Peace Vigil 2012: Only those who believe in ending person's life as judgement can conspire in any form of killing human beings

Our virtues will lead us to peace. What kind of virtue do you hold when it comes to judgement? Do you believe in ending a person's life to get the justice or do you let the person's life be spared and rehabilated to be given another chance to live? Do you believe in death sentence or do you believe in "life sentence"? What kind of peace do you imagine? We manage our own mind by choosing the virtue that our soul will keep to make us more closer to God. Religion can help us, but the personal conviction will be the one to lead us. If we believe in the power of the One God that is above us and takes full control of our life and the lives of our fellow creations, then we will submit to God's power. If we believe that God owns our life as well as our fellow, then only God can take it away. Thus, we will not favor the killings, neither do we join any conspiracy theories and practice to end a person's life.

Peace Vigil 2012: For a change, pray not for your intention. Pray instead for other people to get their heart's desire. Pray for your loved ones to be happy.

This time focus yourself for other's welfare. You exist because others exist. You are happy because your loved one is happy. It is not sacrifice but decision to live because others are given the chance to live. We help them get their dreams. We help them survive. We support them, if not financially because we are also limited, but emotionally and spiritually through prayers. We are happy for their achievements. We are proud of their undertakings. We support their career. We are their partners in prayer! If at the end, they won't even recognize our efforts, that doesn't matter because their happiness is our happiness. Our peace is to see them live well and always in good shape!

Peace Vigil 2012: We love to love, and we care for people to be happy, that's why we pray everyday!

Never get tired of loving. Never get tired of being responsible for others. Even if you are limited of time, capacity, resources, etc, never than ever stop the communication. Even if you are not there physically to interact and communicate, be there and let them feel your presence spiritually. Never get tired of spiritually connecting. Never get tired of praying for the welfare and security of others. Include the praying schedule for those who are dear to you, pray for every person you meet, pray for all, as much as possible to have a kind life. There is a way for us to help by the simple act of praying. We pray not only for ourselves but for others. We pray because we do not expect something in return, but we pray, because we love and we love the feeling every minute of it!

Peace Vigil 2012: Keep our place Holy, even if others do not, even if others will not. The sanctification of our place is a product of our own doing and is not dependent on others.

We make our own road, we choose our own destiny even if it is already pre-destined to happen. We have our Free Will to decide on what is good for us, to others and to God. We are the ones responsible for our own actions. We keep ourself holy, we strive and maintain the holiness of our place, we work for the holiness of our community - we are the ones who reap the rewards after that. We do not depend on others to do it for us because whatever we do will come back to us, and what will come back to them is their own doings also. Our sufferings are by-products of our own actions and by-products of the actions of people who overused their power to oppressed other people. But, it won't do any good further to our soul if we plot for revenge. The more we stray away from the acts of holiness, the more we plunge ourselves to depth of sufferings, and eventually death of our souls to hope. If we we want justice and equality, we can do it! We should monitor that every word, action and deeds that we shall be doing will stay on the road of holiness. Holiness does not kill. Holiness protects God's creations. Holiness believes in the power of prayer to heal. Holiness forgives and open hearts to love again. Holiness is perfecting one's faith through full trust and total submission to God's will. Holiness is detachment from material gains. Holiness is feeding the hungry, clothing the naked and caring for the sick. Holiness ends discrimination. Holiness respects dignity irregardless of economic status quo, diversity of culture and personalities, age, race, gender, creed and faith. Holiness is not dogmatic. Holiness is not equivalent to righteousness but rather holiness is equivalent to kindness. Holiness is living sensitively and ethically with other God's creations. Holiness ends violence. Holiness is Peace.

Peace Vigil 2012: Waiting can weaken one's hope, but it can serve as an exercise to strengthen faith

When our prayers were not answered, we tend to lose hope, and sometime abandon the prayer altogether. We get frustrated because what we want is not given to us. Our hope fades and eventually we lose interest to pray. This can happen even to religious people. Humans as we are, we always need a confirmation. We wanted to know the answers to our prayers. Patience is one trait that is put into test, that when we finally reach our limit, we back out, and we forget everything all together. This whole process can be to our advantage, for we can use it to strengthen our faith. Not the faith to our prayers but our faith to God. When we abandon everything because we lose hope, we let go. We "just" surrender to "what will be, will be". We do not care anymore, we just let nature take its course. We just let God do His will. Thus, we let God be God. We abandon the control gear and we just let God control everything. When this happen, I find it the balance of faith and free will. Just like this quote "We did our best, and God will take care of the rest".

Peace Vigil 2012: We are all Champions of Faith. When you think of enriching the life of others , when you give the high spirit in your community and when you glorify God!

We see God everywhere, in nature and in all beings that we meet everyday. Our interaction and cultivation of relationships makes us the champion of faith! The faith that God exist! Whenever we work for the good of humanity, whenever we are attuned to nature, whenever we pursue the beauty of life, we promote God. Faith is not limited to religious rituals or righteousness to dogma. Faith is not limited to your church definition of faith. Our faith to God is private and personal. We know how faithful we are with the actions we do to our fellow beings, human, animals, the environment. No one can question your faith, only you knows. Let us not fall into sterotyping and branding on who is right and wrong to define faith. Pursue your faith, develop your relationship to God, and all God's creations! We are many in pursuing the tract of faith... Proceed, be brave! You are a Champion!

Peace Vigil 2012: "The consequent peace that passes all understanding is not peace of mind; it's peace of soul and heart"

Inquisitive mind will not rest, and if we rely on the peace of mind to achieve peace, it will be close to impossible, also, doing this is curtailing the capacity of our mind to explore and be free to think all possibilities. Achieving peace is within our heart as we connect it to our Divine Creator, our God. It is the opening of our heart to love that will lead us to peace. Once we allow our heart to accept that God is love, we can accept people for who they are. Our heart is small and limited compared to the vastness and hugeness of God's heart. In our search to achieve peace, let us submit our small heart to God's huge heart. Let our small heart beat consistently inside God's heart. In full confidence, we give in, we take our rest, we let God be God, and we let ourselves healed by God's love. As our heart is being cuddled inside God's heart we are free to love, all the sorrow is gone, and we achieve peace.

Peace Vigil 2012: The greater our faith, the deeper we trust. Our faith is a by-product of our fellowship with the person we want to trust. We strengthen it by deepening the relationship

I understand why some agnostics or some atheists have a hard time believing in the presence of God. One reason maybe because there's no exact confirmation of God's existence, there's no exact science that will absolutely explain God. Thus, faith is always questionable, and resulting also to a less trusting attitude. It may sometime take a miracle for one to believe. But, miracles happen only to those who have hope. Cases have shown that those whose faith came back had experienced some kind of test to renew or discover their faith. One was saved from an accident, another one was given a second life, and other stories that one may find hard to believe to be true. But to those who experienced the miracle, they know it did happened! Some people need to be push to the edge where their life is at stake, and at that horrible situation "hope" pops into their head. So, where does hope came from? Can hope come from disaster, from illness? Or is hope a survival instinct that was actually given to us by our Divine Creator so that when we badly need it, only hope can save us? Do we need to be miserable just to have hope inorder for us to finally believe and have faith? Look around, science have exact definition of the environment, why don't we take it from there? If science can explain nature, then we can draw the explanation in our mind on why God exist. Be with nature, analyze all details if you can, and research until you have the explanation to God's existence. I think this is a better way to learn how to have faith, rather than going through the agony of disaster and diseases. Now, once we got even just a seed of faith, take care of it, harness it by deepening the relationship with our God, our Divine Creator until one is ready to pray. Eventually, in due time, little by little, we will all develop the habit to trust.

Peace Vigil 2012: You were sent as sheep in the midst of wolves. So be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.

Life is survival of the fittest. How can we remain holy and remain alive at the same time? Earth is our planet and heaven is what we make it, or according to how our religion made us conceived it to be. Holiness is not limited to spirutual cleansing but to actual physical living. Working on the perfection of our virtue is an act of holiness. These virtues include, faith, hope and love. How do we perfect love? By having the conviction and the application to love unconditionally. How do we perfect faith? By detachment to all the material valuables, by controlling our passion, by consecrating our life to God, by trusting Him wholly, without fear and hesitation every second of the day. How do we perfect hope? By working with our fellows, showing them the future of goodness, by helping people pursue their dreams, by letting them live, by curtailing their sufferings. Every work that we do that we consecrate to God is an act of holiness. To consecrate is to forget ourself, but to live with others. We breath, we work, we teach so others will have the chance to live their life also, accordingly. We inspire and we make things happen, one step at a time, in God's time.

Peace Vigil 2012: Curve habits leading to peace because rebellion is not limited to fighting the status quo, acting irresponsibly and doing nothing is an act of rebellion

Taking no consideration for the suffering of others, and doing nothing about it, is grave offense to our Divine Creator. Responsible living is taking care of one another without bias and barriers. Look at how we can ease the suffering of our fellows. Do you have time to volunteer, do you have the resources to give, do you have the talent to contribute? Life is basic needs, what made it complicated is the division of our race, definition of our religion, concept of morality, definition of one's capacity. The quantitative and qualitative approach to segregate the superiors to the inferiors made human interaction complicated. Let's do something to the problem at hand, together we can provide solutions leading to world peace. Beyond spiritual, of praying for the welfare of our fellows, we need to heal human interaction by breaking the walls that divide us. We are all equals, no superios, no inferiors. Everything that humans achieved in this lifetime are just "gadgets" that made humans useful to live and adapt in the new environment. If we really want to contribute, we know deep down in our heart that we are not empty, we have something to share freely, either it is our time, our resources, or our talent.

Peace Vigil 2012: Developing Culture of Peace starts with Respect, while Culture of Violence start with Intrigues. Our speech, action and deeds will define the kind of culture we breed to children's hearts.

Look at the street kids, and we can see the kind of culture that a country is heading itself. Children absorb the habit of adults. When we speak of peace, we are negotiating the present because we are working for the future. The present generation already have problems to solve and issues to resolve. We join the peace work to present solutions, to widen the perspective, to teach. The ultimate objective is for the future generation to have a better place to live, where virtues are respected irregardless of age, race, gender, creed and faith. Peace is character formation, making us all better caretakers of our planet and evetually leading us all to the global call obedience of our Divine Creator to love one another, unconditionally. Ideal as it may seem, but peace work can happen one step at a time, one place at a time - and we start it by cutting the habit of intrigues that curtails peace.

Peace Vigil 2012: "Bayanihan" - the greatest expression of "Community"; the love & compassion people extend to one another in times of calamity

When people help each other and provide the needs of their fellow, without the need to be told to share, that is the whole concept of "Community". In the Philippines, it is called "Bayanihan". Filipino tradition of helping one another is a historical and remarkable trait. This can be best seen during times of disaster. Filipinos have this instinct to help without expecting anything in return. That is why, Filipinos can withstand any disaster, facing it, crying in full emotions, wih all the mess, and hardships that goes with it, hoping and praying as a group, helping one another, until everything goes back in order again, one step at a time. That's why, at the end of the day, Filipinos can still afford to smile and share a meal together. It is this jolly position that makes Filipinos unique and one of a kind; a certain kind of resilience in handling pressure with hope remaining "intact".`Thus, despite any issues that the country is dealing with, Filipinos faith will not be shaken.

Peace Vigil 2012: Ironic but true, disaster unites humans and force people to pray for safety and salvation.

Push to the edge, that is the best time for us to unite for a cause. When lives are at stake, houses perish, and future becomes unstable, people work together to save whatever remains to be saved. We will exhaust all means, including prayer. Thus, prayer becomes an instant pill for all our miseries. Like a magic wand, the faithfuls believe that miracles will happen. But it does, miracles do happen, because it happen to those who believe, and there is nothing wrong with that! If that is the way, where humans will unite to believe in God, then why not? Though very risky, disaster is not only the way, We know that every second of the day is a miracle, because we believe that our life is a spirit - a breath of God that can be taken away anytime. So maybe, just maybe, we can pray not to be saved, but to pray to "thank" our Creator, our God, for giving us more seconds, hours, days and years to live, because our work is not yet done. And, disasters or no disasters, come what may, we pray.

Peace Vigil 2012: "Faith is dynamic, alive, co-existent with doubt. Indeed, if there is no doubt, there would be no need for faith." The key is to find ways to strengthen the faith

When we start to ask, we open ourselves to be enlightened. The worst thing that a person can do when something that bothers him/her is to do nothing. Anything that will lead us to question our faith, is an ooportunity for us to strengthen it. Do not be afraid. Seek for the answers and clear your doubts. One question can lead to another, and that is okay. No one can actually claim to hold the absolute truth of which faith to follow, in what religion, or in what sect. But you hold yourself, and you know the truth that you are looking for. You know that in your searching through discernemnt of prayer, you will find it. Open your senses, take God with you, and enjoy the ride, come rough roads or smooth path, trust that the light of the tunnel will come. When you see it, you feel absolute, and everything is just perfect!

Peace Vigil 2012: "For every activity there is a proper time, but for the "prayer" there is always time

Prayer is 24/7 irregardless of age, race, gender, creed or faith. Why? Because prayer is the direct communication to God. Prayer is the sole activity that defy the barriers of rich and poor, of superiors to inferiors, of the priveleged and the oppressed. In prayer, there is no concept of what is right and wrong. In prayer, everyone is equal. In prayer, there are no issues to solve, there are no compromise, but only a dialogue between you and God. Prayer is private and personal and when we share it to others, prayer is a connecting dot, a circle of energy, creating harmony and cooperation. Prayer is the energy that gives life to humans, and other creations. In prayer, we create life. In prayer, we pursue peace.

Peace Vigil 2012: "Religious life if properly lived, demands solitude, peace and silence. The most important solitude is "inner solitude". Inner solitude is the God and the soul, nothing more."

Silence of thoughts is difficult when a person is born to be analytical. Human mind is complex and won't easily be pleased, but amazingly, it can be programmed. Constant exposure to hatred, violence, and apathy will produce a difficult person. Constant exposure to love, harmony, and prosperity will produce a cooperative person. Know how we were raised, in what environment, and how did we educate ourselves to be a better person, and used it to work for peace. Education through religious teachings are helpful because it gives human the form and the organization to connect spiritually to God. But, if the religion is corrupted, with its virtues tainted, shown by its division, noise, and intrusion to human rights, then a religious person will find it hard to work for peace. A person's faith to God is personal and no religion can dictate their supremacy over the other. Religious life if properly lived is a close connection to God with the mission to unite and not to divide in order to abide to the global call of obedience to love one another, and make peace possible.

Peace Vigil 2012: "When your weapons are dulled and ardour damped, your strength exhausted and treasure spent, neighbouring rulers will take advantage of your distress to act. And even though you have wise counsellors, none will be able to lay good plans for the future" - Sun Tzu

Make peace a priority, not an alternative, but a first choice to make. It will save a nation to further damage. Peace is the way to the future, not violence. When there is an ending, there is violence, but when we want to open the way, there is peace. Cool down, prepare to engage, gather your strength, master the art of war and convert it to face your opponent to make PEACE. God bless your peace work!

Peace Vigil 2012: The fruits of Meditative Prayer are attentiveness and sweetness to God, As we realize the faults we've done, we fear not to do it again. Then, we achieve peace, humility & love to our neighbors

Respect is one of the products of meditative prayer. We realize how much we offend others and how many beings are currently suffering because of us, thus, we become more sensitive to their needs. We also realized how limited we are in making up for our offense. We become humble as we accept each and every human being that we meet and encounter as God's creation. If we are hurt by them, meditative prayer can heal us not to pass on the pain to stop the chain of violence. In meditative prayer, we still seek for justice, so we can be at peace, only this time, we let God rule our heart and tame our passion. In meditative prayer, we are healed, and in the process, we also heal, spiritually, those who hurt us.

Peace Vigil 2012: Listen to your mind and follow your heart. For in the end, when everything is gone, what remains are just good memories

Our heart knows where our passion is, and what will makes us happy. Before it pass through our heart, our mind already took hold of it. We just act it according to what our mind conceived it to be. The way we conceived depends on how we analyze the facts we've got. Mind first before the heart. The mind is the parent and the heart is the child. Listen to your mind, trust the capacity of your mind to analyze, research, inquire and itemize facts down to details. If matters are not yet resolved in your mind, listen to what it says before making a decision. Control the impulse by doing the meditative prayer, tell to God everything that bothers your mind, and make a dialogue one-on-one. Tell to God what you want and tell how do you think you can get it. Continue praying because you believe, and at the same time, continue analyzing facts because your inquisitive. Be diligent, and do not lose your patience. In due time, everything will be clear to you. When that time comes, then you are ready to follow your heart. What is the sign that you are already "ready"? When in your mind, while praying and thinking, the thought becomes absolute! When you no longer doubt your thought, then you are "ready" to follow your heart!