Your mantra for the week: “Answered prayers fill my life now.”
In a predominantly Catholic country like the Philippines, only a few believe in reincarnation because it has never been taught or emphasized.
The Church claims it is not found in the Scriptures. However, the Church also knows that the New Testament had been edited down to four gospels despite reports that there were other editions.
In John 9:1-12, the disciples asked Jesus whether a man born blind is responsible for his ailment. Jesus said yes.
The question is, where could he have reaped that blindness if not from another lifetime?
My belief in reincarnation comes from very personal experiences which started with questions like why are my parents my parents.
I never believed that they were simply given by God, as taught in Catechism. I do not accept they were the result of chance or random choices of some Great Power.
Later I observed that there were people I may have known for years but never felt a closeness to, while feeling an unexplained intimacy with others I had known only for a while.
Hypnosis
Years ago, I could not understand why I was always at odds with my parents. It was only when I met someone who put me under hypnosis and moved me back to many lifetimes that I finally understood.
It turned out that my mother was my daughter in one lifetime. I sent her to a convent and was unable to play my role as a father.
In another lifetime, my father was a boss totally unhappy about my performance.
Realizing all this, I set my mind to put things in order. I did not stop until my father and I became friends despite our differences.
In my mother’s case, I remained a loving confidant who was always there for her.
After my conditional release from prison as a martial law detainee, I found myself with very few job options. I decided to continue pursuing my interests in astrology by doing natal chart readings professionally.
In the process, I discovered that I could actually read the past lives of people based not only on their natal chart but on actual visions I had of their past lives.
There were unusual episodes, like when a gentleman once came and, even before a reading, I already got a vision that he was once a maiden who died after an arrow pierced her heart.
He was so stunned he confessed why he came to see me. As it was, only his mother and his doctor knew that he was born with a hole in his heart.
Karmic harvest
I believe all our past lives remain in our subconscious minds and that we are given a few lifetimes to put our issues in order.
The families we now belong to are our original karmic harvest. It is not an accident or coincidence that people in our lives are there.
I believe there are reasons we have to keep reincarnating. There are many sides to our character we need to develop that cannot be done in one lifetime. And for us to understand why humanity is the way it is, we have to keep coming back.
There are lessons in patience, discipline and self-restraint we have to learn. We also need to develop the fortitude to bear failure and disappointment and the humility to accept success without our heads swelling beyond the size of our hats.
Four-minute speech
At the culmination of the Caruso Awards for young contemporary painters in cooperation with the Galerie Astra, Evelyn Mina presented two young artists, John Levin Cuevas and Dennis Francisco, their cash prizes for having won first and second places, respectively.
The awarding was preceded by a “friendly concert” at Galerie Astra with performances by Jose Mari Chan, Raul Sunico, the Manuntag family—Arthur, Kathryn and Michael; and two young singers from the George Yang Foundation.
George and Jose Mari sang several songs in Italian and English. Another George, Sarakinis, did impeccably as master of ceremonies.
The concert concluded with a special speech by Rep. Imelda Marcos who, to the surprise of everyone, gave a heartfelt speech for only four minutes about her love for the arts and what she had done for it when she was First Lady.
Right after the concert, a special dinner was prepared by Caruso Ristorante Italiano. As always, the Caruso menu is constantly memorable; Emilio Mina always makes sure this is so.
Surprise numbers by guests at the concert and dinner were rendered by two beautiful luminaries of screen and stage, Pops Fernandez and Vina Morales.
Biggest art auction
On June 13 at 2 p.m., the León Gallery of Jaime Ponce de Leon will mount what is expected to be its biggest and most anticipated auction as the largest work of Anita Magsaysay-Ho will be auctioned alongside the coveted Joe and Nene Guevara art collection, and the only known work signed by Isabelo Tampinco.
The Guevara collection includes works by eight National Artists headed by Carlos “Botong” Francisco.
Joe and Nene’s daughter Cynthia Guevara-Gale is here for a visit to help put together her parents’ memorabilia.
I remember Joe fondly because he was one of my father’s closest friends and was constantly suspected to be Conde de Makati. What disabused the public’s mind were the tirades against the Marcoses which I believe Joe would not have dared to do.
The auction will be held at the ground floor of Eurovilla I, Rufino corner Legazpi Streets, Makati City.
Consider this latest issue questioning Sen. Grace Poe’s natural-born Filipino citizenship. She is as natural a Filipino citizen as Vice President Jejomar Binay refers to himself as naturally black.
In a March 20-23 survey, Poe was almost neck-to-neck with Binay without any announcement of her intention to run for higher office.
And with a formal announcement now looming in the horizon, I bet that in future surveys, despite all objections from the spokesperson of the United Nationalist Alliance, the lady senator will eventually pull ahead of the VP.
Unfortunately for Interior Secretary Mar Roxas, his mother Judy Araneta-Roxas beat him to the draw and preempted his announcement of his intention to run for the presidency.
It made her look more interested in her son becoming President more than he does. With that kind of enthusiasm, if she decides to run for President herself, she could win!
Well, Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte is fast becoming a favorite by those who want corruption to be stumped once and for all. My prayer is for our country to get rid of cigarette smoke and illegal drugs.
As far as Sen. Chiz Escudero is concerned, someone said, “Chiz-mis lang yan.”
Now, if Bayani Fernando decides to run once again with Poe, we would have a tandem of Fernando-Poe!
