Filipinos, especially those in Batangas should not feel so bad about how church authorities handled the Lipa Apparitions in 1948. In fact, in India, there is the case of Our Lady’s apparitions which were neither authenticated nor decided upon either by the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith or under its new name, Dicastery of the Doctrine of Faith. When Paul III established the original Sacred Congregation of Universal Inquisition in 1547, the events in the small town on Coromandel Coast by the Bay of Bengal, Tamil Nadu state, should have been investigated but we do know how limited communication was during the advent of Renaissance was. In fact, the 1948 apparition in Lipa which happened already in modern times and the authorities still failed in dialogue and transparency which led to confusion of the Filipino faithful. But the lessons of faith in Velankanni eludes intrigues and politicking by church officials and we are only happy to explore them in spite of the fact that they only involved legends which lent to credibility and therefore, faith. Not that we are espousing belief in Medjugorje, as it was found to teach heresy but this is a matter of how we discern spiritual fruits.

It seems that the Medjugorje Apparitions are true because the cult following of said events have grown very much through the years as proof that “by their fruits ye shall know them.”

I do not wish to prove something new. Before the cases I will mention in this article Our Lady’s intercession had already been proven several times such as in the Battle of Lepanto in 1571, La Naval de Manila in 1646 and the Siege of Vienna in 1683. However, since there is a continues diabolical plot by some Protestants and anti-Marian movements to undermine the role of the Mother of God in protecting her children, allow me to recount her role in at least three decisive events in the last two centuries.

It seems that Our Lady is always on the side of the underpriveleged.

During the start of the EDSA (Epifanio de los Santos Avenue) revolution, February 22, 1986, the forces under Fidel Ramos and Juan Ponce Enrile gravitated in Camp Rafael Crame with the Commander in Chief’s forces ready to pounce on them. During that time Enrile, the Secretary of national defense was divulging that the alleged ambush attempt on his life was just staged in order to justify the imposition of martial law just as in the case of the so-called “Light a Fire” Movement. On the night of the break-up as Ramos and Enrile did not want being arrested, Jaime Cardinal Sin asked the people to bring food to the soldiers in Crame and if possibly protect Ramos’ group. On the next day multitudes of people came to answer the archbishop of Manila’s call.

I always wanted to be in. To be in nowadays, as a modernist, is to accuse Christ of anything. Anything at all. And I , someone who has found immortality has found youth, through witchcraft, and filthy wealth as my lasting inheritance. My name is not important for you but I would sure be remembered by those who somehow, for any reason at all, like the modernists, in order to attack Christ, will endeavor to remember. I am the young rich man who has approached Christ and told Him that I follow the commandments. And yet, what did He do, he even insulted me by saying that the rich will have a hard time passing through the eye of the needle. Goodness, after following all the commandments, this is all I would get. For some, Jesus, the rabbi may be such a gentle person but even more than 2,000 years ago, all I have in my recollection is the pain of being rejected. For how would you feel if someone tells you to leave all your riches behind in order that I could follow Him.

It must have been a very charitable stance for the Catholic Church when its Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith came down with Fiducia Supplicans signed by its prefect, Victor Manuel Fernandez and fully-approved by Pope Francis. This doctrine presupposes that couples, even when living in sin, have the right to be blessed by any willing priest and that the priest concerned is doing them an act of charity short of the sacrament. We however, find this doctrine, although their lame excuse is that it is only pastoral, to be very dangerous as it has made sacramental blessing quite a simple commodity. Perhaps, it has somehow made the priest licentious in a “bless all you can” stance.

No mystery about but it just a given, n=2 for Tango, the world-famous ballroom dance which started from the streets of Buenos Aires. It is believed to have started in the tambo, or the gathering of poor people from the slums near the silvery Rio Plata where they made music and dance and thus, in the tambo developed the Tango. It would help much the Filipino reader to consider the native broom which was taken from the gathering of tambo reeds and binding them together.

In 1948, a series of apparitions was alleged to have taken place in the Carmel Community in Lipa, Batangas by Our Lady, identifying herself as the Mary, Mediatrix of All Grace to Sister Teresita Lat Castillo, a 21-year-old Carmelite postulant. Sister Teresing as she is commonly called escaped from her home of convenience where she was being groomed to be pianist by her well-to-do parents to join the Carmelite community in Lipa.