Dancing Flame

Dancing Flame

I saw a dancing flame

Near an incense half-burned,

The flame illumined the faces

Highlighting their smiles.

The flame is a feeling,

Of passion bursting out of us,

For something known yet unrevealed,

Calling us to more.

The flame is a dream,

Of something that is beautiful,

Where hunger is no more,

Where injustice is no more,

The place is here.

The time is now.

The flame calls for action,

A handshake between enemies,

A joining of different colored hands,

A reverence to the earth we sit,

A smile to a stranger.

And then comes the Eternal Flame.

Copyright 2005

Published at poetry.com 

Upper Marikina Watershed Protected Landscape Collaborative Project

"We are not here on Earth to be alone, but to be a part of a living community, a web of life in which all is sacred. Like the cells of our body, all of life is in constant communication, as science is just beginning to understand. No bird sings in isolation, no bud breaks open alone. And the most central note that is present in life is its sacred nature, something we need to each rediscover and honor anew. We need to learn once again how to walk and breathe in a sacred universe, to feel this heartbeat of life. Hearing its presence speaks to us, we feel this great bond of life that supports and nourishes us all. Today's world may still at times make us feel lonely, but we can then remember what every animal, every insect, every plant knows -- and only we have forgotten: the living sacred whole."

—Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee

The winding road that Joe, our driver, followed after exiting the main highway was narrow and winding.  Typical wooden structures intermittently appeared as we drove past part paved and rugged paths.  Finally, Beth Galas, the community organizer said, “We are here!”  Finally, we arrived in Barangay Calawis in Antipolo. This area of Antipolo is largely part of the Marikina Upper Watershed Protected Landscape where the forests and mountains have been deforested badly causing flash floods in the lower areas during typhoon and rainy seasons draining itself to Marikina River.   I followed climbing a carved hardened mud stairs to the top.  My mind was wandering just how slimy these mud stairs during rainy days. At the top of the stairs, a covered vegetable nursery is bursting with greens.  Light shades of green lettuce sparkling under the sun dancing like jagged jades.  The meeting hall was still empty.  Virgie, the leader of the group arrived and opened the locked nursery, showing me their community vegetable garden.  One by one, the women, some with their children came and sat inside the hall, made of bamboos.  I was told; some of them had to walk for 4 hours to get there.  This group is composed of Dumagats-Remontado tribes, and migrants to the area.  I suggested that while waiting for others to arrive, I can go see the seedling nursery.  It was not very far from the meeting area.  I was so impressed to see how lush and green the seedlings that are planted  in black polybags, some are about two feet high and ready for planting in June/August, when rain comes.  There were different kinds of Philippine native tree seedlings, neatly organized in rows. The nursery is filled with wonderful energy, these little plants bursting forth and shining fresh green shoots.  The seedlings totaling more than 100,000 were left over from the 200,000 seedlings planted last year. 

“I used to cut the forests to make charcoal, now I plant trees and realized my responsibility to care for the forest which gives us life.”-TSKC member

My three companions started sharing their stories…how their lives were changed because of Maryknoll Sisters helping them by providing funding to buy the polybags.  They were able to purchase 200,000 bags, which they all used for planting the seedlings.  Last year’s planting of 100,000 seedlings have given many of their members much needed income to sustain their families. The project did not only benefit the household, but helped their organization opened a rice cooperative, helping members secure rice loans and paid it back, reducing hunger incidence.  The farmers and forest dwellers stopped cutting down the trees for charcoal making as their only means of livelihood.  One of the women said, she and her husband finally got married in the Church because they had money the license and could invite friends to the wedding.  One of the elders was very proud that his daughter was able to graduate in college and is now teaching in the local school.  What was also exciting to hear is the return of the biodiversity in the area.  Fireflies, wild lizards, wild chicken and pigs, frogs, and many more, have come back and numbers have been seen more often. Listening to their stories made me cry, because it gave me so much hope how the environment can be helped regenerate itself. 

We were back in the meeting hall and the people also shared their little victories, how the project brought positive effects to their lives.  The continuation of the project, have made it possible for the young mothers to stay in their homes to start seedlings for sale to the government reforestation program.  This means they also now have a regular livelihood that heal the forests and care for the environment.

 When asked what kind of help they would still need, they said:  planting tools such as planting spades, shovels, mattocks, grass cutters, etc. They need to make fire lines to protect the young trees from forest fires and monitor their growth.  They also need boots for protection from snakes.  They also appealed if they can be helped to give their children school supplies for the coming schoolyear in June and some basic medicines for fever and pain.  The women asked if they could be helped to plant cash crops such as turmeric and post-harvest processing and marketing.  This way, they said, they can continue to support their husbands while staying with their younger children.  Children are left with relatives while they plant the seedlings on the planting site.  The Calawis group now has 95 members, majority are women, numbering 54.  

The Cross

Quoting Walter Kasper:

On the cross the incarnation of God reaches its true meaning and purpose.  The entire Christ-event must therefore be understood in terms of the cross.  On the cross God's self-renouncing love is embodied with ultimate radical-ness.  The cross is the utmost that is possible to God in his self-surrendering love; it is "that than which a greater cannot be thought"; it is the unsurpassable self-definition of God.  This self-renunciation or emptying is therefore not a self-abandonment and not a self-de-divinization of God...but the revelation of the divine God...God need not strip himself of his omnipotence t be able to surrender oneself and give oneself away;  and it requires omnipotence to be able to take oneself back in the giving and to preserve the independence and freedom of the recipient.  Only an almighty love can give itself wholly to the other and be a helpless love." 

-Walter Kasper, The God of Jesus Christ, translation Mathhew J. O'Connell (NY: Crossroad).

The power of divine Love is shown in the powerlessness of the cross  - Ilia Delio


Evolution bears witness to the fidelity of divine love because every cosmic death is, in some way, transformed into new life. -Delio

The very act of creation reflects something of a 'divine crucifixion,'  for in creation God reveals his power to be his unconditional love for the world...The cross reveals the to us the heart of God because it reveals the vulnerability of God's love. - Hans Urs von Balthasar 

repost from fb notes.  

Our Lives Will Be Demanded from Us!

Then Jesus told this  parable: “There was a rich man whose land produced a bountiful harvest.  He asked himself, ‘What shall I do, for I do not have space to store my harvest?’ And he said, ‘This is what I shall do: I shall tear down my barns and build larger ones.  There I shall store all my grain and other goods and I shall say to myself, “Now as for you, you have so many good things stored up for many years, rest, eat, drink, be merry!”’ But God said to him, ‘You fool, this night your life will be demanded of you; and the things you have prepared, to whom will they belong?’ Thus will it be for all who store up treasure for themselves but are not rich in what matters to God.”

Yesterday, I gave a talk on ecology to about seventy people – teachers and staff in one of the big universities here in Baguio.  Preparing for the talk, two songs of the famous Filipino band, Asin, played in my head, “Masdan Mo Ang Mga Bata” and “Kapaligiran”.  I did not quite know how to connect these ideas to come up with a concrete outline of my talk.  I just kept listening to the words of the song, until I even heard Nora humming the song, “Masdan….” Then something clicked, I will present a proposal ---being educators of the young to help young people think and critique the mainstream culture of consumption, accumulation and instant gratification using a paradigm of compassion, peace and respect for nature.  Using the questions that Papa Francisco prayed about during the WYD, I asked them to look deeply into their vocation as educators of young to focus on the same questions:  1. How to give the youth a legacy worthy of  human life?  2. How to awaken in the youth their greatest potential as builders of their own destiny? And 3. How to invite the youth to share responsibility for the future of everyone?   And then, I went on to give a lecture on the ecological perspective.
Somehow, reading the scripture passage above, it made sense to me how Jesus addressed the human greed.  His parable describes, in my opinion, the present economic system of non-stop development.  The key question here is, “when to de-growth” before, a catastrophic death of the Earth’s life-support system “will be demanded from us.”  I was reading an article yesterday about “environmentalist must redefine “progress”.  Why pass the bucket?  Each of us has the responsibility of redefining progress.  For us, Christians, Jesus is saying “life will be demanded from those who store up treasures for themselves, but not spiritual riches.”  The choice is upon us! Choose life!  Feliz dia de la Pachamama!

(reposting from fb notes) series 2013.

Musings and Convergence: Experiencing the 1st Philippine Environment Summit

FINALLY, the first Philippine summit on the environment came to fruition.  The rest is history!  This historic summit did not come easy.  I can still vividly remember, after coming back from 2014 General Assembly of the Maryknoll Sisters in October, when Green Convergence (GC), President Dr. Nina Galang, came to see me at Maryknoll Sisters Burgos convent, asking me to facilitate a planning session of the GC Board of Directors, all seasoned environmentalists in the Philippines.  Green Convergence Philippines is a coalition of environmental NGOs and individual affiliates with the vision: One Vision, One Earth.  Albeit hesitant of my capacity as an environmentalist in training and having just come back to Manila, I said YES to the invitation.  The three-day planning in October 2014 marked the birthing of the idea of the Philippine Environment Summit.  Two years passed: a very slow, difficult and challenging planning for the summit ensued. We had one huge challenge: Getting the funding needed for the summit. 

Then a breakthrough came in September 2015, after a meeting with Secretary Ramon Paje, of Department of Environment and Natural Resources of the Philippines (DENR).  He was quite excited and in full support of the idea of the Philippine Environment Summit.  He supported the idea that the summit’s purpose was to convene stakeholders of the country’s environment, not only to dialogue about deeper environmental issues, but also to showcase solutions and innovations being practiced and implemented in the Philippines.  He hoped and envisioned of the possibility of institutionalizing the summit as an annual event.  This way, he thinks, whoever seats as Environment Secretary, he/she will have to be accountable to the Filipino people, and the environment.  As a result, he committed the environment agency to be the major partner with Green Convergence to organize the 1^st Philippine Environment Summit.  Other major stakeholders in the environmental movement such as Renewal energy sectors, sustainable development institutions, environment NGOs, Television network and Maryknoll Sisters followed suit.

Secretary Paje’s State of the Philippine Environment and Keynotes Speeches

The Secretary of the Department of Environment, Ramon Paje delivered his State of the Philippine Environment, where he highlighted the successes of his six-year term in the office.  The National Greening Program of the country topped the report agenda.  The 5-year reforestation program aimed to plant 1.5B trees in 1.5M hectares of deforested and denuded land.  To the joy of the participants, he reported that Philippines have 400 additional islands in the eastern part that have not been discovered before, the land masses were detected by satellite mapping radar.  He clarified on the issue of prospective power plants, saying, “That the coal power plants were approved prior his term of office.  He promised that under this term, no new power plants will be approved, and no environment clearance certificates will be issued to operate new coal power plants.

The summit brought renowned environmentalists Vandana Shiva and David Suzuki to give keynote address.  Former Manila Archbishop, Cardinal Rosales gave an inspirational talk on the role of the Church, in the southern Philippines where rampant deforestation by powerful illegal loggers.  The Church rose to protect the environment, even to martyrdom of pastors and members of their staff, whose blood marked the injustices done in relation to land and the environment. He further said, the Church have been aware and fighting all these abuses, long before Pope Francis published the encyclical on the environment, Laudato si.  The Secretary of Education, Armin Luistro, highlighted the greening of education and schools, developing a new generation conscious of their role in protecting and respecting their environment.

Environment Breakthroughs and Innovation Exhibit

In the exhibit area, 14 of the local government units who are awarded LGO Eco champions showcased their eco-governance and good environmental practices.  Low-impact water management technology, Solar energy technologies, bioremediation and organic cleaning of pollutants and other ecosystem management and restoration and organic farming were also showcased. Maryknoll Ecological Sanctuary is also among the exhibitors.

Break Out Sessions:  Safe Good, Healthy Environment and Sustainable Development

The three days summit showcased daily parallel sessions featuring breakthroughs and innovations towards sustainable development in three key issues:  safe food, healthy environment, sustainable economy.  Sessions on Safe Food dealt with organic agriculture in the Philippines, legal framework, organic food and GMO –free, accessibility and affordability, health and wellness in relation to food, and urban gardening.  Speakers are practitioners. 

Sessions on Healthy environment dealt with programs on clean air and protection, clean water and its management, livable cities, sustainable transport system, renewable energy and alternative fuels, and programs on Climate change adaptation and mitigation, as well as disaster risk reduction and management.

Sessions on Sustainable Economy highlighted green economy and models of eco-governance.  Its parallel session talked about eco-friendly industries, models of ecotourism, renewable energy and excellent local governance and programs practiced in the grassroots level.

At the end of these parallel sessions, participants raised concerns and questions for further discussion in the local and national levels and surfaced constructive suggestions to address these concerns.  These were resolutions generated by summit participants.   

At the closing ceremony, I gave a summary presentation on the National LGU Eco Champion Project, a national project I was doing with DENR since 2014.  My presentation highlighted the excellent eco-governance in the various local government levels.   All 1,663 local government units in the Philippines were surveyed as to their compliance to 13 Philippine environmental laws and regulations such as Climate Change Act, Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, Disaster and Risk Reduction Management Act, the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act.  A total of 172 respondents sent in their response from Provinces, Cities, Metro Manila cities, municipality levels.  Of these local governments, 14 outstanding local governments who topped the compliance were awarded the title “LGU Eco Champion”.   

More than a thousand participants sustained to attend the three day summit.  After the summit, many looking forward to join the environmental movement, some began by asking how they can become a member of Green Convergence.