Pope Francis’ vibe alone worth all the expense | Lifestyle.INQ

OCTOBER 27, 2022

MELMEER
MELMEER
MELMEER

Your mantra for the week: “I AM truly a winner in all aspects of my life.”

 

Pope Francis has honored us with his presence. However, I suspect that if he were told how much the country spent to welcome him and the billions of pesos that were lost in the economy through the declaration of special holidays, he would have asked that all that abundance be used to uplift the Supertyphoon “Yolanda” survivors, which was his priority reason for coming.

 

Nevertheless, one could say that his vibration alone was worth all the expense.

 

On television, the Sri Lankan airbus looked like a dove descending from the heavens. How’s that for a startling symbolism?

 

From sinner to winner

 

Let’s talk about mantras and how effective they are in bringing one’s desires to fruition. It is unlike any prayer that repeats itself whose words have no relation to one’s aspirations.

 

A mantra repeated is a ritual courtship of the subconscious mind which, in religion, is called the Virgin Mary being the female principle. And the Father as in the Lord’s Prayer is the conscious mind, the male principle that speaks the mantra.

 

When these two work together, you get an answered prayer or, in the IAMISM belief system, a demonstration. For greater effectivity I suggest that one get or make mantra beads similar to what is called worry beads. Make sure that this string of orbs has 40 beads with a heart-shaped item to start and end with.

 

Keep in mind that 40 stands for Liberation. This number is used symbolically, both in the Bible and in the I-Ching (the Book of Changes), to signify Deliverance. If you are not inclined to make your own beads, please text us at 0920-9164842, and we can supply you with one.

 

The mantra beads use the same principle of repetition in the rosary; and that is why, I wish they would change the word “sinner” to winner. That is the reason I wrote my book, “I Am a Winner,” to counter the sinner consciousness.

 

In the world today, the majority of people still believe they are “sinners” because they have been convinced so by their authority figures and by their upbringing. As a result, they have unconsciously accepted the idea that they are unworthy of all the good they are desiring, thus, creating a life of lack and limitation.

 

They are also unaware, psychologically speaking, that believing we are sinners oftentimes fills us with guilt and thereby attracts many negative situations into our lives which would be the equivalent of the so-called “punishment” we subconsciously feel we deserve.

 

I sincerely believe you are a winner, but then you have forgotten you are one. I believe you are a child of God, deserving of all the good in the Universe.

 

Perfect host

 

At the Manila Peninsula recently, haberdasher par excellence Mel Meer started the 2015 social whirl by hosting a sit-down dinner for 60 people at the upper lobby to celebrate another anniversary of his now institutional Bergamo.

 

The invitation was for cocktails at 6:30 p.m. as guests milled around the walk that led you to the Conservatory from the Upper lobby. From there you could view this long rectangular table with silver candelabras bedecked with flowers—very much like a Buckingham Palace dinner reception.

 

Leave it to a perfectionist Virgo like Mel to think of all the details like the place cards that had one’s name on both sides so that the person in front need not introduce himself/herself, although in this particular case, most guests knew each other.

 

Dark suit was the required attire; everybody complied, and there were many ladies that even wore long gowns.

 

Around our periphery was the pixie Parisian resident Babette Aquino, here for a short vacation and “will probably be back soon to stay.”

 

Also in attendance was the convivial Anna Sobrepeña, who celebrated a birthday a few weeks before.

 

To my left was Store Specialist Inc. CEO Nedy Tantoco, who watched the Black Nazarene procession the night before in the ancestral home of Manny Padilla in Quiapo. The procession usually passes by between 7 p.m. and 8 p.m., but this time, the Black Nazarene made its presence felt at 3 a.m. the next day.

 

“It was worth the eight-hour wait. I really feel I have been healed,” Nedy said.

 

To her left at the Manila Pen dinner was the happy host Mel, who was seated beside the vibrant stylist Agnes Roscigno and husband, the gentle and charming Italian Ambassador Massimo Roscigno.

 

To my right was Inquirer Lifestyle editor Thelma Sioson San Juan, who was surprised that I still remembered our barkada days with Luis San Juan in Mario Katigbak’s Madonna apartment in Estrada.

 

After the exquisite dinner, we were led to the Conservatory for a dessert buffet. Seven stewards came in holding champagne bottles that lighted luces as they popped. Then CCP president Raul Sunico regaled the guests with numbers on the baby grand piano that ranged from Cuenco/Rigor’s “Bato sa Buhangin” to Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue.”

 

As champagne flowed, Bergamo’s 2015 Barong and Suits were unraveled by around 20 Brazilian models. I believe that the barong should have had Filipino models, but I guess Mel had his reasons.

 

Dinner for hotel GM

 

Also recently after Mel’s event, Nedy Tantoco and Patrick Jacinto hosted a barbecue dinner at their residence in Forbes Park for the lovely and charming Manila Peninsula general manager Sonja Vodusek-Vecchio, her mother Maria and five close family friends from Uruanga.

 

The Australians were so impressed with the sprawling lawn and gazebo that one of them remarked, “This is like being in a Hollywood movie.” There was a whole calf roasting on the side, with a four-man rondalla serenading us.

 

Nedy’s father, Ambassador Bienvenido Tantoco Sr., joined us with one of his favorite grandsons, Chris, who now runs Rustan’s duty-free shop in Morocco.

 

So did Peter Jentes, who, for the first time ever, praised a government office in the Philippines: “I went to pay my taxes at the BIR in SM Aura… The place was organized, and I was even offered a cup of coffee while I was filling out the forms…”

 

Sonja’s friends covered three generations—from grandmother Grace, daughters Caroline and Mary, to granddaughter Victoria.

 

 

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