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March 5, 1942

There is a full moon tonight. The usual crackling of guns and rifles is not being heard, nor the voices of the Japanese. Not even a light is seen. There are no flashes of artillery. And the searchlights from Cavite and Corregidor do not illuminate the Manila Bay tonight.

Just the visible quiet and the perceptible sepulchral silence. I am reminded of the verses of J. Balmori:

Luna de la serenata
Entre los járdines presa,
Pálida luna de plata.

I also recall the thoughts, if not the verses, of Cecilio Apostol:

While deep in his thoughts he ponders,
The full moon fills the wide sea
With a lavish flood of moonlight…
All is silence and solitude and calm,
And his own soul quiets down
Amidst that peace: a beautiful night!

A solitude that fills the heart with unrest. A calm which does not bring peace. A peace that is portentous of terror. God made the world beautiful and man turned it into chaos. God created us brothers, not wolves tearing each other apart. The Redeemer died so that we might live in peace and love, not in war and hate.

Have pity, Lord, on those thousands of persons who at this very moment are dying and on those millions of persons who are suffering.