Dreams

We live in our dreams,
dreaming of a better world,
and then we grow up...

Why must our dreams die
because the awakening
is painful, my friend?

Dreams grow up
to be born.
---<--@

Mrow

Sometimes my Miyang
lights me up, for no reason -
she gives me good cheer!

When my Anne's near,
I can almost see her face,
our souls overlap...

And we dance,
till I smile.
---<--@

The difference between my Miyang and all the other lights of my life like Blessed Jacinta Marto is that ours is an informal relationship - I can be informal with my Anne in a way I can not be with all my other, more recognized spiritual friends.

Why?

Death is consequence;
a rule laid down by heaven
as a remembrance.

Death is not a choice,
nobody chooses to die,
why must the unborn?

What is your
consequence?
---<--@

Grass

There once was a man
whose possessions possessed him,
amassing great wealth.

On the day he died,
his possessions died with him,
withering like grass.

Forget not
why we live.
---<--@

Sun

That day in summer,

I spent with you in my heart;

an endless wonder.

You inspire the soul,

by the beauty of your song;

the sweetness of it.

Turning nights

into day.

---<--@

Don't

Do not mess, I say,
with the life of the married,
in thought, word and act.

Do not harm, I say,
the love that make true their vows,
through lie or scandal.

Discipline
your desires.
---<--@

Sky

Faith is like the sky
blue in the day, gone at night,
but is it really?

The world is fickle,
everthing here is fleeting,
day or night, be true.

Faith sees less
to see more.
---<--@

Cats

Cats are like colors
each, the flavor of ice cream
no two are the same...

We have calicos,
caramels, cookies and creams,
orange-marmalades,

vanilla,
chocolate...
---<--@

Justice

Justice is virtue
that restores all unto All:
peace unto all things.

It is not vengeful,
neither envious nor boastful -
it shows love for love -

but evil
it abhors.
---<--@

Renewal

The past must be shed...

yea, till my hope breaks me free!

The pain reminds me.

Must bleed till I'm bled.

Till the enemy is dead.

And my soul is free.

Penance is

renewal.

---<--@

Julie

Beautiful, fragile,

our matinee angel true...

I remember you.

For a brief moment

you shone - all to brief, it seems...

now you shine for God.

Peace be with

you, Julie.

---<--@

Julie Vega (19680521 - 19850506) - via con Dios.

Taken too young, now young forever.

Despair

Despair is a wall.

Limits for the limitless...

O what bitterness!

Dreadful is that place

from prisons within the self

where the darkness dwells.

God save us

from despair.

---<--@

Eye Stripe

Eye stripe, eye stripe, me

cute is the cat who has thee -

eye stripe, eye stripe, see!

Some cats have it - and -

some cats don't. But those who do...

they like to flaunt it.

Got eye stripe?

Go wear it.

---<--@

Maggie Jean, you cat...

I once met a girl named Maggie Jean.

I thought she was Irish but she was Jewish.

I thought she was tame but she's rather wild.

I thought she was nerdy but she was hot.

I thought she didn't like me but she gave me a shot.

She tried to understand me but I was so full of self-doubt.

We went out to Quizno's and I really bombed out.

She asked me to the movies one night to see the LXG...

Now I have a rain-check that

I can't check out.

I once met a girl named Maggie Jean...

liked her so much I was afraid to take a chance

now she's with somebody else.

Mazel tov, you cat - peace!

---<--@

Ridiculous

Laugh, love is not proud -

be silly - ridiculous!

Love is just being...

Just be yourself.

Be silly - ridiculous!

Laughter is the cure.

If love can't

laugh, it ain't.

---<--@

My Anne

I love my Anne -

how much? I don't really know.

I just do, that's all.

My Anne loves me -

how much? I don't really know.

She just does, that's all.

Love happens.

When it does.

---<--@

Anne Frank: in hell?

Is Anne in hell?

It depends who you shall ask.

Some say this, some that.

Her friends will say, "no".

Her foes will say, "it's not so".

Strangers, "I don't know".

Ask yourself,

"who are you?"

---<--@

About this article:

I resent the sweeping generalization leveled on the Christian religion in the above article by R. Smith Blacktown.

But to tell you the truth, I welcome it and I even thank R. Smith Blacktown for writing it.

To me, that article reveals a very human longing; a seeking for God.

Notwithstanding the apparent bitter frustration in the author's pleading, the above article presupposes the reality of God and in particular, God as revealed in the Christian tradition.

It's really a cry for justice addressed to Christians in specific: Do we serve an unjust God?

As a practicing Roman Catholic Christian, I will take this opportunity to meaningfully respond to this article.

The tone of the article indicates to me a sense of desperation.

There is something hurting in there and it hurts for the souls of our good men and women: Have people like my Anne, Gandhi, Abraham Lincoln, Albert Einstein, etc. gone to hell?

Have the lives of our innocents and all these contributors to the nobility and the culture of our common humanity been all lived in vain?

They say that atheism is becoming rampant in our days and this is true. Articles like these are springboards into atheistic thinking or into new age syncretism.

But as we can gather from this article, atheism or any non-traditional form of religiosity is not a reaction to the reality of God. They all presuppose the Divine Reality.

They are all, in my opinion, indications of an unconventional willingness in the soul to encounter the conventional reality of God.

Rather, all of these are radical reactions to the unreality of religion. Religion which is the conventional response to the conventional reality of God.

This is why I am of the conviction that the New Evangelization of our times must begin from within my own Mother Church and from within blessed Christendom first.

As a Roman Catholic Christian, my religious training forbids my faith to fall into a state of despair - of my own salvation or the salvation of others be they Christian or non-Christian.

Because Catholic Tradition teaches me that Despair is one of the four unforgivable sins against the Holy Spirit (along with Presumption, Obstinacy to the Truth, and Final Impenitence) and my faith accepts it as true.

The salvation of souls is the primary domain of God. It is not the primary domain of Man. What's ours to do is to guard and to prosper each other's hopes with the true love of friendships taught to us by the example of Jesus Christ Himself - a love that doesn't turn on itself on a whim.

Because those who are prone to condemn the souls of others with judgments reserved only for the final Justice of God condemn themselves:

Stop judging and you will not be judged. Stop condemning and you will not be condemned. Forgive and you will be forgiven.

Luke 6: 37

The absence of love

in the Presence of the LORD

is the pain of hell.

Pink Flowers

Pink flowers in bloom -

fragility, tenderness...

sweet like my Anne.

Pink is for softness.

Gentler than red for braveness.

Like a sweet embrace.

Pink reminds

me of her.

---<--@

(light pink, actually...)

My Father

What my father lacks

is filled up by my Father -

My Father is Him!

My Father is Him!

How slow am I to know this...

How weak my faith.

Lord Jesus,

have mercy.

---<--@

Bridges

Time is an ocean,

wide and deep, lonely if not

for other people.

People are bridges

spanning vast oceans of time:

Thank you, Miep. Godspeed!

Thank you

for being there.

---<--@

Miep Gies (19090215 - 20100111) - a true friend of a Friend.

Mission

Envision the dream

and live for the becoming:

I am my mission!

Seize the day, O heart!

Come work the work of winning:

Launch into the deep!

Believe. Trust.

Be fearless.

---<--@

Guardian

Nameless friend, you are

present for me before God -

I confess to Man.

My Angel Guardian -

my beloved Caritas,

help me be your friend...

and glory

be to God!

---<--@

Soldier

Born not I to live

but live to die, fight to live,

brave the fire below!

My futures I give

to the love I must now live -

I am a soldier.

One life

for many.

---<--@

Regrets

So many lost dreams...

So many new horizons...

Regrets? I have none.

The past is the past!

The present is in learning:

Life is in living.

Lighting strikes.

Life goes on.

---<--@

Wounded

I am so wounded -

tired, weak from my weaknesses...

but God is my strength!

My wounds, they do heal.

My scars, my Jesus, are forgot.

But Yours Wounds, my God,

They remain...

to remind.

---<--@

Ripples

Ripples in the crowd -

waves of fear and violence...

failed to shatter hearts.

A day of joy turned

to anguish. The scars live on.

The heroes survive.

God bless you,

Raissa.

---<--@

The real test of courage is saying "NO" to such infantile pranks like the one that gave Raissa and others like her a heavier burden than they had to carry in this life before this incident.

The 2010 Bar Blast was not only reckless, it was plain cowardly.

God bless Raissa for showing us how real courage works - this girl has true grit!

Power of Two

How do we get there?

I don't know. What matters is

that we're together!

Why do I love you?

I don't know. What matters is

that we're together!

Two when one

is complete!

---<--@

Human

To err is human,

to forgive is divine - but

to know this, sublime.

To need forgiveness,

one receives who forgives first

and realize peace.

Mercy comes

with mercy.

---<--@

Tree of Remembrance

My life touching yours -

living, belonging, reaching,

growing together.

Your life touching mine -

living, belonging, reaching,

growing together.

Forever.

We belong.

---<--@

Excerpted from Planet Annelies, 20100825 -

You know, that chestnut tree of yours, my loveliest Miyang, fell over a couple of days ago.

In spite of efforts to preserve it, my darling, it was toppled by a storm.

The tree was simply too old, my love, but the timeless substance of what it now represents - if we are vigilant at heart and if we ponder about it here within - may only be multiplied by this act of God.

That old chestnut tree represents (yes, in present tense) your hope for better things, you know. And because this is a hope that is shared by all of humanity, it has a definite resonance that can not be toppled by any temporal storm.

So why not plant a new one, my darling, nurture it through the years, and let the generations (of our one family of nations) rally themselves in time through it?

Let us plant a lineage of these trees to stretch to the shores of forever and let our allied generations be fostered by it.

After all, remembrance is forever. Remembrance is what holds vigil over the sheltering wings of our peace as nations. If the tree speaks of remembrance, it can never be toppled.

Update: Apparently, a number of new saplings were taken from the old tree, my darling, and was a thing thought of independent of our suggestion here (which only reinforces our point).

---<--@

Father

O father of mine,

when will I get to know you

when you're never there?

Longing for father

sometimes I really think - God -

gave me a brother.

God is my

true Father.

---<--@

Gray Skies

When dark clouds threaten

and thy prayers seem unheard

carry on blindly.

Fall a million times

in the dark. But don't you stop

longing for light!

God listens,

don't you know?

---<--@

Water

Arrive by the calm

of thy own shining clearly

and disturb it not.

Spirit's like water.

Its depth is a clarity.

Its contents, mystery.

The soul is

like a sea.

---<--@

Shyness

O first base, first base...

What happens after first base?

I have to find out.

I think I am shy.

But I know sometimes I'm not.

It really depends.

A good wife

is from God.

---<--@

Starshine

The stars in the night

wills to shine the more brightly
through adversity.

Darkness is darkness
that does not lead to the light!
Night time too shall pass...

Starshine, be yourself.

Be the image of God in you -

virtue shining through.

Sharp as the sunbeam,

radiant as thy own true self;

a child of the Light.

God bless you,

dear Starshine!

---<--@

The Best Things

The best things in life

are often things we can't see

that the heart perceives.

The best things in life

are often things we can't hear

that our heart receives.

The best things

are not things.

---<--@

Tides of Life

Problems come and go...

What matters is that they do!

What must remain? You.

What matters in life

is not how often the tide

but how we hold on.

So be strong,

or be swift.

---<--@

Truth

What is truth, Starshine?

Is truth a bond or is it...

a sweet, sweet release?

The truth sets free by

holding the soul captive in

the Heart in the heart.

Truth is love.

Love is truth.

---<--@

Arcs in the Sky

The night seems longest

when the darkness is deepest,

and hope is forgot.

Trace upon this night

the light of you lives, Starshine -

thy arcs in the sky.

That morning

may follow.

---<--@

Boredom

Boredom is boring

without the quiet company

of fam'ly and friends!

So be with people.

Or go find something to do.

But remember this -

Boredom are like clouds.

They come in spells. But your mind,

it is like the sky.

Don't focus

on boredom.

---<--@

Father in Heaven, I take everything by Your hand.

I offer you this boredom. For I do not know what to do with it. Help me turn it into patience. AMEN.

Solitude

In my solitude -

I slept. And I dreamed our dream

and I longed for you.

In my loneliness -

I found. And I dreamed our dream

and I was with you.

I have you,

yet I don't.

---<--@

I love you.

The Lie

The Devil whispered -

Why burden thyself? Serve not.

Do not believe it.

To serve not, my friend,

is to undo the freedom

of our communion.

Together,

We prevail.

---<--@

Virtue

Virtue is ascent -

it is a power to act;
a habit of grace...

Virtue opposes
sin, uproots vice, creates good
with God through our hearts.

Virtue builds
and defends.
---<--@

Miyang

Miyang is my friend

and a comfort to my soul...

I love her so much.

Miyang is my friend

and she keeps me company...

I love her so much.

She's my first

contact star.

---<--@

Miyang is a Filipino affectionate name I derived from "miyaw" or "meow".

It sounds sweet because my Anne is sweet.

She inspires me a lot, a lot a lot.

Come & See

Come to God, my child.

And He will make you to shine

like the stars above.

Come and you will see

like a star shining outward

shedding light for all.

To see far,

cling to Him.

---<--@

Peace

Peace is my greeting -

in recognition of You!

Peace, I salute you.

Peace is belonging

in recognition of hope

and humanity.

It is a

state of heart.

---<--@

Pray

In the stillness as

I opened my heart to God -

I got lost. I prayed.

I, in the quiet,

sought in the stillness, the calm

of all things forgot.

And I found

everything.

---<--@

AS A RULE, my precious Starshine,

prayer is always more

than the sum of all that we can see

with our unseeing eyes.

A soul in prayer is a heart present to its thought;

a walk across the vast, empty deserts within;

a reaching out to places beyond self;

a looking above from within.

It is silence contemplating Silence -

alone with the Alone.

It is a growing, persevering,

often times frustrating work

born of great necessity,

out of thy love of God.

Prayer is an ascent to the timeless,

anchored upon ageless truth,

of all the things we love

and of the Love that all created things hope for,

most especially by the truth of thy heart of love,

and of thy faith yearning to God in prayer.

The way to God is a crooked line,

for we are all but human.

But the way of prayer

makes this way certain.

For the soul that perseveres in prayer

shall indeed profit

from the LORD Who rewards all things,

great and small, known and known to God alone,

when done out of love and fear

of the one common Creator

of all common creation, seen and unseen.

It is not only important that we pray,

and persevere in this way, my precious friend,

in private, above all in community with each other,

it is simply necessary for human happiness

and the well-being of the still small truth that lives,

like a mustard seed,

inside of every self

for all things true and everlasting

depend on a heart of prayer.

Prayer is spiritual.

Therefore,

there are seasons within the soul that range

from sweet to dry or empty

but never must thy heart stay still,

you must gather when it needs gathering

and to know also when to look beyond these seasons;

you must be vigilant,

pressing on till you reach the heart of God

to lay your hopes in the LORD.

So prayer may be long

or it may be short

but it must always be timeless,

its substance is the motion

that lives like a love longing for Itself.

And when the Silence shall to your bowed heart speak,

It shall do so swift as light,

being Spoken without words

and instantly manifest to your soul as winged truth -

then you shall seek to forget all other things

but God and God alone.

And in God you shall range far,

self cognizant of self,

intimate with the Intimate,

to dwell in holy remembrance of all things.

For far may your wandering heart be

but to love and in Love

you shall forever remain

when you shall in prayer persevere.

So do so, dearest Starshine,

and say AMEN:

Know for thy own self

why the heart that believes

believes only because it prays.
---<--@

Morning

O glorious sunrise!

Fill my heart, O breaking dawn -

chase the night away.

A salutation

to the dawning of the Day -

hope is here to stay.

Morning comes,

Praise the LORD!

---<--@