Message from Ka Sony Domingo, President Kapisanan ng mga Magsasaka, Manggagawa at Mangingisda ng Pilipinas, KAMMMPI (Association of Farmers, Workers, & Fishermen of the Philippines)

Our Countrymen,

Today, the flowers of liberty, solidarity and nation building will blossom in our hearts.  This is so that we may share amongst us the wealth of a nation that God has given us which the colonizers and the neo colonizers have deprived our people.

We shall then set forth in our journey of nation building towards a horizon that awaits us to come upon an island of prosperity and peace. For what else is there to discover unless we understand the meaning of life for each of us.

That in the ocean of turmoil where giant waves try to topple the ship that carries our soul,  will not mean to be the survival of the fittest but the survival of all that dreams for a nation that provides, a nation that has justice and a nation that cares through its government.

Come let us walk together in this garden of peace , helping one another, instead of fighting for a few material things, instead of misunderstanding the motives of one another and instead uncaring for your neighbor, for who else will help you in time of need if not your neighbor, instead of your brother who may be so far from you?

For what is success without happiness, what is fame without compassion and what is wealth without caring?

There are many things that we could tell you that even a hundred poems could not carry in phrases and points.

What is important is we must now continue the work that our patriots started a hundred years ago after 400 years of exploitation and shame.

For never again will our nation be put into shame so that we may also find respect in the community of nations.

For after all in the shadow of death for each of us and our leaders, no one can boast of the material things he/she has accumulated in life. The last thoughts we may have will be “what legacy and good am I leaving behind”.  And when you have counted the good you have done, then you can enter the great beyond with peace in your heart forever and ever.

PAMANA

By Jade Angelo Gascon
On Eagle’s Wings Development Foundation Philippines

It was a cast of thousands: a disheartened paralytic, a dead girl, a sick woman, an awestruck crowd, astonished tax collectors, clamoring blind men, and a silent-type demon-possessed.

One can only imagine how stressful Matthew 9:1-36 must have been. They were all after Jesus. Everybody wanted a piece of his much-talked about healing power. “If I only touch his cloak, I will be healed,” said the woman who has been bleeding for twelve years.

Ultimately, they all wanted one thing.

I want to get out of this messed up life.

I want to be healed.

I want things to be different for me.

I want…peace.

Most of the time, we also find ourselves cast in the scene. Whether we like it or not, life throws us at bitter circumstances and heart-breaking situations. Often, they leave us restless. Exhausted. Worse, unhopeful of tomorrow.

But just when we think there’s no way out, Jesus comes tearing down walls. Walls of troubles. Walls of worries. Walls of infirmities. Walls of our own making.

He looks at our distressed faces with deep compassion. Then he is moved to give us peace. And he overcomes the world for us.

Jesus overcoming the world for us means him depriving our sins and circumstances of power from harassing us. It means him conquering the things that make us distant from Him. It means him rescuing us… with his brand of peace. Peace that absolutely no other in this world can offer.

“I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” John 16:33

“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” Acts 1:8

Meet dunamis. No, it’s not an archvillain in your favorite fantasy soap opera. Dunamis is the Greek word from which “dynamite” was derived. Remember dynamite? Yep, that candle-looking explosive that, when ignited, virtually destroys everything in its immediate environment.

In the original Greek, dunamis was the term translated in English as power in Acts 1:8.

Imagine that.

Jesus gave his disciples a dynamite-kind of power through the Holy Spirit! Power that is forceful and explosive. No wonder the apostle Paul told us that we can accomplish anything if we are in Jesus (Philippians 4:13). But what exactly does He want us to accomplish that He gives his followers such tremendous power?

This is how explosive we can get.

When He ascended into heaven, it was not the same old earth He left—victimized by brokenness and a captive of grief and suffering. Instead, he had left a new hope to the world: The hope of eternal life. The nearness of heaven to our lives. The reality of freedom from sin. When we receive Him, Jesus gives us a dynamite-kind of power to spread this good news to other people. The Lord doesn’t want us to be the only ones enjoying the experience. He wants us to show others how awesome having a personal relationship with Him can be. And he enables us to accomplish it.

Claim that dunamis power and make it yours! The brokenhearted need its comforting touch. Those who mourn are just around the corner, waiting for its joyful assurance. Don’t hesitate to tell others about Jesus. Besides, what can you not do when the all-powerful God is within you?

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