Genealogy

“When our hearts turn to our ancestors, 
something changes inside us. 

We feel part of something greater than ourselves.

 Our inborn yearnings for family connections are fulfilled 

when we are linked to our ancestors…” 

~Russell M. Nelson

Text of the actual presentation by Edwin Bael at the first USA Pomar Reunion

In Phoenix, Arizona, May 27-29, 2012, The Palisades

Today, May 27, 2012, is Pentecost Sunday:  the memorial day of the release of the Holy Ghost to the apostles and their speaking of tongues… From one spirit, many gifts and many workings came to them and their actions changed the world…Tonight, we hope to have many understandings, in one love, of forebears… for we have come to honor and know a bit of the Pomar line of our families… through ‘enlaces y raices’ or links and roots…

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Now that we have traced some links and roots all the way back to Pedro del Pomar of 1593 in Ruiloba, may I entertain some questions from the any one, especially the youngsters?

Comment by Alexa A. Rebong: "O, I thought my grandma's name is Eva!"

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We wind up this presentation by connecting to this long memorial weekend, a holiday set aside by America to honor all who have died as part of service with the US Armed Forces. We relate to it by saying: in our own way, in this little corner of Arizona, we join all America in giving honor to those who have served.

Also, at this moment, we too give our own memorial to the humble, the almost forgotten, the ones who initially took Pomar seeds in the Philippines, nourished them and nurtured the offsprings - the two mamas in the very beginning:

Eulalia Cabanas who mothered Catalino and Eugenio Pomar in Negros; and

Vicenta Baquiran who mothered Eva Pomar in Isabela…

And after them, we honor all the succeeding mamas in 'La Familia Pomar en Filipinas', for they have truly kept the family together. Kudos to them!  And thank you every one!

SOME THOUGHTS ON OUR SEARCH

By Edwin D. Bael

LOOKING BACK

“Ang hindi marunong lumingon sa pinanggalingan, ay hindi makakarating sa paroroonan.” This Filipino idiomatic expression literally translates as: “one who does not know how to look back at where he came from, will not be able to arrive at where he wants to be”. Today, we look back at the Pomar line of our families, because we want to understand and let go, to have more power and less drag, in our life journeys.

Human history can also be described as a story of migration and intermarriage of people, in the infinite scheme of eternity, of which life is but a parenthesis of moments. This moment, we check out the story of small town guys from Cantabria, Spain, who went out into the world at the turn of the 21^st century, and planted families in Negros and in Isabela, Philippines.

It turns out that they came from the same family in the same locality of Ruiloba, in the comarca (equivalent of county or district) of the Western Coast of the Cantabria Autonomous Region of Spain, whose capital is Santander.

We explore first, the families we belong to then get to know a bit more about the forebears involved and their lineage; we'll trace the bloodlines of our connectedness; and we learn a little about the place they came from and how it is situated in the context of Spain and in history –very compressed history.

We honor our genealogic heritage to appreciate the roots of our own uniqueness and, from that, to treat all with love. For the honoring of family lines should not separate but unite. Beyond distinctions, there is essential unity. Hence, ‘love your neighbor as you love yourself’. Indeed, from a larger view, we are all one blood. When a patient needs blood transfusion doctors do not look for donors of the same lineage, genealogy, race, gender, skin color, lifestyle, religion or politics, but simply of the same blood type.

With that perspective, let's enjoy the main contents of this blogsite, even as we express true gratitude to distant cousin Inigo Aguilar Sanchez, grandson of Ana Pomar Cue and President of the Cantabrian Genealogical Association, whose long painstaking research unearthed the link to Eugenio Pomar all the way to the recorded root of Pedro del Pomar born 1593 in Ruiloba, which genealogical report he conveyed to Richard Pomar Burgos. Muchas gracias primo Inigo and Rich.

And we can’t let things be without acknowledging in print the passionate interests of both Dr. Ken Pomar Rebong and my wife Betty Pomar Burgos-Bael who were connected through the magic of Facebook by the name Pomar, and they eventually brought forth this get-together. Thank you Ken and Betty.

Check out our blog pages:

CENTRAL PH - CHART & PHOTOS OF THE POMAR CENTRAL PHILIPPINES BRANCH

NORTHERN PH - CHART & PHOTOS OF THE POMAR NORTHERN PHILIPPINES BRANCH

RUILOBA - CHARTS & PHOTOS OF THE RUILOBA, CANTABRIA CONNECTION

ARMS & MAPS - PERTINENT INFO ON POMAR COAT OF ARMS AND RELEVANT MAPS

RELATED INFO - ON TABACALERA AND HISTORICAL NEWS ARTICLES
MEDIA - INFORMATIVE VIDEOS ON CANTABRIA, NEGROS OCCIDENTAL & ISABELA

WHAT’S THE POINT OF KNOWING THE PAST AND THOSE WHO HAVE GONE AHEAD? 

TO LEARN, LET GO AND GROW.

We now have more information about the Pomar taproot from Ruiloba, Cantabria, who gave rise to the Pomar branches in central and northern Philippines. But what’s the point of knowing all these? 

These data are enlightening and are sources of self-esteem… like the fact that the Pomar surname has been documented in Ruiloba since 1593… and the knowledge that both Juan Domingo and Casimiro were high-calibre business managers and leaders, who helped make Tabacalera’s fortunes during the tumultuous years of the shift from Spanish to American colonialism in the Philippines. From them, you have competence and capability genes.

Our look-back also allows us to ponder the “hindi marunong lumingon” idiom, which could be interpreted as: “one who does not learn and grow from, then let go of the past, is bound to commit errors and omit duties in life, and thus run into complications that tend to derail goals and objectives.

The past does not determine our future. Only the quality of our here-now thoughts, emotions, words and actions do shape our future. Positive expectations of abundance and success, in detail, and corresponding actions, move us in that direction. Negativities bog us down. We check the past to avoid repeating the negative and the counter-productive.

In the spiritual realm, like begets like, as birds of the same feather flock together; unlike physical magnets where likes repel and opposites attract. If like attracts like, wouldn’t our whining, moaning and groaning become weapons of mass grief?  So we just have to ‘be aware of’ and ‘be awake to’ the wayward tendencies of our minds and hearts. Let’s focus on the excellent and “accentuate the positive”…

But what if our lives are weighed down by a continuing smoldering of resentment against our forbears - our parents and those before them - because of some issues, perhaps like abandonment, blame, control, disregard, fear, guilt, illegal or immoral actions, punishment, rejection or whatever?   

We need not seethe and burn anymore! There is no requirement to do so, from God or from any one, except perhaps our own ego that, deluded, claims self-importance through self-punishment. Forgiving is key; and let’s be sure to include ourselves first…above all, let’s respond positively to God’s invitation to Love, for it is the rod from which hang the curtain of all divine commands and the reason for the reminder ‘owe no one anything except to love’.

The harboring of resentments only 're-sends' the pain back to us and to our children, even to their own children. 

We can choose to harbor them no more. We are endowed with divine Free Will to enable us to choose our own respective destinies. “Freewill supersedes influences…” whether they be hereditary, planetary or whatsoever! “It is not the challenge that is important in any life; it is our response to it” 1/ 

Through our free will choices, we can free and release ourselves from the baggage of the past. Three steps are suggested: (1) accepting and giving thanks for the ‘experiences’ - as our lives are really not about blame and complaint, but about soul growth and salvation; (2) asking for wisdom to learn and grow; then, abiding in Spirit, accordingly learning and growing; and (3) making amends, like loving our family tree - spikes, thorns, hardness and all, whether imagined or not...

We make amends and release resentments because: (a) the fruits of our family tree - we - are divine, made to be one with the Father through Jesus Christ who offers us the chance to change our default destination to heaven… and (b) the light of our divinity - that love requires of us to share with the world - gets dimmed by the swirling dark clouds of acrimony, bitterness, contumely, displeasure, embitterment, indignity, pique, outrage and umbrage associated with relentless, rancorous resentment. 

Thus, by accepting, thanking, discerning, growing, loving, learning and letting go, we get cleared of further participation in the pains of the past… 2/ 

More importantly, the Redeemer has already freed us – once and for all time - of any and all generational hurts, burdens and curses, if only we humbly ask for, then willingly and gratefully receive, His unmerited favors… He shed His Blood and poured forth Living Waters that both totally cleanse and give new, guilt-free and fear-free life; we have but to drink… through repentance of our sins and acceptance of Jesus as Lord and Savior… in freedom of will. With Him, in Him, through Him: nothing is impossible and everything turns out for good…

"Look lovingly upon the present, for it holds the only things that are forever true. All healing lies within it because its continuity is real. It extends to all aspects of consciousness at the same time and thus enables them to reach each other. The present is before time was and will be when time is no more. In it is everything that is eternal, and they are one. Their continuity is timeless, and their communication is unbroken, for they are not separated by the past. Only the past can separate, and it is nowhere." 3/ 

At this eternal moment, the past may separate, even as we honor it; but our joy is in the guarantee of the Word of God that long life shall be enjoyed by those who, without qualification, honor their parents and forebears… and we?… we carry on, self-remembering our own divinity [made in God's image] from moment to moment: to live, move, walk and have our beings in the charmed circle of God’s love and light…

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Notes

1/ Fred Rawlins, “Soul Growth Issues; Soul Grief Choices”, Parah Publications, 2003, 108. 

2/ cf Rawlins, pp. 67-82.

3/ A Course In Miracles, Orig. Ed.Tx.12.50)

“A family tree can wither if nobody tends it’s roots.” 

~Unknown