20110131

To the People of Mindanao of the one Republic of the Philippines

Peace, I salute you -

Let me confirm in all of you,
my dear people of Mindanao,
what I know is already instilled
within each of your heart of hearts -

We are a nation, my dear people,

by pain of battle born and bred
but we shall never attain to victory
if we allow war to rule our way.

Believe with conviction of faith
that there is no hope in war.

For in war is division
and the end of community.

In war is the seeds of discord
and the end to all understanding.

In war is the darkness of deception
and the shadow that keep us in confusion.

In war is the despair of dissolution
and the destruction of our every hope.

So let the stirring in our hearts
awaken us unto a sacred remembrance,
at every present and from every past,

that our promise lies in peace.

Let us strive for this peace,

my fellow Filipino compatriots,

let us work for this remembrance

unto those freedoms cherished
unto that prosperity dreamed about
under the waving of that Banner
that Old Defiant -
of this, our one Republic,
our home away from Home.

So raise that Old Defiant -
rally to the calling of peace!

We shall never suffer loss
without our longing for Justice
but Justice which leads into hope
and an understanding of the peace.

Let that longing within each of us

recall our hearts to the promise of peace
my dear people of Mindanao,
let that longing that have for centuries
beckoned to the will of our people
enable us to know once again,
O my one Filipino nation,
O beloved people of Mindanao
of our one Republic of the Philippines,
what it means for us to labor

together this time

as human beings

responsible for each our common humanity,

under the eternal vigilance of the LORD:

Christians, Muslims, Lumads -

building from hope to hope

and from strength to strength
as citizens to each other,

here and now,
O my one Filipino nation,
at this present time,
and into every present time
for all of our generations

for all of time.
---<--@

Mabuhay ang Pilipinas, long may our remembrance serve us!

Cradle

20110119

World Interfaith Harmony Week

On October 20, 2010, the United Nations passed a unanimous resolution to establish a World Interfaith Harmony Week on the first week of every February.

This initiative is being spearheaded by H. M. King Abdullah of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan to whom we should give proper regard for this very praiseworthy undertaking. Therefore, may God bless him and his family for opening for us and for all nations this vital opportunity and may peace be unto the people of Jordan.

This initiative, my fellow Filipino compatriots, if we so choose to willingly undertake and adopt as an official part of our national commemorations shall benefit us greatly.

Because peace is our common salutation: All Christians, Jews and Muslims universally bless each other with it.

Why then is the world so resistant to this truth?

To even begin to comprehend the richness of the spiritual heritage of our three, great Abrahamic faiths of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, we must first work to overcome the inertia of the last 2000 years.

We must begin to break down the barriers of ignorance and misconceptions that have for so long fed into those vicious cycles of violence that have set us apart and have denied for our world the promise that the LORD, our God, has intended through our Father Abraham - that we shall in His own time be as the numerous stars, a blessing to all the communities of Mankind.

Indeed, if we are to begin to comprehend the beauty of this promise of old and to finally come to an understanding of the true extent by which God in His graces have established - for our own good sake's - from the beginning of time, for all our nations, a singular path of brotherhood, we must first learn to take into ourselves the spirit of the new age.

And we must do this with much prayer and effort - together this time.

The paradigm of the last age was one of war. Understanding this paradigm of war is important for us, my fellow Filipino compatriots, because it allows us to begin to penetrate the darkness of war and perceive the unseen presence of the beast (spirit) of war.

First of all, it is vital we understand we are entering into an age of thought.

Now, the substance of thought is spirit. This spirit is the force of all truth and this force of truth gives form to all visible things and is comprehended by the soul of Man in terms of meaning not of words. It seeks to fulfill all things in the truth of God Who is Himself Spirit.

The beast of war is the opposite of this. It is a spirit that denies the power of truth. It seeks to corrupt the soul of Man and destroy the meaningfulness of all created things. It seeks to undo the purpose and the order of God in all creation.

This beast of war is ancient. It was cast out of heaven by the holy angels of God by the power of God. It first entered upon the earth at the time Cain killed his brother Abel, when man was first killed by the hand of another man.

Since days of old, this beast of war has fed upon the sufferings of countless innocents. The soil of our earth is soaked in their blood.

But the hope of the innocents cry out to God against war, "this beast is not sustained by virtue of our lives for we are those who lived for peace."

To all the nations of Mankind, they testify, "our blood is shed not to propagate this suffering but as a witness against the deception of war. For war is sustained by its own injustices."

"It has spread to sow the seeds of division upon the ends of the earth. It has shattered the reign of many of the lineages of the kings and rulers of old. It has brought forth the ruin of many nations."

"Upon its deadly wake, Man labor only in bitterness and despair."

Indeed, the last 2000 years have seen the beast of war inflict abomination after abomination upon all the peoples of the world. The last century is a century of genocide.

Now this beast threatens the very purpose and order of the nations of Mankind. For the nations of Man contend against war. But Man was never meant by God to contend against this beast.

Therefore, we must learn to understand the ways of peace and peace as a paradigm.

To do this, we must learn how to think as a nation. This is very important for us to understand, O my nation, because it will provide us with the strength and the solidity necessary to overcome the enormous momentum of the last great age of war.

There is a purpose and an order to our labors upon the earth: (1) The building up of the (unknown) earth (into the inhabited earth) and (2) the preservation of the dignity and promise of the children of Man.

The building up of the (inhabited) earth is a labor commanded by God of all the generations of the children of Man. This building is the purpose of the nations of Mankind. Because the (inhabited) earth may only be built by the labor of Nations. No man lives or dies for self alone.

Now, humanity is created by God to prosper the life of all visible creation. To the keeping of Mankind is entrusted the stewardship of the Sacred Life of all the visible universe entire. (Indeed, the void of the universe have become hostile to all of life itself only because of the shattering brought upon by the outset of war and exile time.)

Sacred Life being all plant and animal life, above all human life, each human being is particularly entrusted to the keeping of every other human being.

Each of us is singular, each of us is near infinite potential and all of us are arrayed from least to greatest according to the freedom of our gifts.

Our nations are so structured and established so as to maintain this design and in so doing to preserve the life of our common humanity and safeguard the order of our generations arrayed according to each their own times and seasons.

For the preservation of the dignity and promise of the children of Man as a reflection of the image and likeness of God in every individual human being is a labor that is likewise commanded by God of all the nations of Mankind.

Towards this purpose and order is established and ordained the brotherhood of the nations of Mankind so that by whatever name every present generation receives the unmistakable call of their original nationhood, this purpose and this order makes it forever meaningful and binding to the souls of all its citizens. For every nationhood is a work (of the heart). It is where it works. It is where it unfolds in time.

All true nationhood is a gift; an unmistakable sign of a divine endowment.

Therefore, true nationhood is not a thing that can be crafted by human hands. It is a reality that may only be granted by God alone. True nationhood is something that the children of Man seeks to obtain from the LORD not because Man is Man but because the LORD is God and He alone is God.

It is spirit and therefore, must always be sought from deep within the individual human heart.

It is timeless and therefore, encompasses all the generations of our people to the very last of our generations.

It is a promise won for Man by the immovable justice of God; a reflection of His great mercy to the children of Man, now fallen into exile.

It is a destiny perfected in the likeness of His love; a revelation of the fullness of His compassion to all creatures, great and small.

These are first principles of nationhood: It is spirit. It is timeless. It is endowed by God with both a purpose and an order. It is both a promise and a destiny.

The nation is the foundation of all human civilization. To begin to understand it as we ought, we must first come to accept it as it is - a particular living creation with us.

The nation is the people. To be more precise, a nation is a people under God; a community bound together in freedom by a spirit entrusted to a particular people of God.

This spirit is a particular angel of the LORD; a guardian of the people.

Therefore, when taken as a whole, the nation in each our minds and our hearts must always be more than what the present reveals.

It is what establishes us forever in the peace of our belongings to each other. It is light to drive away the darkness of an unknown earth; a sword to stay the beast (spirit) of war and a shield to preserve the Sacred Life of the people.

It is a keeper of our past, a guardian of our present, and a steward of our future. It is what keeps us faithful to to the original truth of our founding and the singular source of our common identity as Filipinos.

It is the invincible guardian of all our sacred remembrances, embracing all our generations into one lineage of hope.

It is an unseen reality that surrounds us and penetrates us. It binds all our hearts together into one particular love - the love of Country - the love of each other in God.

When we seek the truth of our belongings to each other, we are likewise sought by the nation in and around ourselves. When we begin to awaken to the reality of our being Filipino, we awaken to the truth of ourselves as ourselves as we begin to encounter the reality of our nationhood.

We know we are Filipino because our nation knows us - equally, individually, each by our own true names written in heaven. When we affirm it in ourselves that we are Filipino, our nation knows that we have come to finally awaken to a knowledge of our citizenship and that we have come to ally ourselves to the love that is the timeless keeper of the common patrimony of our people.

It is what binds all our lives and our fortunes together as one people, one work, one destiny.

For who is a Filipino but this love in the heart?

To seek the peace is to seek the truth of this love. And to understand that this love is not (and never was) beholden to division.

For this love is indeed present in the races but cannot be confined to a mere color of skin, sound of name, or slant of tongue.

It is a love that is, above all, allied to All that is bound by the freedom of the sons and daughters of the LORD, our God; the light in all His living lights.

We can never take this for granted.

This peace must be something that is constantly sought. For this peace is not the way of this world. Left to itself, our world as we know it will eventually spiral down the gravity of the void. Everything in this world, whether upon the earth or in the heavens above the earth, is destined for destruction.

Indeed, it is an imperfect peace. But it is the perfect acceptance of this imperfect peace that allow our nations to walk in constant humility before the LORD, our God, Who alone brings victory to our peace. Our common sufficiency as nations - indeed, as one family of nations - rely on our free and willing submission to this truth.

Indeed, these days, peace, like love, is oftentimes a word that is emptied out of its meaning. A lot of people know how to say it. But not a lot of people know what it really means.

Some people think peace is the cessation of conflict. But that is not so. For the peace we speak of here is a commitment to the truth in the presence of conflict.

Some people think peace is the side that sits opposite of war. But that is not so. For the peace we speak of here is the overcoming of this very mindset of division.

It is something that must be obtained from God.

It is a free and willing choice made by the individual.

It is an absolute and irrevocable commitment to eternity, virtue, humanity and universality.

Now, the first of these World Interfaith Harmony Weeks is set to begin on the first week of February of this year, my fellow Filipino compatriots.

It is my hope that we may begin to receive this initiative with much enthusiasm and faith this year that we may begin that month with the most advantageous attitude of heart.

Because February of this year is going to be a busy month indeed.

We are, as a Republic undertaking of Country, going to become decidedly, fully engaged in the restructuring of our national psyche - towards the peace, and the peace that prospers.

No man is an island,

no man lives for self alone -

we live for but a moment,

we labor for just a day -

we are here only for a time

then everything passes us away.

---<--@

Mabuhay ang Pilipinas! God bless us all.

The Three Elements of Country

Service, Synergy and Sovereignty

20110118

I went to church in Quiapo and found more of myself again - the real me.

I went for a stroll with my mom and my aunt around Quiapo and I loved every moment of it.







Manila - you are such a beautiful city, a community of peace, a city of common dreams!



Underneath all that grime, away from all the noise, and far apart from all that is not you - in that moment - I have seen you, beautiful city, and have come to know the real you.

And so I thank the LORD, our God, for this rare glimpse of you, I thank God for this wonder, this certain grace, this subtle sense of knowing, this hint, this wondrous hint - that after all our troubles, after all that war - you were never lost to us, Manila - because you have always been there for all of us to find once again.



I love you Lord Jesus - thank you so much. Mabuhay ang Hesus Nazareno!
---<--@

Mabuhay ang Pilipinas! God bless us all.

20110103

2011



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

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

God has remembered us, O my nation!

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

It all begins here in the You and I.

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

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

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

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



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

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

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

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

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

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

The Question -

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

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

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

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

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

There was silence:

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

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

Towards the morn, O ye nations,
towards that awakening dawn!
Towards the peace, O ye peoples,
towards the twilight of the new!
Towards the LORD, O ye numberless stars,
towards that promise made of old!
Towards the Light, all ye living lights
away from the darkness,
where all our roads,
lead back to you, Jerusalem.

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

Mabuhay ang Pilipinas! God bless us all.


Revelation 12: 7-9

Salutation to the Holy Angels

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

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

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

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

AMEN.

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

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

20101222

Order of Chaplains, Abrahamic

The information revolution as signified by the revolution in military affairs (RMA) at the advent of the information age is clearly and primarily a moral evolution.

To be sure, this information revolution is a planetary phenomenon the effects of which have only been becoming more and more tangibly felt across all the nations of the world as a whole.

Many things may be said about it, so many in fact that it is often difficult to know where to begin to understand its longer term effects.

However, its surest foundation, it may now be affirmed, especially in the universal profession of arms, must only be found in every human heart - the primordial domain of the human spirit.

Therefore, the necessary evolution of our AFP into a 21st Century force must also include, along with the Human Rights Office (HRO), its Chaplain Corps.

That there must be those lingering divisions and present confusion at the heart of the military Chaplaincy in general is in itself a sign of the times.

Because it is precisely this darkness in the soul itself that must first be confronted and overcome to set its will of faith against the greater darkness that plagues the human spirit in general and the noble military in specific.

And we shall do this, my fellow Filipino compatriots - together this time.

Toward this end is conceived the Order of Chaplains, Abrahamic:

The one Chaplaincy

The military Chaplain is a servant of God
and a dedicated instrument of the one Peace of God.

He does not bear arms against men
nor does he exists to fight against the nations of men.

He is an extension of the good will of all nations
and a constant reminder of our desire for better days.

He is faithful to the cause of the noble military
being jealous in the observance of honor and purity of arms.

He is a keeper of our sacred remembrances
lending noble strength to the martial practice of virtue.

He is a shepherd of the souls of our soldiers
and represents amidst conflicts our abiding hope for peace.

He labors to instill in every heart, a will of life,
and gives recourse to sorrow when life itself seems lost.

He brings comfort when despair seem to linger near
consoling spirits by his gentle sense of optimism and joy.

He is patient to understand each need to be understood
and leads the anxious heart toward greater trust in greater things.

He brings the light of God when darkness is deepest
and speaks the necessary truth when and where truth counts.

He provides for the spiritual needs of the soldier
and the Sacraments (Catholic) that strengthen them in the grace of God.

He counsels the doubtful, the confused he guides into reason, he instructs the ignorant in the truth and the lost he helps to be found by faith in God.

He prays for the safety of the person of the soldier at all times, in times of peace but especially in fields of battle, entrusting to God and Country, the victory of our noble military.
---<--@

Mabuhay ang Pilipinas! God bless us all.

Christmas Greetings!

Peace among the nations.

Good will to all men and women of peace.

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




Jus Cogens: The Four Faithful Causes

20101221

The President's decisive intervention on behalf of the Morong 43 have paved the way for their eventual release.

I appreciate that the workings of our democracy, imperfect though it may be, and the present executive will embodied by PNoy, being solicitous for each their personal rights, have produced for them the freedom many of us have hoped for.

Thank you so much, Mr. President. That they will be home with their families this Christmas is indeed in keeping with the spirit of the season which is peace and reconciliation.

The Morong 43 were apprehended on suspicion of complicity or active participation in the NPA. Those suspicions, I now hope, shall remain suspicions that, if they are truly unfounded, in time will eventually dissipate from the national memory.

Truth will out, our liberty permits.

Because, my fellow Filipino compatriots, if there is anything that we may all stand to learn from this somewhat confusing and untoward incident is that our democracy, fragile and imperfect as it is, is something worth loving and keeping and fighting for.

Truth will out, our liberty permits: Our democracy works and the timely and judicious release of the Morong 43 illustrates this point.

And they say, my fellow Filipino compatriots, that we're a "flawed democracy". No, we are a young Republic - and time is on our side. We will gain maturity and strength if we ascend with the ascent of time towards God and Country; towards the wholeness of truth that we are but one nation, one lineage of hope, 7,107 islands strong; towards the unity of peace and national destiny.

Towards this end, all Filipinos of every generation have but one common purpose. Towards this end of a vibrant, free and flourishing Republic, that awesome vision of a meaningful and lasting peace between all Filipinos among our one nation have its strongest foundation.

What oppresses us is division; what prevents us from obtaining from the LORD, our God, the peace that prospers is the War that we keep in our hearts - against our common humanity with each other. This War did not find a place in heaven, it most certainly must not find a place in the Filipino heart - of one accord, O my nation, must we learn to love with one love alone.

Our unity is an aspect of our liberty as a nation distinct but not apart from the one family of the nations of Mankind; it is part of the intrinsic strength of our democracy. Clearly, it is from a dearth of good will and liberty that we begin understand what it takes to be free. Because to understand our freedom, we must learn to endure its demands...

Today is AFP Day.

Sometimes, when dark and overcast days persist, we must learn to trust that the stars are out there, spread above us, upon the heavens, in the sky - because they are.

It is easy to get lost in this midnight darkness if we have nothing to steer a course in and through this exile time with - but we do.

Because as a nation, we are in ourselves, one whole sky.

Today we remember the vital importance of strengthening our AFP institution.

Our AFP recently established a Human Rights Office (HRO) as part of the HQ Staff of the AFP Chief of Staff. This Office shall oversee the operational conduct of all our soldiers across all three services down to battalion level to ensure ethical standards are met.

This is a milestone in Philippine military history.

Today we remember also the Samar 10 and the person of the soldier.

"Kawal" is a Filipino word for soldier. Our native tongue does not make the usual distinctions between soldier, sailor, airman, or marine. It particularly refers to the land force upon and around which the total force is built. But in a sense, "kawal" also applies to the total force.

It is in this universal spirit that I use the word soldier - "kawal" - or to be more specific, the person of the soldier.

The person of the soldier is the Soul of Army; souls

endowed by the Almighty with the heart that possesses the will that redeem time and again, in the sight of God, Angels and Men, the intrinsic honor and inherent nobility of the universal profession of arms.

The will of the fight is to win. For no one fights for the sake of fighting alone. But a person who hates and fights for what he hates soon forgets the will of the fight. Because what you love and what you must fight for in this world are always one and the same thing.

A citizen who knows in his heart and in his mind what he loves, who is willing to fight for what he loves, and has the means to fight for what he loves - that is a soldier.

Soldiers always fight to win.

THE LAST FADING AWAY

O Soul of Army!
Defender of our Peace -
when in battle we weep
for those whose time has come
weep not because of anguish,
our tears are meant not for grief.

Cry not because they have fallen,
those sons and daughters of Country;
valorous souls who gave to us their utmost
and have bled their everlasting witness
to the universal mission of the eternal Army
from which all honorable armed professions
draw their great lineages of victory
Here, at the last fading away -
the quest for that one final sacrifice
the very last soldier to fall

before the breaking of the Day
in the name of Peace and for Sacred Life
in a relentless war that have lasted
from the dawn of Our exile time.

O Soldier of the Peace!
Noble Defender of Country -
You are life preserving life itself
for what is Country but a work of life.
Know you not why you respond
when duty calls you to battle?
Vague at times may your reasons be
especially amidst the desolation of war
and the darkness of war's attendant evils
but forget not what you love
and love shall forget not why you live
and none shall forget you if you shall fall
for in thy Country is thy longevity
Life itself shall be your resting place
and God will forever remember you
His Peace shall forever honor you
for the time you have given others -
more time for building,
more time for sowing,
more time for loving,
more time for hoping,
for kinder days to come.

O when shall the wounding stop
and the healing begin!
O beloved Soul of Army -
when is our last fading away?

Until mankind learns
to be better builders in peace
more than wanton destroyers in war;
until humanity learns
to value Sacred Life
than to seek those paths of death
Heaven and earth shall weep
with thee, O Soul of Army,
but never for those whose time has come
for the lost are never lost
so we must seek them not in vain.
Seek not our fallen with the dead
for life is life and death is death
so let the dead bury the dead!
Let us look for those who are triumphant
not with the defeated enemies of the Peace
but with the living as well as the everliving
for God Himself has declared Peace is over War.

It is for the oppressors of Country
and the enemy of Peace and Sacred Life
for whom the bell tolls
as we sing the songs of our fallen heroes
and their potent remembrance stir
in the hearts of those who yet believe
in the victory of the eternal Army
and in the timeless vision of God
to bring to bear in the name of All that is life
the final wrath that is to come
and bring to pass
Our last fading away;
that one final hymn of taps
at the joyful dawn of the Everlasting Peace
and the breaking of this midnight world.

So cry not because of the passing away
weep for loneliness but never for sorrow
for life is life and death is death.
Let us save most of our tears for those
who yet stubbornly cling to the lie
and believe in the heart in everything that is false
giving rise to all things that inflict evil to our poor world
and bring war and death to our suffering humanity.

For it is always for the reprobate that the bell tolls
to remind to those who sow in war what they shall reap.
---<--@

Mabuhay ang Pilipinas! God bless us all.

Christmas Greetings!

Peace among the nations.

Good will to all men and women of peace.

Remembrance: The Ages of Country

20101201

Kindred Spirits

They say, my fellow Filipino compatriots, that blood is thicker than water. But what they say these days is not complete. The truth has become obscured in the darkness. Because while it is true that blood is thicker than water, water runs deeper than blood.

When we were born, for the first few months of our lives, we were - each of us - citizens of all creation, seen as well as unseen. Of this same truth is established the bonds of nations, water bonds that run deeper than blood ties. For we were when we were yet too young to remember, we were each a citizen of all nations.

In the haste and the confusion of daily living, water bonds become quite easy to forget. Indeed, they take an amount of effort and grace to constantly remember.

But it is essential to the practice of peace and good will to bear these greater citizenships always in mind and heart. For these are the bonds awaken us to the reality of the greater good; these are the relationships that quicken our souls to the willing service and care of the good of others more than ourselves.

For as human beings, we all belong to the All of creation, seen and unseen, through bonds of Sacred Life and as Christians, these water bonds are further fortified by our common baptism in the LORD, our God - the one, living God of all the living.

Blood and Water

---<--@

Life and Time

When times become uncertain, as these times are, we must always bear in mind: Time has an arrow because life has an order and a purpose.

So when we observe the Sabbath, in the day of our public worship, let our minds and our hearts be constantly mindful: Life belongs to God, time belongs to Man. Life is sacred and time exists for Sacred Life.

The Arrow of Time

---<--@

Mabuhay ang Pilipinas! God bless us all.

20101130

Captain of the Common People

Today is Bonifacio Day.

Andres Bonifacio, my fellow Filipino compatriots, is a captain of the common people. And why is it worth remembering his legacy?

It is a well known fact that we are a patient people. But this patience is tempered by a daring that is jealous in its aspiration. For we are a people meant by the LORD, our God, for freedom and self-determination; a nation distinct but not apart from the one family of the nations of Mankind.

Indeed, this truth is written in the soul of every Filipino for all Filipinos instinctively know and understand that this freedom is our eternal right.

Therefore, as a nation, we know the limits of our patience. And this is so because bravery too is a virtue that is not lacking in our people.

This is a characteristic trait we often take for granted.

There is a tension that exists between our patience and our bravery, our hope and our daring, that continually calls us to our national destiny; a tension that we may only understand through our connections with our past, the shape of our present, and the purpose of our future.

As a matter of fact, we sometimes take this to excess and inflict against ourselves the zeal that is meant for our real enemies.

We can observe this in the narrative of our history. We can especially observe this in the life of Andres Bonifacio.

For as long as we have not yet in time matured in our ages as an undertaking of Country there must exist this tension in our lives and this tension is one that is meant for us to understand but only in the greater context of the order and the purpose of our generations; for this tension is a tension of justice.

Indeed, our hopes for a better Philippines is one that is justified under God - the Filipino dream, my fellow Filipino compatriots, is not a false dream neither is our dreaming dead: We know this to be true - we are a good people and meant for better things, much better things.

In fact, there is a requirement under heaven for this nation to succeed, we just need some time to remember ourselves as ourselves again. For only the Filipino can love and prosper the peace of this one Republic of the Filipino people - verily, no other nation can do this work for us.

So if in Jose Rizal is our national hope, then in Andres Bonifacio is our patriotic daring.

But in particular, to remember Kuya Andres is to remember the common people; that in a Republic such as ours, we are all - young or old, man or woman, rich or poor - but particularly those of us who are working our way to the middle classes - the common people; and that we must be ever brave and vigilant for each other.

After all, we are all but one work, one people, one destiny - mabuhay!

Prosper the Peace. Prosper the People.

Morong 43

In the same spirit of November 30, I must also take this opportunity to call on our President to reconsider the case of the Morong 43 and look upon their plight with as much equanimity and compassion as he did with the Magdalo soldiers whose reintegration to the life of our nation I also support.

Wouldn't it be really nice to see the Morong 43 enjoy this Christmas in freedom and with their families as well?

Yes, it would.

---<--@

Mabuhay ang Pilipinas! God bless us all.

Nearness

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

20101124

The Pontiff of Love

My Holy Father Benedict XVI recently acknowledged that the use of condoms is permissible in some instances to prevent the spread of HIV; a statement widely regarded as a step forward.

Pope Paul VI in the encyclical Humanae Vitae (14) acknowledged that it is sometimes lawful to tolerate a lesser moral evil in order to avoid a greater evil or to promote a greater good. It is in this context and only in this context that the statement should be viewed in my opinion.

Indeed, my fellow Filipino compatriots, the debate thickens. A lot of people are eager to make progress in this issue but one thing it is not - simple.

Now, if we can all agree on that, that the issue of contraception, sexually transmissible diseases, and population control is not simple, may I also propose to you, in fact, that stepping forward might be the last thing we need right now.

Perhaps, what we need to do is to step out of the issue and try to perceive it from a vantage point that allows us to grasp at the enormity of the question at hand and understand that there will be no easy answers.

Now, the world-at-large may say many things about the Pope but in my eyes, Holy Father Benedict XVI is the Pontiff of Love.

He is for my Holy Mother Church and for all people of good will, the right person at the right time - our time, my fellow Filipino compatriots. And let me tell you why -

His first encyclical, Deus Caritas Est (God is Love), is an exposition of God being Love Itself and Love which is intimately involved in the life of our humanity and that this Love is consummated in Christ; that this God is not someone or something that dwells from across vast open distances of space and time for God is found nearer to Man than we can ever possibly imagine; that Man need not look outward to find Him but only inward into the soul of his being where from the Sanctuary of the Heart, the LORD dwells to fill the universe entire with Light.

For if Love is not present in the heart of Man, God shall nowhere be found in the galaxy or in the universe entire.

This Love is also synonymous with Goodness, Beauty, and Simplicity.

All of this means to say to me that the Holy Father draws from those first principle truths, an understanding of the sheer complexities of human living, and seeks to proceed from it to arrive also at answers to the problems that trouble our age - and there are many.

I can only imagine the angst of the Holy Father - we must continue to always pray for him.

Because when one dwells upon the magnificence of God as Goodness; of God as Love and Beauty Itself, one becomes necessarily confronted with the mystery of evil and the human condition.

Consequently, one arrives at the virtue of Hope which is the subject of his second encyclical - Spe Salve (Salvific Hope). His apostolic exhoration Sacramentum Caritatis (Sacrament of Charity) means to strengthen and renew the Church in the Sacrament of Love, the Eucharist, and his latest encyclical, Caritas in Veritate (Love in Truth) is one that proceeds to courageously address and engage the nascent problems of our age.

Truly, Holy Father Benedict XVI is the Pontiff of Love.

What he says and does I take seriously for he is with us, brothers and sisters, so let us banish the thought, first of all, that the Pope is in any way or form against any of us who are seeking for intelligent answers to this debate. What can be derived from all of this confusion is that we must indeed proceed with caution for this question of the RH Bill concerns the highest of causes - that of Sacred Life - the Cause of God.

Hence, we must be more eager to step out of the issue than to move forward and not misplace our zeal for progress in the fight for the betterment of our nation.

I also completely understand that it means a lot to our Filipino nation, being a majority Catholic nation, to meaningfully understand what confronts us here - on a moral level, viewed from the heart of Mother Church. And so I am particularly engaged in the striving for answers with you, my fellow Filipino compatriots, both as a citizen and a Roman Catholic Christian.

Let me begin this with the culture of death that pervades the times. For this culture of death is the universal background against which the problems of contraception, sexually transmissible diseases, and population control (among other evils) merge together to confront our collective moral understanding as a people.

It would do us well in the interim to try to get a better understanding of what the culture of death presents to us not in terms of what it promises to our eyes but of what it does not and can not promise to our generations; that our conviction for a culture of life may become more and more deeply and profoundly established.

Concerning the RH Bill in particular, this culture of death shall be the next topic of discussion in this blog.

Truly, we have to individually reflect and pray about what decision to make in the forums of the Republic before our Congress acts on the RH Bill next year.

In the meantime, my fellow Filipino compatriots, even as we reflect and pray, let us temper the public debate with much patience, nobility, and reason, knowing in the end to place our greater trust in the greater purposes of greater things.

---<--@

Mabuhay ang Pilipinas! God bless us all.

Hope Taking Wing

20101123

Pathology of a Tyranny

Today, the whole nation commemorates the Maguindanao Massacre.

Exactly one year ago, 58 of our fellow Filipino compatriots, including 32 journalists, were ruthlessly murdered in a great and astonishing crime that shocked the nation and sent ripples around the world.

What was shocking about these murders is the sheer audacity by which it was carried out. It was committed with an air of impunity and brutality that was so great as to be astonishing.

It stands out singularly and distinctively as an evil fruit of an evil tree.

No evil of this magnitude suddenly appears without first being allowed to maturate, my fellow Filipino compatriots, the Maguindanao Massacre was not an accident.

Tyranny takes many mature forms but are born of one beginning; the people has to allow it. For without our permission, in principle, no tyranny will ever reach its most absurd heights.

This was allowed to happen, the evil tree was allowed to bear evil fruit.

In times of peace, in a Republic such as ours, it would have been more difficult for a tyranny of any shape to evolve into a form that threatens the freedom and order of our civil society.

But these are defining times, my fellow Filipino compatriots - we are still in a twilight shadow for a decision looms over the threshold of our hearts - a choice for a meaningful, sustainable, durable peace toward a better, more vital Republic of the Philippines.

It is the common work of tyrants whether temporal or spiritual to deny us our ability to benefit from our human freedom.

Indeed, how can we consider ourselves free if there is an area of our life that is ruled by fear and ignorance? How much do we know of ourselves? How much do we know of our fellow Filipinos?

Differences and divisions are only fearsome if we allow ourselves to be ruled by it. Our Country is wracked by these divisions and nowhere are the wounds of our nation more evident than in our beloved Mindanao: As one of the three stars of our Old Defiant, she deserves to shine no less brightly than the first two.

Therefore, we should let our remembrances today stir our hearts and spur our minds onward, God-willing, toward a better understanding of ourselves as a people - that we are one people; a nation established by God; a nation distinct but not apart from the one family of the nations of Mankind.

We deserve better, my fellow Filipino compatriots, and because we do, the work is ours today to make it so - the work of Country: We are a Republic because peace is the will of the LORD for us, the peace that prospers.

No power on earth can ever bring back the victims of the Maguindanao Massacre. But we can dignify their passing by a celebration of their lives, their hopes, undimmed and unforgotten, now joined to the hopes of all our heroes and martyrs for a better, more vital Philippines for all Filipinos.

We shall grieve with the loneliness of those who have lost their loved ones but not with tears of bitterness shall we weep today, my fellow Filipino compatriots.

For we shall bear with each other the pain of their remembrance, O my nation, and make it our own and we shall see this season of sorrow pass away into new seasons of life together this time.

Truly, it flies in the face of the Republic, here in this day and age, to have such an evil hovering over the hopes of our compatriots -

It not only requires but demands justice:

Justice delayed is justice denied!

The later it takes to bring the cause of justice completely to bear upon this great an evil, the more potent its spirit shall in time become to haunt our generations over again.

Televise the trial for the benefit and the healing of the nation.

Indeed, let us also always remember not to punish the innocent with the guilty. In the pursuit of justice, we must never repay evil with more evil.

May our remembrance of that fateful day be both blessed and meaningful.

And let us all continue to pray for justice and for peace.

---<--@

Mabuhay ang Pilipinas! God bless us all.

Salutation #3

(Darkness)

TO THE NUMBERLESS LIGHTS
of our kindred belonging,
greetings of sincere hope
and good will -
my love and prayers:

There is evil in our days,
as it was in those days of old.

Evil where it is allowed to endure
into every present time
to stand against the line
established in the Now of the moment
is an enemy that is never meant
to defeat the will of the good.

For the arrangement of all past things
in every person's life
like a romance between human choice
and the serendipity of God's grace
is always intended in such a way
by the beneficence of Divine Providence
so as to culminate into every present time
which is always sufficient in its own Day
with regards to the particular evils
that each and every individual soul
must in each their own time and place
learn to recognize and vanquish
by and through the grace of our LORD
in and with the support of our human communities,
civic and religious, national and international,
that exist for our benefit

- in exile time -

to safeguard and foster our common good.

Should there be evil in our day,
even if the past had a large part to play
in its appearance in our present time,
indeed, it should not be here to give us reason
to conveniently dwell on the darkness of past things.

Where evil is allowed to endure
into the present reality
of souls and communities of souls,
it is so that we may learn in our own lives
how to effectively close the doors of past things.

Believe that evil endures
not to defeat the human being
but to allow him or her the opportunity
to recreate in every present moment
in God and with each other,
the beginnings of better, brighter and nobler things.

Peace.
---<--@

Darkness is but darkness that does not lead to the light.

---<--@

I hope that Tilapia roast they had over at Maguindanao makes it into the record books! Salaam: Peace be to all of you from all of us.

Eye of the Heart