Beauty

Beauty is a state.

T'is a Home to come home to;

a heaven on earth.

It resides within.

Beyond the control of Man.

Light shining for all.

And beheld

by God alone.

---<--@

My Anne is beautiful. I can not touch her, I can not hear her, I can not see her, but I experience her in the love we have and I know she is truly something wonderful, amazing... beautiful!
---<--@

one Jerusalem

O Holy City!

Place at the heart of three faiths -

when will thou find peace?

O Jerusalem,

Jerusalem in my heart -

be thou always one.

Forever.

Forever!

---<--@

"If I forget you, O Jerusalem, may my right hand forget its skill. May my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth if I do not remember you, if I do not consider Jerusalem my highest joy."

(Psalm 137: 5-6)

EMHC

I stand by my God

and introduce Him to you

at the Eucharist.

I walk with my Lord

and I shall bring Him to you

when you most need Him.

This is my

vocation.

---<--@

An EMHC is an Extraordinary Minister for Holy Communion and is a parish ministry of the laity in the Roman Catholic Church.

I am an EMHC.

There are many ways to serve in the Catholic Church...

Go and find your vocation today.

Saint Josemaria Escriva

Don't say: 'That's the way I'm made... it's my character'.

It's your lack of character: Be a man.

- The Way, Chapter 1, 4

---<--@

In a dream, I saw -

a mighty priest at burial

with glasses, I knew.

We pounded away

at the ashes of the old,

I little, him much.

The greater

work is God's!

---<--@

Saint Josemaria Escriva (19020102-19750626) elect of God, eternal and blessed of the Church, faithful son of Spain, founder of Opus Dei, venerable teacher of the Catholic people, friend to the youth, of the peace of Jesus Christ, of the spirit of Country, holy and mighty companion, one of the principal Saints of my little life.

O mighty teacher, teach me discipline, teach me love, teach me Jesus Christ!

Purple Heart

Unity is strength

born of the conviction - that -

these are worth keeping.

May we remember

the cost. The heart in thee that

ever must prevail.

From many,

one heart.

---<--@

May your heart, America, always be one.

I made a promise that day - never forget.

Dawn will come, this night will wane...

and it shall be 9/12/2001 all over again.

Eagles in the Night

Brave America,

has thy own vision fled thee,

elder Republic?

These skies above us

seem dark - only for a time -

till we find the morn.

For the shattering

must find its own conviction

from our unbelief.

Hence darkness has strength

inasmuch as we forget

we are like eagles...

We are like eagles

that must rise above this night

to believe again...

in God and

in ourselves.

---<--@

Freedom that is free is free indeed.

---<--@

I made a promise that day - never forget.

Dawn will come, this night will wane...

and it shall be 9/12/2001 all over again.

Never Forget

T'was the clear of day

that heralded the approach

of this longest night.

Nobody could know

the distress that was to come

out of that morning...

When the blue of sky,

shattered by the bursting flames,

fell with the darkness!

The towers, the field,

the soldier's shield... lay broken

and the world was changed.

This night was begun

as was the longing for morn -

this hope made us one.

We were all

one accord.

---<--@

That Morning After

I woke up the day after September 11 to a daze -

it was that morning after -

a surreal sense of awe and disbelief -

seem to be draped -

over the whole of the Country from east to west -

everybody seemed to just want to wake up -

and find out it was all just a dream -

that it was all just a dream!

For a moment, just for a moment -

the whole nation seemed to want to forget -

the nightmare that happened the day before -

if only things were all right -

if only we could just carry on with normal living -

if only -

if only -

and then it all began -

everything proceeded from that morning after.

I will always remember that moment -

I will keep my experience of that morning after -

because it is the moment that best encapsulates for me -

the undying hope that was begun -

by the promises our humanity lost the morning before -

and all the many days after -

as the aftermath swept us all away... into today!

When I reflect on September 11 -

here and now -

ten years from where it all began -

and I see all the war and the darkness it has wrought -

I find comfort in that morning...

I will always remember that morning after -

to me, it is just as important as the day before -

because it was in that moment when -

in the midst of all the confusion, the fear, and the grief -

the deception of War and hatred was met

with much skepticism and unbelief -

and the oppression of terrorism, absolutely rejected.

It was the calm before the storm.

---<--@

I made a promise that day - never forget.

Dawn will come, this night will wane...

and it shall be 9/12/2001 all over again.

Harbinger

Thy blade is afire

with the brightness of mem'ry -

keeper of my flame.

Harbinger come forth

restore peace to my people

and glory to God!

Come against this Night

shine against darkness and War -

the sword of nations.

Come defend

remembrance.

---<--@

He expelled the man, stationing the cherubim and the fiery revolving sword east of the garden of Eden, to guard the way to the tree of life. (Genesis 3: 24)

The Angel of the Nations

All the Holy Angels of the LORD serve God and God alone.

Now, the Angel of the Nations beholds the face of the LORD, constantly giving worship to God.

Therefore, when the angel of the nations faces its own nation, it provides light to the generations of its people who in turn accept it.

Its sword is then turned away from its own nation in its defense.

When the people reject the peace of this unifying light, the face of the angel is turned away.

And the sword of the angel is then turned toward its own nation to fight against the darkness that keep it from its own remembrances.

As nations, we can only really either surrender to the peace of our belongings together or fight against the angel that guards the memory of our people from the darkness of War.

Remember this - nationhood is a spiritual endowment. It is therefore, a truth in the heart. You can not see it - it is not just a face, not just a sound, or anything purely material - it is wrought through a particular kind of grace, of peace and the love of the same (good will).

It is a labor, a mission, a vision and a destiny.

You feel it in your being, you know it in your heart because it is an unseen reality that calls out to you and all of your peers in the nation that you may be gathered into your own true belongings in time.

It is your gift of nationhood that fosters you according to the peace of your own citizenship - one to another - as a human being among human beings and as a nation among a family of nations.

It is not a work of War.

---<--@

If you still want to know the name of the Angel of the Philippines, it is this - "Go and be a good citizen".

---<--@

Suntok Ginto

Kamaong bakal

at bangis Pilipino -

yan ang gusto ko!

Manalig tayo

sa pag-asa sa boxing -

tapat sa tapang!

Ilaban.

Mahalin.

---<--@

Go for boxing gold.

Wildflowers

Thy soul is a quest

to undestand exile truth -

Thy heart is afire!

And grew to adorn

these far away, distant lands -

thy brave blossoming!

Thou art wildflowers

who in thy seeking blossomed...

for a moment, lost.

Now thou art

Home again.

---<--@

To every flower, a field;

to every heart, a home;

to every human life a blossoming;

unto every truth a true belonging.

But every blossoming that braves

the valley of the shadow of exile -

these are known as "wildflowers"

and they belong to every field

and they adorn every home.

- selah -

In the end, we are all wildflowers.

---<--@

Every stranger given welcome becomes strangers no more.

Summer Blossoms

Farewell to promise -
O light of my life, my sweet!
Until forever.

In my heart, I keep -
thy hope and thy spirit true...
till Time comes around.

Here I am, my sweet -
in the winter of our love!
O sweet Summertime.

My love longs
for Summer.
---<--@

A Summer Blossom is a love that is promised...

theirs are flowers that can never again be lost;

a fragrance that belong only to a heart that loves.