Rizal's Significance

I AM A KNIGHT OF RIZAL

Revised March 7, 2014

By Sir Edwin D. Bael, KCR

I am a Knight of Rizal. My mandate, within the Order of the Knights of Rizal, is to accomplish the following general purposes: 1/ to study the teachings of Dr. Jose Rizal; to propagate and inculcate said teachings in the minds of the Filipino people and other citizens of the world and, by word and deed, exhort them to emulate and practice the examples set by Dr. Jose Rizal; to promote among the Knights of the Order the true spirit of patriotism and Rizalian chivalry; to develop a perfect union among Filipinos and other citizens of the world in revering the memory of Dr. Jose Rizal; and to organize and hold programs, activities and annual festivities in honor of Dr. Jose Rizal.

I am a Knight of Rizal. From one perspective, I see all humanity as my family, because: “Some centuries hence, when mankind shall become enlightened and redeemed, when there shall be no races, when all peoples shall become free, when there shall be neither tyrants nor slaves, nor colonies nor metropolis, when justice shall rule, and man shall become a citizen of the world, the cult of science alone shall remain, the word patriotism shall smack of fanaticism, and he who would boast of patriotic virtues will undoubtedly be confined as a dangerous sick man, as a perturber of social harmony.”2/

I am a Knight of Rizal. From another perspective, I uphold patriotism as a virtue and a striving, powered by love for human dignity, integrity, justice, liberty, rights, and self-esteem.  I love my country with a divinely stamped, eternal, great, heroic, imperishable and most disinterested love.3/ To my motherland, I can say, as Jose Rizal did: “Salud! Ah, que es hermoso caer por darte vuelo, morir por darte vida, morir bajo tu cielo, y en la encantada tierra la eternidad dormer.”4/ Cheers! How lovely it is: to fall to give you power to fly, to die to give you vigor to live, to die under your sky, and, in the land enchanted, to sleep for eternity!5/

I am a Knight of Rizal. “Acordando la fe y la razon”6/ or making faith and reason agree7/, I make my days count with works “ad majorem Phil gloriam” or to the greater glory of the Philippines8/ for Inang Bayan’s abundance, blessings, calm, dignity, freedom, grace, integrity, joy, justice, liberty, life that overcomes, mental toughness, moral vigor, peace, prosperity and wisdom.

I am a Knight of Rizal. No thought, no idea, no emotion, no suggestion can frighten, intimidate, perturb or unsettle me; for they are but ephemeral waves of mental and emotional states that incessantly come rolling and crashing against the changeless, timeless ground9/ of which I am a part. It is the same sacred, sanctified, solid, supreme ground “…donde no hay esclavos, verdugos ni opresores, donde la fe no mata, donde el que reina es Dios”10/… where there are no slaves, hangmen nor oppressors, where faith does not kill, where he who reigns is God.11/

I am a Knight of Rizal. Giving due respect to the whole gamut of worldviews, I believe we are not human beings having spiritual experiences, but rather we are spiritual beings having human experiences12/ though I still appreciate other beings whose principles and convictions exclude matters beyond material measures and calibrations. Thus, my motto is: “Non Omnis Moriar”13/ meaning not all of me shall die or I will not altogether die.

I am a Knight of Rizal. Verily: “Morir es descansar”14/ To die is to rest.15/ To die or be non-attached to the temporal is to abide in the eternal. Yet, resting on this vocation to eternal life means to me not suppressing but actually reinforcing one’s duty to apply the energies and resources received from the Uncaused Cause to visions and actions serving to promote and protect justice and peace in this realm of the mortal.16/

I am a Knight of Rizal. I resolve not to identify myself with each brief and transitory heart-mind state passing through me, as they are but temporary contents of the permanent container that forms, permeates, and saturates my entire true being; hence, I look for and live the truly empowering inner life with the eternal17/ for which, abiding, I stand.

I am a Knight of Rizal. I commit and vow to help in giving Rizalist light and moving my country to poised prosperity rooted in moral potency18/ and to transcend obstacles to a noble life of overcoming even if the exertions of struggle might mean my early passing, after all, the merit and value of a dream or vision worth living for, is that, as Jose Rizal, Ninoy Aquino, and other martyrs proved, it is worth dying for.

I am a Knight of Rizal. I therefore pledge to carry out and realize the following specific objectives19/ in harmony with fellow Knights: to study and spread the ideals, teachings and exemplary life of Dr. Jose Rizal especially among the youth of the Land; to organize chapters in the Philippines or any part of the world, undertake programs which will promote individual commitment to the ideals and teachings of Rizal, and encourage enlightened personal involvement in addressing contemporary issues; and to train and develop the youth in character building, citizenship training, democratic leadership, patriotism, universal brotherhood, and dedicated service to God, country and people. 

And so, I am a Knight of Rizal.

____________________
NOTES:

1/ Section 1, 2006 By-Laws of the Order of the Knights of Rizal, based on Section 2 of Republic Act

    No. 646

2/ Jose Rizal, El Filibusterismo, Ghent, 1891, p. 48
3/ cf Jose Rizal, “Love of Country”, La Solidaridad, Madrid, 31 Oct 1890, p. 247
4/ Fifth paragraph, Last Farewell of Dr. Rizal
5/ Edwin Bael translation of the same lines in the fifth paragraph
6/ Line # 4, Fifth Stanza, “Hymn To Talisay”, by Dr. Jose Rizal
7/ Edwin Bael translation of that Line from Hymn to Talisay
8/ Taken from a line in one of Rizal’s letters to Mariano Ponce: “I am very busy these days for I am

     working 'ad majorem Phil. gloriam'” - a Latin phrase literally meaning 'to the greater glory of the

     Philippines', a paraphrase of the more common expression ‘ad majorem gloriae Dei’ meaning ‘to   

     God’s greater glory’, which was a byword of many exploitative Friars

9/ cf Guy Finley, “The Lost Secrets of Prayer”, Llewellyn Publications, 2006, p.56
10/ Penultimate paragraph, Last Farewell of Dr. Rizal
11/ Edwin Bael translation of the same lines in the penultimate paragraph
12/ cf Quote from Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

13/ Official Motto of the Order of the Knights of Rizal
14/ Last phrase of Rizal’s Last Farewell
15/ Edwin Bael translation of the same last phrase
16/ cf Catechism of the Catholic Church, # 2820

17/ cf Guy Finley, op. cit., p. 62
18/ cf “moral and material development” in Rizal’s Letter to the  Governor and Captain General of

      the Philippine Islands, Hongkong, 21 Mar 1892,Epistolario Rizalino, III, No. 527, p. 306
19/ Section 2, 2006 By-Laws of the Order of the Knights of Rizal