Your mantra for the week: “With love and understanding, I can forgive all.”

 

I wonder why, after two millenniums, no one has made a move to edit the Holy Bible, especially the Old Testament, where God, on several occasions, regretted what He had created.

 

The concept of God making a mistake is really too difficult to digest, and through all the years I was a closed Catholic, no priest ever mentioned any of these four quotations in their sermons:

 

“God regretted and the Lord was sorry that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.” (Genesis 6:6)

“So the Lord said, I will destroy men whom I have created from the face of the earth, both men and animals and the creeping things and the fowls of the air. I am sorry that I have made them.” (Genesis 6:7)

 

“And the Lord regretted that he had made Saul king over Israel.” (1 Samuel 15:35)

 

“And the Lord sent an angel to Jerusalem to destroy it, and he was destroying it and the Lord saw, and considered it, and averted the disaster.” (1 Chronicles 21:15)

 

When I realized that the Catholic God was not only capable of anger and jealousy, but also had intentions of destroying all His creations after regretting having made them, I ended my Catholic days.

 

Imagine the Holy Book saying God can make mistakes and regret them deeply—and yet, the Pope, according to the Vatican, when he speaks ex cathedra, becomes infallible.

Tatler Ball

 

Philippine Tatler’s head, the indefatigable Irene Martel-Francisco, has already sent out invitations to its 15th Anniversary Ball on Nov. 19 at Rizal Ballroom of Makati Shangri-La, a benefit for the advanced-stage breast cancer patients of the Philippine General Hospital (PGH) Cancer Institute.

 

In Iamism, I teach that all diseases start from our mental and emotional states, and ultimately become physical when we refuse to free ourselves of painful experiences and memories that cause deep-seated resentments.

 

In my belief system, these resentments are the cause of cancer. In the case of breasts, symbols of nourishment, for example, when cancer hits, there is resentment about not being loved and nourished.

I believe cancer can be avoided by the Biblical saying, “Be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind.”

 

However, when the cancer appears in the lungs, the good news is that Merck Sharp and Dohme, according to its president and managing director,  Beaver Tamesis, now has a breakthrough drug called Keytruda that will eliminate the need for chemotherapy.

 

The mental equivalent of lung cancer has something to do with the patient’s self-worth. Therefore, people around them must do all they can to make the patient feel he or she has much to contribute to family, community and life.

 

In the meantime, while there is no drug to stop breast cancer, aside from chemotherapy, Tatler has decided to assist those in need of treatment. All donations will go to the PGH Cancer Institute, because Tatler is underwriting all expenses for the ball.

 

Carlos Quirino’s ‘Old Manila’

 

Last Wednesday, Vibal Foundation and Filipinas Heritage Library launched the second edition of National Artist for History Carlos Quirino’s “Old Manila,” with the “Boxer Codex,” at Ayala Museum, where he was the first director/curator.

 

Author and musician Richie Quirino and sister Denden Quirino were hosts. The well-attended launch was filled with familiar faces, but the guests of honor—former Presidents Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, Joseph Estrada and Fidel V. Ramos—failed to make it for various reasons.

 

The book will soon be available at National Book Store and Fully Booked. Call 5807400.

Fab interiors

 

If you haven’t visited Fashion Interiors  at 2307 Chino Roces Ave. Makati City, right beside Eco Plaza, you are truly missing a most beautiful interior design experience.

 

Fashion Interiors manufactures the most unique furniture for export, but is also available to local customers. The workmanship is flawless; one is tempted to redo one’s existing interiors after having seen the store’s products.

 

Father-and-son team Paul Sr. and Jr. Cornelissen are responsible for this exquisite new collection.

 

Paul and Gela entertained friends recently to present the 2017 collection, which is also displayed in showrooms in the US, Canada, Paris, Russia, Brazil and many other parts of the world.

 

Hillary’s unexpected defeat

 

On Oct. 23, three days before Hillary Clinton’s birthday, I wrote: “Oct. 26, she celebrates her 69th birthday and enters her first of the seven astrological planetary cycles which will attract into her life expected and unexpected blessings, propelling her to victory and probably even a landslide triumph.”

 

All polls showed this to be accurate. And if not for a Comey-dic letter on Oct. 28 to Congress from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, which everyone accepts as “inappropriate” because of its timing, and which eventually cleared Clinton of criminal charges just the same, I believe she would have won even the electoral college as well as the popular vote.

 

For 18 months, candidate and now President-elect Donald Trump talked about the elections being rigged. But if there was any rigging done, that missive by FBI director James Comey was it.

 

Protests have erupted all over the United States in the wake of the elections. Hillary has asked her fellow Americans to accept the election results. To me, that is the picture of a true winner.

 

I still believe the “unexpected blessings” are yet to come to Hillary—truly, the most prepared person to be president of the most powerful nation in the world. I stand by the adage that when something wonderful is taken away from you, the universe replaces it with greater blessings.

 

Supreme outrage

 

For the second time, the Supreme Court has made an ignominious decision regarding Ferdinand E. Marcos.

 

The first time, it reversed the Marcos conviction for the murder of Julio Nalundasan based on one of the justices’ arguments. That justice, my father was told, supposedly told his colleagues, “What do we get by convicting somebody with a great future?”

 

The Supreme Court’s 9-5 decision allowing Marcos’ burial at Libingan ng mga Bayani sends a message to everyone, especially the youth, that it’s okay to plunder and bankrupt the country, declare martial law, silence all opposition and commit human rights abuses with impunity. All one has to do to get exonerated is to to run to the Supreme Court.

 

These are the times when the use of “p*ina” can be justified, as Lourd de Veyra has done. Thank you, Lourd!