Towards Dawn

In the grip of the long night,
the Nation turns its gaze eastward
longing for the unraveling of its mystery.

For we have set our sights
guided by the noble gold of our Sun,
upon those perennial blue horizons.

And there is indeed
a certain wonder to be had
in the yonder there, towards dawn.

The life of our people
who lay ever weary in our souls
thirsting for the blessings it shall obtain.

Emerge then, my Country,
from the darkness - turning away.
Arise from the long night, into one Sky!

Gather thyself, soul of our peoples,
against scattering winds, become as one:
Whole to thy memory, awaken to thy destiny.
---<--@

Carry on, Sir

We stop not to argue
- in the shadows - about the Night
and the maddening depths of it.
Lest the Darkness overtake us
with madness.

We stop not
carrying on along the way
for our discourse is about the Morning
walking together as if with Christ
on the Road to Emmaus.

Carry on, sir. 

Remember always your promise (to yourself)
during your inauguration speech, that you are beholden
to the loving remembrance in your own heart - my kuya Noy -
of a memory both personal as well as national in their natures:
Use it to see clearly, and with steadfast faith in God
and diligent attention to His Providence,
continue to express through thy august Office,
the Executive vision that you want for our Country
to particularly possess - in your own time.

The vision of a Government
that is accountable to its own authority,
aware of its responsibility - to the mandate -
it has variously received from the one Nation
on whose life and promise, the Responsible State
derives from the Divine Providence of God,
it's powers to govern - with virtue and wisdom,
within the particular framework of a Republic undertaking of Country,
the greater wealth and the greater good, both spiritual as well as material,
of the common generations of our people - unto the last of our generations
- forever.

I pray your spirit be clear even when all things are not -
that you, dear Sir, in your own solitude may always, always have a recourse
to the Love of the LORD present and ever so near to thy own heart.
And so may God love thee and keep thee and bless thee forever.

May a living Remembrance of these times - kindle in thee, its own virtue -
that all things God may reveal to thee - come necessary to the account of thy heart
that thou in the Sanctuary of the love that you keep in your soul may reach out to the darkness
through a fire born of greater things, and a light forbearing in hope, be ever capable of the embrace
with which God embraces all individual realities - in the Spirit of His abundant Peace
- a seed of the ultimate experience of Country.

You are the center to which there can be no rising nor falling, the center unto which the powers of the Nation must derive their constant measure.

The wings that shelter our Country must continually form and re-form themselves, at the rise and fall of each and every moment, from thy Office. No where else may it rely upon for its life and life's purpose.

There could be no rising nor falling in your commitment to your Office - its lineage, virtue, and authority are all you have to bring down from God and heaven the necessary strength to power the flight of our Republic toward that promised Dawn - and verily, these are all you need.

May they humble you and in God, make you ever persevere.
---<--@

Personal Reflection -

A faithful President over a perfect one - always.

I do not always agree with our President Noy
but I implicitly know we walk in the same direction. 

He may seek to express within our Republic journey,
matters about our National Dialogue that are varied and distinct
or even, at times, seemingly antithetical to my politics, but never will I forget -
that the journey we all must take - under this season of sky - is but one, long march -
from the depths and the darkness of Exile unto the Light and the Promise of an Eden Rebuilt -
for our Nation and its own emergent Republic motion under heaven, and therefore, for all Nations.

Tyrants are not as fortunate to as be blessed with any prevailing sense of a National direction
let alone agree with anybody - with consistency on which way is forward and which way is back.

Kanlungan

Nakalilito man
at madilim ang mundo,
mga kapatid ko sa Pangako,
huwag tayong mabahala
at huwag mawalan ng loob -
huwag matakot sa gabi!

Pananalig sa Diyos,
kapayapaan sa ating bansa;
kagandahang loob sa bawa't isa
bunga nang pagkakapatirang
namumuhay sa ating diwa,
at pagmamahal natin sa ating
nag-iisang sambayanang Pilipinas -
ito ang lagi nating maaasahan;
ang ating kanlungan sa gabi
at daan tungo sa umaga.
---<--@

Progress Report on the Fifth Battlespace

It was postulated, about the emerging nature of the information landscape, early in the 90's, at the beginning of the Revolution in Military Affairs, that information itself shall soon constitute a complete battlespace to be in particular recognized alongside the other existing four which is earth, sea, air, and space.

The importance of this characterization of the nature of information in our age in the context of the mission of the U.S. military was underscored by the designation of this nascent battlespace, of whose nature, climate, and environmental constants as well as variables were yet undefined, as primarily the specific domain of the youngest and brightest of the five distinct branches of the U.S. Armed Services, the Air Force.

This importance was driven primarily by the recognition from within the military of the emerging reality of an information threshold; that the realm of information evolving as a distinct presence in our world shall soon become decisively poised to shape the nature of human affairs in general but in particular, and as far as this report goes, the military affairs of the nations.

This was and still is evidenced by the growth of not a few information-centric thinking among the world's military establishments as well as the development and potential of those technological derivatives in support of those doctrines designed to establish warfighitng as an ability in the fifth battlespace.

This was over two decades ago now. And today we have yet to pierce the cloud that surrounds the fifth battlespace. I have come to a conviction that information which is inert yields not the secrets of its coming and going without a final recognition of a space that exists as an unseen reality beyond its nature where there inhabits a force that works behind its constant state of flux.

This force is spirit and, in my mind, it is spirit, not information, that constitutes the fifth battlespace.

Information as a whole is integral to the fourth battlespace which is space being that interior aspect of light and darkness that is both contained by space and constrained by time that in ebbing and flowing, dwells in a state of constant revelation to the mind of man.

And this new information age we are now thrust in, right here at the very crossroads, is - more precisely - an Age of Spirit and Thought.

I used to hold many fears as to the dangers of the fifth battlespace. Now they are not as many and those that do remain, though still quite significant, I feel are those we can, with good effort and concentration, hope to adequately mitigate if not master.

How we, as nations, understand information and how we apply its fruits to bless the human ends for which all information has been, from the very beginning of time, destined by heaven and earth depends on our strength of spirit and this strength of spirit depends on right remembrance - where:



1+1 = better. 
---<--@

Never Forget

Dawn will come, this night will wane...
and it shall be 9/12/2001 all over again.



I promised to never forget and so

as for my own remembrance of this day,

I seek to banish hatred.

May all hatred whither and die! 

May all hatred find a place in our nations no more... 

May the reason of Man find its reason, 

may the purpose of the nations of the children of Mankind find its purpose. 

May the right remembrances be everywhere sought... 

And may it be the kind of remembrance 

that recalls all human hearts unto citizenship with the all of creation; 

that makes us builders in the LORD, nations under God, 

and lovers of the work of living life!

May we all be lovers of the work of living life! 

May our Mankind be joined in Justice and in Love 

and may all the nations of the children of Mankind find Peace

with each other - and  - in each other.

May we all be a family once again.
May good will triumph over division.
May this longest night end...

May the Day Star rise again in our hearts 

and may this awakening bring our midnight world 

unto the promised Morning of the new...

May the spirit of our humanity, 

by the grace of God and the aid of heaven, 

prevail forever over the spirit of War 

and may this unity break our bondage to the earth, 

that we may soar upon wings of eagles 

unto oneness with the sky...

May the glory of God be on earth as it is in heaven.... 

Alleluia!
---<--@

When anger is allowed to fester in the heart, an inhospitable and alien darkness eclipses the soul, shrouding all things in death...

For what is hatred but an ignorance of love? An enforced absence of sunlight in the soul of Man.


Embracing the Embracing

Generation X

Generation Choice

TO ALL MY PEERS,
Salutations of Christian peace

and common good will
to our Generation X.

It seemed as if it would never come

But now the world awaits

What virtue we shall impart

To the nations of whose hopes

We shall soon inherit.

O my generation!

What distinguishes us

from the past?

Is it the hurt,

Is it the lack,

Is it the want of heroes' fire?

Who are we

and what defines us

as a generation?

We are here.

We are here now.

What shall soon define us

is not our past.

What shall soon define us

is not in the future.

What shall soon define us

in the eyes of heaven and earth

is our being here now

our being here in the moment

our being present for the peace.

O my kindred spirits,

O my generation be aware

of the wide, awakening twilight

of the time, times and a choice

at this void at the threshold

of the third Christian millennium

a space between our common human hopes

for peace and a better world

caught between tears and shadow

and God's infinite ocean of mercy.

The reality of our times exist

between the autumnal dusk of faded Eden,

this midnight world of war,

and the springtime thawing

of the new dawn from on high,

that bright new morning of peace,

before the noontime reign of Christ,

the Splendor of the Truth

and the Sun of Righteousness,

arising here in the wintering of our times

in the glory of God the Father,

the one common Creator of all mankind

on behalf of suffering humanity

and our poor world.

We must begin today
what no other generation can.

We must quicken to truths
that no lie can ever deny.

We must open doors
that lead to new horizons.

And we must shut the gates
so that no one may be left behind.

This is our time.

---<--@

(Produced 20080420)

Allied Generations

Generation Y

SALUTATIONS OF PEACE
and common goodwill to you, 
our precious Starshine.

O precious child, O little lambs!
Think not your life to be uncertain
life is indeed full of uncertainties
but let this not burden your minds
nor make your hearts anxious
for it is not life that is uncertain
it is time that is uncertain
but life is for always.

For the life of man is in the soul,
made in the image and likeness
of our one common Creator,
and the soul of man is spirit
for God is Spirit
and our God is a God of life:
He is for always.

Time is uncertain
because the Truth is veiled
and all of heaven is in mourning.

There is much despair in our world today -
too many people are bitter,
too many people live in fear,
too many people are dying...
without even truly beginning to live.

Too many hearts have been hardened,
too many souls have turned away,
too many minds have become blind...
without even beginning to truly believe.

Too much lies, the language of war,
have twisted the tongue
of our nations.

Too much war, the scourge of life,
has plagued the memory
of our peoples.

Evil has taken a prominent place
in the hearts and minds of many;
like a dark star that rises
Wormwood ascends from sin to sin
in the Sacred Sanctuary of the soul
to eclipse our Eternal Daystar
turning our poor world into midnight
in the inward seasons of the celestial sky.

Every generation of every time and place
must confront the evils of their present time:
this darkness is that evil that we must confront
it is a spiritual darkness, a beast of War,
a reality that prevent the ascendant Peace
and deny respite not only for our suffering peoples
but for our dying world itself.

Our generation and yours
along with those elder generations
still here for us today by the grace of God
has been commissioned by Christ
to arrive in this time and place
to shine and lead the way
out of the darkness of war
and into the new morning from on high;
a new era of peace and renewal
for our planet and her peoples.

Never be ashamed of who you are:
You are a child of this dawning
a vanguard of this twilight awakening
that is the truth that no lie can ever take
this is the fight of your generation
and it is also the fight of mine.

O numberless stars
of our Father Abraham!
Shine for sacred life
and be present for peace.
For if we do not do this
though our actions are but
a tiny drop in the eternal sea
it will yet remain undone -
what will the future of our world be?
What will the succeeding generations
think of us who left for them a desolation?
Are we not all a part of this one world?

Nay, we must do this,
we must stand together.
In our hearts first
and then outward
into the tremendous world
of our common human hopes.

So be brave,
dear Christian soul
and remember,
from always to always,
we belong to our God and to each other:
One whole communion of Saints.

Life is hard indeed
But life is not impossible
nor is life evil.

So never fall into despair.
Because we are Christian,
O little flock, O little lambs,
there is always, always hope
because we are here now:
We are here now
in the Name of Jesus Christ
on behalf of suffering mankind.

Heavy indeed, precious Starshine,
and troublesome are the burdens of this world
but the burdens of this world
are the burdens of this world
they are not our burden
our burden is to love
and love all things well
neither exceeding nor holding back
according to our individual vocations
what promise we have in Jesus Christ.

Our Blessed Lord Himself said,
"the truth shall set us free."
Therefore to accept
Jesus into our hearts
is not a form of slavery
as the world would have us believe
for indeed His burden is light
and His yoke easy.

For who is our Lord but our Life
and this Life is the Light
of the human race.

This Light is Truth unveiled.
It is life endlessly abundant
and joyful complete -
it is heaven rejoicing greatly;
our risen Savior's shining glory.

So when you are in doubt,
O little flock, O little lambs
Just be true to the things that are for always
as God, your inner life, and your baptism,
family, friends, and friendships.

And be of good cheer,
and let our Lord's Peace keep you,
for our Peace is not a parting of ways
as Christians we never say goodbye
save for grievous sin.
We say, "Peace and Godspeed" -
it is my hope and your hope together,
it is our Lord's hope in you and in me;
our gathering together in eternity.

Jesus Christ loves you, O little lambs,
the Immaculate Mother of God loves you,
all the Angels and Saints love you,
all the Holy Souls love you,
all of Holy Mother Church embraces you
with an everlasting love.

Precious Starshine,
the things that really matter in this life
can not be perceived by human eyes
so liberate your minds from
the vanity of external things.
Penetrate deeply into this world
But never let the world master you.

All we have to do to shine
as the countless stars of Father Abraham
is to turn away from the darkness
live in loving repentance
and walk into the one Light
into the welcome arms
of our risen Savior bright.

Build like natives.
Live like pilgrims.
Love like Christians.

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

(produced 20080407)


Allied Generations

20110808

Good morning Philippines!

And a very good Monday start of the working week to all.

It's a humid, overcast day out there, my brothers and sisters of the Promise, all my fellow Filipinos of every stripe, almost gloomy - but weather IS a relative thing - especially the weather we choose to live inside of ourselves.

"Establish within thy soul

an unyielding firmament of Day"

- Salutation #9, Perseverance

Keeping a perspective on things is important, O my nation, especially during these days of unprecedented change.

Truly we are a people guided much more by the steps of our hearts than by the fickle fashions of the spirit of the world.

The world outside of ourselves is undergoing so much change - in more ways than one, even the climate of space is shifting. Indeed there is much cause out there for needless worry.

But if we willingly place ourselves as a people together upon the original peace of our foundation, we shall not be harried so much by the storm that must pass us by, O my people, if only through sheer grit and conviction that we are one nation entire.

If we know who we are, no external weather system is going to cause our nation to derail itself from its long march eastward to destiny. Because this is the way back to our Eden rebuilt, O my beloved people, the way God has established for all human nations.

This is our return to promise.

- selah -

Unity is important to any emerging undertaking of Country.

Let us be encouraged by the recent dialogue between the GRP and the MILF.

Let us be mindful as well of the willingness of each our kindred nations across our needful world to provide us assistance - let us remember their kindness always.

This kind of remembrance will go a long way towards preserving our own sense of a prevailing national good will. Let us refuse to become evil-inspired and pawns to the relentless hatred of the enemy of all human nations.

Let us learn to keep our liberty, preserve its value, know its cost, and use it well.

Let us work to become individually informed as well as better involved in the vital processes that shall help to actualize the dream of unity for our Republic and peace for our nation.

And let us be altogether convinced that this peace is our only way forward into the miracle of national development; a miracle our people have deserved for so long.

Let us be vigilant about this peace, my honorable compatriots, bearing in mind and heart how easy it is to become sleepy and complacent about it. Few to none of us have ever known it in our lives to be empirically convinced of its merit.

Generally speaking, it is very easy to be lulled back into the deadly embrace of 2000 years of division in the human heart.

We must never allow War back into the abode of our souls with the LORD.

Indeed, all of us are now coming to perceive the void that is staring our failing world in the face to realize the existence of a better way, a road less traveled, as it were, an eastward way back to an Eden rebuilt; a way of return for our one family of the nations of Mankind.

This eastward way is guarded by an angel. And this angel shall require each of us to complete each our own remembrances as a nation distinct but not apart from our one family of nations. This angel shall query each of our hearts for the quality of our belonging as a people upon the earth; a nation under the LORD; a Republic with a soul of submission and a heart of peace.

My fellow Filipino compatriots, this is our road back to promise.

---<--@

The Twilight of Choices - The Milky Way Road

You can see how our other nations suffer from diverse things. We ourselves know some of their suffering. If we, as a nation, better ourselves - if we defy the sins that have defied our society in the past - we acquire from God the timeless lessons that shall help to heal our other kindred nations. In this way, we help our region, our continent, and our world - indirectly at first.

Look up at the night sky outside of your souls, my honorable compatriots, you know it in your own love that if we help ourselves, as we are doing now under President Noynoy and under this season of the Sky, we add to the strength of our one family of nations.

We no longer live in a void. We have chosen to be as the numberless stars. Indeed, if we shine all the more harder together, the nearer we get to the Light, the more we add to the strength of our one whole Sky.

---<--@

Your Prayers Here Please -

To all my brothers and sisters in the Promise - all the numberless stars of our Father Abraham, guided by the Light of the unity of the LORD and empowered by the one Peace of God - Let us pray for Syria - for an end to the spiral of violence, for Libya - for the protection of all its civilians from War, for Israel and Palestine like twins joined together in War or in Peace - may they both stand together in Peace rather than fall apart in War, for Egypt - for its own necessary searching for its soul of Country, for the United States - for the peace within her own self, may it prevail in the name of the common people, let us pray for the peace of all our nations.

To all my Brothers and Sisters in Christ and to my Holy Mother Church -

Let us put all these prayers in our hearts, in our rosary of hope, and above all, please take them all with you to Holy Mass as I will.

Finally, let us pray for the souls of Attorney Benjamin Pinpin of my home parish and for all the fallen warriors of our nation and of every nation in this crucial twilight of our nations awakening from the longest night of our needful world.

We will expedite his final hopes on earth.

"A Christian without prayer is like a soldier without a rifle."

Holy Father Dominic de Guzman, pray for us.

---<--@

Mabuhay ang Pilipinas! God bless us all.

Healing Work

One Nation

War in the Heart

20110723

Salutation #42

(The Peace of ASEAN)

To my honorable Filipino compatriots

and to the kindred nations of our ASEAN -

Our ASEAN Neighborhood has the potential for much good

not only for our region but for Asia and the world.

But only if we apply ourselves

to the understanding

that the Peace of our ASEAN

is wrought in virtue and human community.

We are the ASEAN Neighborhood.

A region that is distinct but not apart

from the problems that the nations of our world

must presently confront as a planetary community.

Problems we must work out and confront together as one

to bring about the close of the last great age of War.

If we fail, we shall all fail together.

For the planet itself is at stake.

But if we shall succeed

- as nations dreaming together this time -

we must triumph as ASEAN first.

It is essential that we believe with our hearts

in what strength there is in our unity

over what darkness there was in our past -

The strength of this unity is evident in the Flag of our ASEAN!

O my beloved ASEAN nations -

we can not hope to pull our home region in Asia

away from the descendant gravity

of the last great age of War

if we cast away our unity, covertly or overtly,

and pull ourselves apart in all directions:

War will surely scatter our peoples to the four winds.

If we remain divided in spirit,

O my Philippines,

O my kindred ASEAN nations,

we will have hoped in vain

to develop the inherent potential of our region.

If we hope in vain, we labor in vain.

For we all have inherent strengths

and we all have inherent weaknesses too

because our civilization is not complete

as individual nations in our ASEAN.

We will capitalize on our strengths

and work together to encourage, develop and fulfill them

in our nations for our region.

And we shall through weaknesses become empowered

to rely on our faith in each other and in God - more and more -

with a sense of humility and sincerity.

We will strive to realize - without direct interference -

that our ability to succeed as nations

depend largely on our being adequately cognizant and understanding

of our essential human natures,

its weaknesses as well as its common needs,

invested to the call of each our nations

and entrusted to the care of each our undertakings of Country.

By this we shall strive to be an example to each other in ASEAN

so that while we understand that we can not without coming into conflict

disregard the common experiences of our peoples,

each nation being as unique as each individual human being is unique,

we may also affirm in our own times

within each our own particular undertakings of Country

that the destiny we all aspire for as nations is one and the same

as the Peace we all strive to live in as Countries in ASEAN.

The spirit of War will eventually flee us

by the strength of the Peace of our ASEAN.

Therefore,

peace be to Brunei Darussalam,

peace be to Cambodia,

peace be to Indonesia,

peace be to Laos,

peace be to Malaysia,

peace be to Myanmar,

peace be to Singapore,

peace be to Thailand,

peace be to Vietnam,

and peace be to our ASEAN!

(And to East Timor

- waiting in the wings -

the Peace of our ASEAN as well)

Mabuhay po sa ating lahat - past is past -

we will ascend with one ascending

as one ASEAN Neighborhood.

---<--@

Attack on Norway

The twin terror attacks on innocent Norwegians yesterday at a youth camp and at the city center is appalling. Initial reports that placed the casualties at less than 10 have now risen into around 80 with people still unaccounted for.

This crime is a condemnable act of terrorism indeed.

Let us stand with Norway in this hour of tragedy, my Filipino compatriots, and let us pray for the victims and their families.

---<--@

SONA 2011

Let us pray for our President Noy. May his SONA 2011 be a sweeping success!

Lastly, let us ask the LORD in prayer (especially at Holy Mass tomorrow) to bless our nation with a strong succession of presidents beginning with our PNoy to lead our Country out of this long night.

Better yet, let us constantly desire this in our prayers to God as a nation that the LORD may bless, preserve and prosper the Office of the President of the Republic of the Philippines and that God may likewise bless, preserve and prosper the Office of his or her Vice President.

(Yes, we need more than one and so may all of them be blessed by God with a lion's or a lioness' heart. Refer to Daniel 12 since we are running on this timeline.)

---<--@

Mabuhay ang Pilipinas! God bless us all.

Being Present for Peace

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

Salutation #24

Cor ad Cor Loquitur

Have you observed now, dear starshine, how some of our written human languages are read from left to right, some from right to left, and there are yet even some that are read from top to bottom?

Of all of these, Beloved of God, the most useful ones to you are those that can be understood by all human hearts - those that are written in the language of the truth.

Heart speaketh unto heart, starshine,

so let the language of the truth

- in all its forms -

being the tongue of Peace and of all of heaven,

let this be thy official tongue -

---<--@

(A Salutation to the Youth of all Nations - On Peace, Human Citizenship and the Longest Night)

PEACE be upon you,

Our beloved Starshine -

kindred youth from all nations.

You of the generations of life -

all you children of the light,

kindred spirits, one to another,

called to that Promise of old

made by He Who Is to our Father Abraham -

all you numberless stars of the skies above thy souls

allied to the peace of all the children of good will

drawn from the sacred remembrances

of all the nations of the earth

through whom the LORD God has deigned

to bless all our national communities

in this present time, under this season of Peace,

citizens of all creation,

I salute you.

Let the awakening of these present times

be a certain comfort to you, Beloved of God,

and be glad for the coming of the new Day, alleluia.

For this long night

is a necessary passage

- as you shall see -

gather thy selves therefore, in this twilight,

and turn thy hearts away

from the waning of the dark

that you may come to discern

what lies ahead.

Before us, beloved starshine, are new horizons -

and you are the strength

with which it becomes possible

to reach out toward all these brighter tomorrows.

Speak thy truth, therefore -

ask of thy LORD and God, "what do I love, O God of All?",

that you may understand

with an understanding that leads to Peace

and the Peace which shall be your common right

- one with another -

established in thy faith in God and thy humanity.

Before us, beloved starshine, are new horizons -

speak thy truth, therefore -

ask of thy self, "what do I love, O heart?",

that you may lay claim

to that Morning which is thy own

- together this time -

a future that is fully human, Beloved of God;

a work of heaven and the earth.

Love the LORD, therefore -

our most precious starshine,

not with a love of division in thy heart

for your prayers shall never ascend to the unity of God

if War is in thy heart.

The strength of all our human communities

spread across the sheltering wings of all our nations

is the product of your own personal commitment

to the labor of completing your humanity.

Everything is given to establish you upon the grounds of this truth -

that you are a human being, a creature before your one Creator,

you are a work of Peace - a living work -

established in the life of thy nations

and entrusted to the wisdom

of all thy lineages of honorable religion,

above all to the three great Abrahamic faiths

(Judaism, Christianity, and Islam)

to whom it is especially entrusted by God,

the labor of the Peace of these present times,

and so it is through thy own humanity, starshine,

that you multiply

- through thy constant faith and humility -

the excellence of your citizenship, one with another,

before the LORD and the assembly of the nations in Eternity.

Remember this always

and love the other as yourself.

Be patient, starshine,

and do this without being bitter -

believe constantly in all good things

without despairing of self or of others like thy self

for the darkness is but the darkness

that does not lead to the light.

Give praise and thanks to the LORD,

for God alone provides

and His grace alone is sufficient.

Say to thy heart,

"everything is changing around me, alleluia."

And after the long night,

Beloved of God,

the Day is sure to come -

for thee.

---<--@

Mabuhay ang puso ng ating mga kabataan! God bless the youth of all our nations.

Virtue of Truthfulness

The Longest Night

20101225

The Pain of Remembrance

THERE IS A REQUIREMENT FOR US TO SUCCEED, O my nation. There is an expectation under heaven for our one Republic of the Philippines to emerge from the stagnation of our not knowing. We have in a sense been a nation held in reserve.

Indeed, my fellow Filipino compatriots, our history seems to us wounded but the pain of past things have denied us nothing. All our past travails can not exhaust the virtues of our Republic undertaking. The long memory of our colonial past can take nothing away from the goodness of our people. In fact, these trials only serve to increase our hopes together.

The hopes of our nation is held in trust by our merits. It is not evil that sustains the truth of our belonging together. Let us never forget: We are because there is merit in our people. We are not because there is so much darkness in our midst. Our nationhood is an invincible reality sustained by the nobility of the lineages of our generations. Its inspiration comes from the virtues of all our heroes, least to great, known and known to God alone. So let us forsake all bitterness. We are not because there is so much darkness. It was never about the darkness. For we are not of the darkness. We are because we are a good people and a nation called to the light.

Our sense of national sufficiency draws its certainty from an abiding sense of unity. This unity is sustained by the concentrated strength of our common identity. All nations proceed from this self-cognizant sense of self. It is what gathers all its generations together into one lineage. It is what guards its timeless remembrances from the darkness of all things passing away into the gravity of the oblivion of everything that was not meant to be. The darkness of the void. This darkness dilutes the spirit of our being Filipino. It distracts us from the truth that we are in ourselves one whole sky; that we have a place in the greater scheme of things; that we are a nation distinct but not apart from the one family of the nations of Mankind.

Therefore, O my nation, let us come out of our despairing and begin believing again in ourselves as ourselves. Our nation exists not because there is evil in our midst. These times indeed may be dark. But if we come to a remembrance of ourselves and ascend with the ascent of the truth, the darkness will surely wane and we will find that the skies above our souls is so full of stars. For we are in all our nations as numerous stars spread upon the night sky. Stars that wills to shine all the more brightly in the darkness. Stars that guide together towards that promised dawn.

The pain we feel in our history is not a wound inflicted by the sword of other nations. No nation truly exists for war. The terrible history of our world makes this truth clear. Peace is the craft of all nations. And the season for peace is now. The weight of the last two thousand years (time, times) have fallen upon our poor world. But it is not a burden of judgment. For if it were, would any nation survive? It is a burden of expectation. We have a chance to open the door to a better world. The choice it offers all human hearts is peace (half-a-time). This peace is not an absence of conflict. It is not a surrender to the darkness. This peace is the presence of truth in the heart. It leads to an understanding of the order and purpose of greater things. And our place in the greater scheme of things. This peace is a path that leads away from the darkness of these times. It gives hearts rest. It returns nations to the path of victory.

The pain we feel in our history is a wounding wrought by the sword of our own nation biting against the darkness laying siege to our memory. It is the pain of our coming to terms with the calling of the present times. We should no longer fear this pain. It is not the mark of a defeated people. It is not a cause for despair. Neither is it a reason for hatred. It is the pain of our becoming alive to the memory of our people. Through it we shall come to understand the peace of our belongings with each other. Therefore, we must learn to confront it to find the truth of ourselves again.

We have been as a promise held back and a nation called to the labor of the times. This labor is a labor of peace. War has wounded the life of our nations. The darkness of war has obscured the remembrances of its peoples. Our world is in peril of failing. But there is yet sufficient strength left to overcome the evil of these present times. For this is the favorable season for peace. Our time is now.

The healing of our nations depends on each of us as individuals. But the healing of our poor world depends on the vitality of our nations. We only have to come to complete our own remembrances. We only have to begin from ourselves. It all begins with a choice to forsake war and embrace peace. This peace is the present hope of all nations. It is the path that leads us away from the darkness of the times. It is the key that opens the door into the promises of the new age. This peace is our hope as well.

We have not been a nation held in ignorance. We did not choose to willfully ignore the truth of our nationhood. It was something that was kept for us - by purposes greater than ourselves. We have been as a people asleep. And now we come to the task at hand fresh in spirit, our pain is not a pain of exhaustion. Our sacred remembrances of ourselves were kept for us by the timeless guardian that keeps vigil over our nation. It was never a thing that was lost.

We are a nation preserved by our peace. And so it is by this same virtue that we shall come to terms with our not knowing. We shall come to know peace - the angel we know but do not know. To remind each of us that our history is a reality that is continually won for us by the love that works to gathers us all together. And it leads us all to a destiny that can never be undone by any nation other than ourselves.

We must come to terms with our not knowing. God has remembered for us our hopes. And now we stir for a remembrance of ourselves. Many of our fellow Filipinos have begun to seek for the truth of our nationhood. We have begun to confront the pain of our not knowing. We have begun to awaken to who we truly are. We have begun to find ourselves again...

---<--@

Mabuhay ang Pilipinas! God bless us all.

Merry Christmas!

Peace among the nations.

Good will to all men and women of peace.

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

The Longest Night

The day once forsaken shatters into night -
Light turns into darkness.

And the night can not get much darker.

But the darkness itself
once the light of day is forgotten
and the hearts of the children of Mankind
is overtaken by the emptiness,
amidst the long march of exile time,
can deepen into madness -

Hurling into the gravity of oblivion
the void that once was -
the nations of our needful Mankind.
---<--@


The Rise of Wormwood

20101129

Generation Y

SALUTATIONS OF PEACE

and common goodwill to you,
our precious Starshine.
O precious child, O little lambs!
Think not your life to be uncertain
life is indeed full of uncertainties
but let this not burden your minds
nor make your hearts anxious
for it is not life that is uncertain
it is time that is uncertain
but life is for always.

For the life of man is in the soul,
made in the image and likeness
of our one common Creator,
and the soul of man is spirit
for God is Spirit
and our God is a God of life:
He is for always.

Time is uncertain
because the Truth is veiled
and all of heaven is in mourning.

There is much despair in our world today -
too many people are bitter,
too many people live in fear,
too many people are dying...
without even truly beginning to live.

Too many hearts have been hardened,
too many souls have turned away,
too many minds have become blind...
without even beginning to truly believe.

Too much lies, the language of war,
have twisted the tongue
of our nations.

Too much war, the scourge of life,
has plagued the memory
of our peoples.

Evil has taken a prominent place
in the hearts and minds of many;
like a dark star that rises
Wormwood ascends from sin to sin
in the Sacred Sanctuary of the soul
to eclipse our Eternal Daystar
turning our poor world into midnight
in the inward seasons of the celestial sky.

Every generation of every time and place
must confront the evils of their present time:
this darkness is that evil that we must confront
it is a spiritual darkness, a beast of War,
a reality that prevent the ascendant Peace
and deny respite not only for our suffering peoples
but for our dying world itself.

Our generation and yours
along with those elder generations
still here for us today by the grace of God
has been commissioned by Christ
to arrive in this time and place
to shine and lead the way
out of the darkness of war
and into the new morning from on high;
a new era of peace and renewal
for our planet and her peoples.

Never be ashamed of who you are:
You are a child of this dawning
a vanguard of this twilight awakening
that is the truth that no lie can ever take
this is the fight of your generation
and it is also the fight of mine.

O numberless stars
of our Father Abraham!
Shine for sacred life
and be present for peace.
For if we do not do this
though our actions are but
a tiny drop in the eternal sea
it will yet remain undone -
what will the future of our world be?
What will the succeeding generations
think of us who left for them a desolation?
Are we not all a part of this one world?

Nay, we must do this,

we must stand together.
In our hearts first
and then outward
into the tremendous world
of our common human hopes.

So be brave,
dear Christian soul
and remember,
from always to always,
we belong to our God and to each other:
One whole communion of Saints.

Life is hard indeed
But life is not impossible
nor is life evil.

So never fall into despair.
Because we are Christian,
O little flock, O little lambs,
there is always, always hope
because we are here now:
We are here now
in the Name of Jesus Christ
on behalf of suffering mankind.

Heavy indeed, precious Starshine,
and troublesome are the burdens of this world
but the burdens of this world
are the burdens of this world
they are not our burden
our burden is to love
and love all things well
neither exceeding nor holding back
according to our individual vocations
what promise we have in Jesus Christ.

Our Blessed Lord Himself said,
"the truth shall set us free."
Therefore to accept
Jesus into our hearts
is not a form of slavery
as the world would have us believe
for indeed His burden is light
and His yoke easy.

For who is our Lord but our Life
and this Life is the Light
of the human race.

This Light is Truth unveiled.
It is life endlessly abundant
and joyful complete -
it is heaven rejoicing greatly;
our risen Savior's shining glory.

So when you are in doubt,
O little flock, O little lambs
Just be true to the things that are for always
as God, your inner life, and your baptism,

family, friends, and friendships.

And be of good cheer,
and let our Lord's Peace keep you,
for our Peace is not a parting of ways
as Christians we never say goodbye
save for grievous sin.
We say, "Peace and Godspeed" -
it is my hope and your hope together,
it is our Lord's hope in you and in me;
our gathering together in eternity.

Jesus Christ loves you, O little lambs,
the Immaculate Mother of God loves you,
all the Angels and Saints love you,
all the Holy Souls love you,
all of Holy Mother Church embraces you
with an everlasting love.

Precious Starshine,
the things that really matter in this life
can not be perceived by human eyes
so liberate your minds from
the vanity of external things.
Penetrate deeply into this world
But never let the world master you.

All we have to do to shine
as the countless stars of Father Abraham
is to turn away from the darkness
live in loving repentance
and walk into the one Light
into the welcome arms
of our risen Savior bright.

Build like natives.
Live like pilgrims.
Love like Christians.

This is our time.

---<--@

Mabuhay ang Pilipinas! God bless us all.


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


Allied Generations

20101117

Generation Choice

TO ALL MY PEERS,

Salutations of Christian peace

and common good will
to our Generation X.

It seemed as if it would never come
But now the world awaits
What virtue we shall impart
To the nations of whose hopes
We shall soon inherit.

O my generation!
What distinguishes us
from the past?
Is it the hurt,
Is it the lack,
Is it the want of heroes' fire?
Who are we
and what defines us
as a generation?

We are here.
We are here now.
What shall soon define us
is not our past.
What shall soon define us
is not in the future.
What shall soon define us
in the eyes of heaven and earth
is our being here now
our being here in the moment
our being present for the peace.

O my kindred spirits,
O my generation be aware
of the wide, awakening twilight
of the time, times and a choice
at this void at the threshold
of the third Christian millennium
a space between our common human hopes
for peace and a better world
caught between tears and shadow
and God's infinite ocean of mercy.

The reality of our times exist
between the autumnal dusk of faded Eden,
this midnight world of war,
and the springtime thawing
of the new dawn from on high,
that bright new morning of peace,
before the noontime reign of Christ,
the Splendor of the Truth
and the Sun of Righteousness,
arising here in the wintering of our times
in the glory of God the Father,
the one common Creator of all mankind
on behalf of suffering humanity
and our poor world.

We must begin today
what no other generation can.
We must quicken to truths
that no lie can ever deny.
We must open doors
that lead to new horizons.
And we must shut the gates
so that no one may be left behind.

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

Mabuhay ang Pilipinas! God bless us all.


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


Human Nation