Sr. Teresita “Teresing” Castillo was a daughter of a former governor of Batangas. She ran away from her family to enter the Carmelite Monastery to become a nun at the time of her 21st birthday, than fulfilling her family’s wish. During her life at the monastery, she encountered the devil which she called the “the evil one”. The devil tempted her to give up being a nun and return to her family when it told her the welfare of her father. This is mostly happening when she prayed to her convent cell. But she did not fall to the devil’s temptation. Then on September 12, 1948, during the feast of the Holy Name of the Blessed Virgin Mary, while she is in the garden, a vine shakes which is impossible because there is no wind. Then a sweet voice of a woman told her to kiss the ground and return to the garden for fifteen days. Then in the next day, the Blessed Virgin appeared to her in the garden when she prayed the Hail Mary. Then many miracles occurred during the apparition. This apparition faces many challenges until it was declared by Pope Pius XII that there is no supernatural. The Bishop of Lipa forms a commission to reinvestigate but until Pope Francis insist Pope Pius XII’s decision that this apparition is not true.
Now let’s return to the question. Did the Blessed Virgin Mary really appear to Sr. Teresita or is it a devil in disguise? The Apparition in Lipa, Batangas is true. Here’s our basis that the apparition is true.
1. Supernatural event before the Apparition
Before the seer met the Blessed Virgin Mary, there will be a preparation. For example, the three seers of Fatima where the Angel (St. Michael) appeared to them and prepared by praying and receiving the Eucharist from the Angel himself. While Sr. Teresita faced the devil and resist its temptation which is very worthy to meet the Blessed Mother.
During the first apparition to St. Bernadette Soubirous in Lourdes, there’s a gust of wind but the trees didn’t move, then the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to her. Then at Fatima, there’s a flash of lightning without a sign of storm. While in an apparition in Lipa where the vines moved without a wind. Before she appeared, a supernatural event occurred that even science cannot explain.
2. The number fifteen
Another similarity is the number fifteen. In Lourdes, the Blessed Virgin Mary request St. Bernadette to go to the grotto in fifteen days, which she also requested to St. Teresita to come into the garden in fifteen days in Lipa. While in Fatima, she requested for the three children to keep her company for 15 minutes while praying the rosary. So why fifteen? Not twelve or seven? Because the number fifteen represents the fifteen mysteries of the Holy Rosary (5 Joyful, 5 Sorrowful, 5 Glorious… 5 Luminous by Pope John Paul is not included).
3. Her name
During her apparition, the Blessed Virgin never said her name from the beginning. But introduce herself on the last day of apparition as one of her titles. In Lourdes, she told St. Bernadette that she is the Immaculate Conception, in Fatima she is the Lady of the Rosary. Then in Lipa, she introduced herself as Mary, Mediatrix of All Grace.
3. Suffering and Sacrifice
During the events of the Apparition in Lourdes, the Blessed Virgin Mary told St. Bernadette that she will not promise her happiness in this world but in the next, in short she will experience suffering in this world while she is alive which happens during the investigation of the apparition and questioned by many people. While in Lipa, the Blessed Virgin Mary told Sr. Teresita that suffering will always be with her until the end of her life. Which happens when other Bishops and the Vatican including Pope Piux XII stated that the apparition is a Hoax, she was removed as a nun, her superiors and bishop who believe this apparition was moved to another place. These seers, because of their faith in God and devotion to the Blessed Mother, embrace their suffering and offer it as a sacrifice. Unlike some of the seers on the fake of Apparition in Medjugorje, are now enjoying their fame.
[To be Continue]
