Speech
of
His Excellency Fidel V. Ramos
President of the Philippines
At the Fifteenth National Prayer Breakfast
[Delivered at the Westin Philippine Plaza Hotel, December 10, 1993]
The imperative of
spiritual empowerment
EACH OF US present here today—Catholic, Protestant or Muslim—translates prayers differently. Yet in all that we say for spiritual empowerment, the goals of peace, love and prosperity for all are the same for everyone.
The Gospel text has set the tone of this breakfast prayer meeting—“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength and so love your neighbor as yourself.” (Mark 12:30)
This renews in each of us that common goal that is reflected in all that we do and in all that we want to see, to love our neighbors even when it hurts and to love them even more when they have denied us.
Enduring faith, enduring peace
Today we have high hopes for enduring peace in our society. Our efforts to end internal conflicts have been moving progressively. Erstwhile insurgents and rebels have signified a readiness to cooperate in achieving this elusive peace.
Luke (4:18) shows us the way: “The spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight for the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed.”
I call upon our leaders to help lead in the spiritual reawakening of our people. For only through the Lord’s guidance can our people be spiritually empowered. And only then can we achieve and sustain the goals of unity, peace and progress.
Acts 1:1-9 clearly states that we need not question the decisions of the Lord. In Isaiah 11, God promises everlasting peace to all the righteous who will keep His covenant.
Once again, we see the imperative of spiritual empowerment to keep us on the right path.
For we must remind ourselves that it is not only economic progress and political stability we are after.
We also seek the total human development of 65 million Filipinos. This involves, beyond the material sphere, their spiritual uplift.
God’s gift of freedom
Our Government vigorously pursues programs to empower our citizenry that each Filipino may have all the opportunities to realize his full potential.
Our Government espouses the ideal that God’s gift of freedom is best appreciated if we all work at enabling every man, woman and child in this country to achieve the full flowering of his or her talents.
Our Government firmly believes that the faith, trust and obedience we repose in our Lord’s teachings are expressed in our efforts to attain our aspirations for peace, justice, progress and abundance. Our Government believes that service to country and people is also service to the Almighty.
For while the patterns of human life may have been altered by the triumphs of modern science and technology, our moral imperatives remain the same—to serve God and our fellow men, to practice love and charity to one another, and to find and nurture, within ourselves, that seed of spirituality with which God has blessed every human being.
With the coming of the Christmas season, let us all wish each other the blessings of spiritual prosperity as well as material abundance to carry on the noble goals of nation building.
With this in mind, let us remain united so that we may generate renewed strength that will bring us to the ultimate fulfillment of God’s promise of enduring peace, prosperity and brotherly love.