for the sake of fighting alone" or "stop dying for the wrong causes and start living for the right ones", simplistic as well.

Truth is, the message is simple - our world is at a crossroads in time the truth is evident: Our entire planetary community is threatened by the spirit of War.

Here now is a choice for Peace.

Let us choose it today while it is still today.

---<--@

Tungkol sa Spratly

Mga mahal kong kapwa Pilipino, huwag po tayong magpapadala sa labis na takot. Tunay ngang maraming nangyayari sa ating mundo sa mga araw na ito. Pero wala ni kahit isa sa mga ito ang pinapayagang mangyari ng Diyos ng walang pahintulot.

Siya po ay ang PANGINOON, ang Diyos nating lahat.

Lahat po ng bagay sa ating mundo na binibigyang pahintulot ng Diyos ay ayon lagi sa kagustuhan Niyang tuparin ng lubos ang Kanyang mga pangakong binitiwan Niya para sa lahat ng ating mga henerasyon patungo sa ikabubuti ng ating pagkatao at ikagagaling ng ating sangkatauhan.

Huwag po nating pangunahan ang Diyos ng labis at nakabubulag na takot sa mga kalamidad, mga giyera o mga pangangmabang dulot ng mga sabi-sabi tungkol sa mga pangyayaring hindi kanais nais sa paligid natin at sa paligid ng bansa nating Pilipinas.

Katulad na nga po nitong isyu ngayon sa Spratly.

Kapayapaan lang po at kahinahunan ng ating mga loob at kapayapaan na rin po ng ating bansang Pilipinas at ng ating mga bansang kabalikat ang nais Niyang subukan at patatagin dito.

---<--@

Mabuhay po tayong lahat! May God bless and prosper all our nations.

The Peace of the Times

20110505

Who is a Terrorist?

"Who is a terrorist?"

I asked myself.

"Is it a look, is it something

I can learn from a book?"

"Is it a religion, is it something

that threatens my conviction?"

"Is it a nation, is it something

I am really able to envision?"

So I gave up asking.

And embraced peace.

---<--@

Thought for the Day:

If you attack Palestine, then I am Palestinian.

If you attack Israel, then I am Israeli.

If you attack both Palestine and Israel, then I am both Palestinian and Israeli.

---<--@

76th IB, to spearhead UN peace keeping mandate in the Golan Heights - way to go AFP, way to go Army, keep the peace and Godspeed, you troops!

---<--@

Today's Conservation Mantra:

Got Plastic? Refuse, Re-Use, Recycle.

---<--@

The Garbage Tree

THERE ONCE was a great tree living by the riverside.

For a good many years, the tree provided shade for the people. Its fruits were the delight of little children living by the banks of its river.

But the people took it all for granted. Over the years, the people polluted the river so much that the tree died. They never really noticed its passing.

They took it all for granted.

By and by and again, the people polluted the river so much that the river itself died. They never really noticed its passing.

They took it all for granted.

Finally, a great storm came and swelled up the river. The rains fell so hard and so fast that the banks of the river burst and a great flood engulfed the town.

After the floods, all the garbage that was choking up the river ended right back into the people's homes.

And as they cleaned up all the stench and the garbage they choked the river up with, the people noticed the tree by the river. Its dead branches was full of garbage and plastic bags. It was an ugly sight.

Now they noticed.

---<--@

Mabuhay ang Pilipinas! God bless us all.

All it takes is a little love.

20110504

Citizen

My name is Filipino citizen.

The name of my nation is Peace.

Peace means, "we belong".

My work is Freedom.

My ambition is called Happiness.

My calling is known as Truth.

My name is Filipino citizen.

My family name is called Endless.

It means, "I love".

My Country is called Promise.

The land of my fathers is called Bountiful.

The name of my city is Friendship.

The name of my religion is Sacred Life.

My God is called Beautiful.

Beautiful means, "We are one".

My government is Service.

The name of our leader is Servant.

It means, "Great Soul".

---<--@

PHL in the ICC: Strengthening Asia's Posture on Justice and Human Rights

Judge Sang-Hyun Song (Republic of Korea), first Asian President of the International Criminal Court (ICC), in an article printed on the opinion/editorial page of the Daily Inquirer dated around February 28 or March 1, invited this Republic to ratify the Rome Statute (adopted in 1998 and joined by 114 nations).

I should like to voice out through this post my unwavering support of the above invitation:

This one Republic of the Filipino people should move to ratify the Rome Statute and officially join the ICC where I believe we can make a good contribution towards strengthening Asia's posture on Justice and Human Rights.

YEA. It think now is a good time.

(Too, I think it would have been better if OBL had his day at the ICC. The past is the past however and the issue of paramount concern remains a conclusive as well as a comprehensive end to this War on Terror.)

---<--@

Taxation is an often misunderstood subject. Of the three elements of Country, the burden of taxation belongs to the nation.

It belongs to the people to share this burden.

Because the public funds that are being constantly replenished through the activity of taxation belong also to the people. That means us, my fellow Filipino compatriots.

It is our representative Congress that holds the purse strings of government.

It pays for all necessary government services, it builds public infrastructures, and it helps to enrich the Common Market.

It even pays for the upkeep of our laws.

The Republic government through its institutions in the executive sphere are intermediaries that facilitate and enforce the process. But the benefits of sharing the tax burden must always return to the national trust - or at least, it always should.

It is a good thing to know that the government has been busy in this regard. It was recently reported in the news that tax targets are all being met. This is good news.

Part of the work to diminish corruption in our Country is to restore our common confidence in the public trust.

If we are to reconstitute these

social contracts that keep the peace and comprise the civic order our national communities, we must as individual citizens begin by learning how to once again place our confidence in these national processes.

Taxation (which drive forward the economy of the national trust) is an unmistakable litmus test in the fight against corruption.

We can gauge it truly by its visible, natural, material results.

But it really must come from we, the people, first.

It

requires a certain sense of moral bravery and personal integrity to discharge our tax duties as citizens as well as to responsibly receive these taxes from the citizenry as public servants in the government.

It is first and foremost something that is done out of a sense of personal justice.

However, these duties are mutually safeguarded also by the laws of the Republic to preserve the interests of the common good of the people.

That other people seem wanting in this duty, whether factual or perceived, whether least or great, alone or with others, is not an excuse to fail or to fall short of the civic virtue required of our common citizenry in the sharing of the tax burden.

Or to willfully break the laws that are the foundations of our social cohesion as a nation.

Also, the personal generosity of those individuals, who out of their great patriotic sentiments, go above and beyond, and therefore, apart from what is ordinarily expected in the actual sharing of this burden of taxation must also be appreciated and the spirit of their philanthropy promoted and remembered.

For what goes above and beyond the ordinary requirements of taxation in the building of the peace of our nation belong to the realm of charity and sacred duty which

transcends the realm of civic duty and fills another vital economy - that of divine grace.

The yoke that we wear now is the yoke that this nation also shares with God. It is

the double yoke of which Jesus spoke of in the Gospels. Because the burden of the national undertaking is one that we also share with God Who everyday fights for us with and through His grace.

It should be light to those who know what particular love of Country is required by this, our common Republic effort.

We do not live anymore under the pain of a colonial yoke, nor are we anymore completely asleep and under thrall of any foreign power.

We do not live in a perfect world. However, w

e can no longer use any of these ghosts of shadows past to justify those present illusions we ourselves tend to create that we - both in the Nation and in the Responsible State - are not ultimately responsible for this Republic undertaking.

Because we are - each one of us.

The pain of all our poorest Filipinos are all too real. The simple truth is that their lives matter and matters the most because i

t shall be part and parcel of our Final Accounting as a nation.

I wish to congratulate the BIR and Commissioner Henares for their brave efforts.

Let us also remember Marcelino Yap, the BIR official who was gunned down in Antipolo last February in the line of duty. He died constituting the necessary reforms in his office to facilitate and expedite the collection process.

May justice be served here and without delay.

---<--@

OBL is dead. Good.

Because human lives matter - no matter how different, no matter how similar we may be. It matters we are free.

The world changed after September 11.

All the world felt it. We didn't want it. Humanity was set back 10 years. Now the world is changed once again.

What did terrorism ever achieve?

Did it feed more hungry mouths? Did it shelter more needy families? Did it gain more for justice than it took out in war? Did it lighten the common burdens of our nations? Did it safeguard the ideals of the youth? Did it open the way for more safety and more prosperity?

OBL is dead. Good. Kudos to you, America. Kudos to JSOC and the SEALs.

Now the world is changed once again: We can now ask ourselves the question denied us 10 years ago, "what do we - those who desire peace - want?"

Because this time, its not about OBL. The tide has turned.

On September 11, everybody became one heart with the victims. They were from many nations, including mine. And the world lost 10 years worth in war seeking for justice.

Many other nations have suffered the loss of many other lives and promises in the process.

Now justice has been done, we can be one heart again and set the time forward toward peace.

Peace which is an end to this very difficult war. Peace which will bring the needed respite to our one family of nations.

When this happens, everybody wins.

And it will be 9/12/01 over again.

---<--@

Mabuhay ang Amerika!

Mabuhay ang Pilipinas!

God bless all our nations.

As a counterpoint to the death of OBL: As far as these things go, my honorable compatriots, let us always bear in mind and heart that remembrance holds its eternal vigil (here in our heart of hearts) only for the sake of those whose lives and promises now rest with their hopes entrusted to the cause of Peace and of Sacred Life (which is Country and God respectively).

No nation on earth can ever be truly and meaningfully sustained in its own soul by the evil inspiration of war criminals and mass murderers of whatever particular creed or race.

The truth tends to always break free of the limits and confines of evil inspiration.

And those of my own Christian religion knows this with an understanding of faith most especially in this season of Easter: Did not that tomb, my beloved brothers and sisters, sealed shut by an unimaginable weight of evil intention, literally explode on that first Easter morn?

Victory belongs always to real heroes, those who though vulnerable - least to great, known or known to God alone - even in the midst of great adversity remain faithful and true to their own common humanity:

Defender of the People

To the Lion of Pansjer -

The resounding clash
of steel against steel,
and the clamor of battle
was first fought
in the quiet of the night
and in the prayer of the heart
that rises like the sun
to bring forward the hopes
of your orphaned nation
and restore upon them
the guardian peace
of the Responsible State.

The devouring foe
with relentless tenacity
have only succeeded
in establishing
in the hearts of your people
a strong desire for solace
and a shelter away
from the wilderness
of their wandering hearts;
a dream that was born
from the hope that
through battle
and through loss
you have triumphed
to maintain
not for yourself,
Amer Sahib,
but for your nation.

You are certainly
most cherished in memory,
noble commander and
defender of the people.
---<--@

Ahmad Shah Masoud, the Lion of Pansjer, a true son of the one Afghan Nation (19530902-20010909).

So let us say, "peace be to Afghanistan of the one family of the nations of Mankind".

20110305

Daniel 12

The evils of the present times are manifest enough to satisfy the requirements of human reason unaided by the light of faith. For the need for peace is such that all our nations recognize it by the depth of the darkness war has wrought upon our humanity and our world.

But such is the LORD that God has made provision to fortify the faith of those whose hearts are so inclined that all may indeed work for peace (and peace rightly understood).

Let me now share with you, my friends, my interpretation of the passage in Daniel 12. Far be it for me to be so bold as to presume, I will not suffer to forever hold my peace on something that has time and again proven itself to me as truth in my heart.

The signs of the times seem to me so obvious as to be compelling and since it involves all of us in all our nations, woe to me if I keep it from you. For if I see the danger lurking, if I see the enemy of our nations approaching, will I not cry out to you who share with me a common humanity?

I shall therefore entrust to you what I have long kept in myself and leave it to your discernment.

We have so far sought about this peace enough to understand that peace indeed is the craft of all nations. For in reality, all nations are responsible for each other.

Daniel 12 decisively places its emphasis on the importance of individuals in the healing of nations and the importance of nations in the healing of our failing world.

Time is 1000 years, Times is 2000 years, Half-a-Time is a 50/50 choice - shadow (uncertainty) being made half of light and half of darkness, we are in each our hearts presented now with a choice between war as a paradigm and peace as a paradigm.

The difference between the days in Daniel 12 which is 1290 days leading up to 1335 days being the year 2009 through to 2045.

Because as time flows from the timeless flowing from the Throne of the LORD in every human heart, the work of the heart (which is each individual human heart) always precedes the work of the earth (our X and Y Generations among all the nations, in particular from the three, great Abrahamic lineages).

2009-2012 denotes an initial period of awakening; a period set aside by God. This is most especially true for each of us today in 2011 - a year of choices.

Therefore, the necessary groundwork of effective peace-building both within as well as between our nation-states should be established within this time.

2012 shall be a turning point. How it shall come to pass depends on the choices we make today.

2012 is a time of testing. It is perceived as a burden of expectation and not of judgment. How decisive it shall be for us as nations depends completely on how decisive we allow ourselves to become here and now as individuals - to be present in the here and now for the peace and the peace properly understood.

When the sign appears, it shall be too late.

2012, if war is hastened, shall be calamitous. This hastening, if we shall at present choose to largely ignore the signs, shall be accompanied by fire from the sky which is a large-scale impact event. It is worth noting that in 2009, Jupiter was hit yet again by a Shoemaker-Levy type extra-planetary body.

In the order of grace, my friends, there is no such thing as a random event; that one particular year of years - 2009 - in the context of billions of years of time and space is not coincidental.

However, it must also be duly noted that the main emphasis of the passage in Daniel 12 is the deliverance that is being offered and not the global catastrophe that seem so foreboding in its inevitability with or without the assistance of a large-scale impact event.

An example of this kind of deliverance being Y2K as a non-event was already manifested in the year 2000 but was largely ignored or consigned to the imaginary realm of pure luck: That God delivers from evil, as in our Lord's Prayer, is never due to random chance, this was not learned by our nations in 2000.

It took 2000 (or 2009) years for this choice for peace to become comprehensible to our souls. But after this time, this choice shall no longer be a choice.

Were this same choice for peace presented to our nations at an earlier time than this present time, it would have been futile. For no nation before this time would have had the developed capacity to comprehend it meaningfully.

Therefore, if we in our nations are to willfully pass up this invitation to draw nearer to the LORD, during this season of peace - together this time, we shall no longer be without any accountability.

War which is the enemy of all nations, if we do not bind it today - together this time, shall be set loose upon our generations. And all of our living memory shall not even be enough to contain the remembrance of this destruction.

---<--@

The Quest for Peace in the Middle East

The roots of war is ancient. Therefore, 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.

Now, what I mean to say when I write about the "siege of war" being broken only from the Middle East is that the epicenter of this interpretation is the Israel-Palestine or Palestine-Israel division in general and Jerusalem in specific.

My fellow Filipino compatriots, concerned as we are about the well-being of our own peace, we must also connect (in our minds and in our hearts) our own peace-building initiatives with that of Israel and Palestine.

And I also enjoin the citizens of those other nations longing for a better world to do likewise.

What shall it gain us to achieve a greater peace in our own lands if the labor of building up the (inhabited) earth which is the undertaking of all nations fails?

We must do what we can and work to become bigger than our own national interests.

---<--@

The Israel-Palestine/Palestine-Israel Division

What happened to you, O Israel -
pitted against your own soul,
a nation among nations
at war against thy own peace?

The past has been terrible,

but the night shall soon wane

the darkness shall fade forever

and the dawn shall arrive.

None shall be left in the night!

We will do this - together this time.

The everyday, ordinary Palestinian is like a seed caught in a storm. Indeed, they are as a people like so much seeds blown hither tither, seemingly at random, and mostly by forces beyond their control. But however strong the storm these seeds remain as seeds - in the quiet, waiting for its time to grow. That is the truth.

Now, the Palestinian people are not a perfect people.

But the Palestinian people is a nation. Therefore, there is nothing either on earth or in heaven that can prevent their emergence save their own rejection of this truth. Now, it is you, O Israel, who have helped them to embrace their own nationhood. Therefore it is you, O Israel, who must also stand with them. Do so now, O Israel, do so now.

It is the natural right of all nations to fulfill each their own potential as a particular undertaking of Country upon the earth. This right was not denied you. This right will not be denied them.

So turn now to your brother in unity. You must find it once again in your heart to accept their own humanity with your own. For there is a purpose and an order to all things under heaven, each in their own times and seasons under the LORD.

To reject this truth is to propagate the conflagration of the last great age of war. It is to prolong our suffering and to do this is not human and an inhuman nation is an abomination to God and to itself.

So let the climate of these times turn to the peace, all ye nations. This is our time.

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.

It is difficult. But it is not impossible. Indeed, there are many things in the way of our returning to peace that are left to each our own free and human choice. But not war, O Israel, not war.

War is a spirit. It will most certainly prevent the emergence of peace in your region in Asia. The momentum of the last 2000 years will most certainly try to us all into a deadly complacency. For the siege of war may indeed only be broken from your region in Asia. And the beast knows it.

Let me tell you here and now, O Israel, that the blessings of the peace that awaits us all in this new age far outweighs all of these present anxieties. This is not beyond you. In fact, the choice now lies squarely within your reach.

If we work to achieve this necessary requirement under heaven, the enormous potential of the one family of the nations of Mankind shall become unleashed in the service of our common humanity: What once served the will of war shall now be brought into the service of the peace of the LORD, our God, for all Mankind.

We will find respite for our failing world - together this time.

It shall not be perfect before the Day. But it shall no longer be a labor wrought in bitterness and tears. So exercise prudence. Look for wisdom. Seek for justice and the healing of hurts. But you must pray. Pray now with an urgency. Pray now with an understanding of the times. Pray now with a knowledge of our hopes together in time. Pray now with the brightness and the force of a heart undivided.

Let us all pray now for the peace all nations even as we pray also for the peace of each our own. Let us all who desire a better world desire peace with all sincerity.

Finally, to help us understand the question that is now being presented to each our hearts do not look for answers before 2009.

For all of it, (time, times through to 2009) including the "war on terror", is one entire proposition, a plaidoyer if you will, that in the midst of the silence within our souls must, God-willing, incline us all to peace. Lest we forget.

All of it, God-willing, must lead each our hearts, willingly and freely, unto the LORD, our God, the one Sovereign of all nations.

In this way, in this age, which is different from all the ages before this one, we are all pioneers.

May it be so, O ye nations, may it be so, O beloved people Israel. Let us work our way through to 2012. Let us all work to complete each our own remembrances and and make the choice for peace today while it is still today.

No nation learns in isolation. No Country matures on its own.

Palestinian Christian, I believe in your nationalism:

Do not be deluded by the darkness that deceives

for the spirit of war lusts for all nations equally

but your unity is your nation's guarantee.

Do not be embarrassed. Do not be confused.

The God Who loves us all - He is the LORD of our Lord.

Therefore, in God through our Lord, Jesus Christ,

there is both a will and a way for all of us.

Be perfect in this way,

encompassing all things in your heart of hearts -

tolerate no division, no chaos, no enmity...

and all this for love of God and Country

and you will find rest.

The War in heaven is in the heart.

Your place in the Middle East is meant for better things,

much better things...

---<--@

Mabuhay po tayong lahat! God be with us all.