Mother Ignacia Healing Ministry

SISTER RAQUEL, CANCER HEALER FOR THE LORD

PART I.
A History of Sister Raquel’s Gift of Healing

my thoughts are not your thoughts

my ways are not your ways

as high as the heavens are above the earth

so are my ways above your ways

and my thoughts above your thoughts

for just as from the heavens

the rain and snow come down

and do not return until they have watered the earth

making it fertile and fruitful

to give seed to him who sows and bread to him who labor

so shall My Word

isaiah 55:1-11

Back in June 1991, right after the eruption of Mt. Pinatubo, when Sister Maria Raquel Reodica, RVM, did not have healing powers yet, a Filipino woman, a visionary, approached her. The visionary said that she will soon receive healing power from the Lord. Sister Raquel brushed off the idea with a laugh. She said who was she to get such a gift. Whether the visionary's words were true or not is not the contention of this book. This book merely recounts a story told by Sister Raquel herself. It is up to the reader to believe the words of the visionary or not.

The visionary instructed her to go to Poong Bato (literally 'the Lord made of rock'), a remote village at the foot of Mt. Pinatubo in the province of Zambales. There, the visionary said Sister Raquel was supposed to pray to Our Lady and 'pick her up'. In Poong Bato, a six-foot statue of Our Lady made of cement fell to the ground, half buried in ash because of the violent Mt. Pinatubo eruption. Twenty odd men tried to put the statue upright but they could not. The statue was just too heavy.

When Sister Raquel finally went to Poong Bato, she prayed to Our Lady for guidance concerning the words of the visionary. She was thinking what the visionary meant when she said she was supposed to 'pick up Our Lady'. After prayer, she was able to gather 10 men to try once more to put the statue upright. They said they might not be able to do so because, earlier, 20 men failed. She insisted anyway and the men were shocked when 10 of them could do what 20 men earlier could not. A military helicopter was requested by the local government to move the statue to higher ground. The pilot scratched his head, saying the helicopter was not powerful enough to lift such a heavy cement statue. Evreyone asked him anyway to try. So he did. Like a feather, the helicopter lifted the statue with ease. The pilot later reported that he was surprised that the helicopter instruments registered that the statue had a weight of ‘zero’. This author could not verify the story from the pilot himself, and simply reports this story as told by the local government and by Sister Raquel. And so Sister Raquel did 'pick up' Our Lady there. The statue was eventually named Ina Poong Bato, or Mother Poong Bato. A replica stands at the Manila Cathedral today, and another at the Mother Ignacia Healing Center, donated by the local government.

Sister Raquel believes that it was at Poong Bato that she received her healing power. For in a few days, the Lord was able to heal the sick through her hands. In fact, she told the story of how she prayed to stop a second eruption of Mt. Pinatubo. Refer to Chapter 16.

It is hard to take the word of an unknown and self-proclaimed visionary casually because he or she may be an instrument of the devil rather than the Lord. Who are we to know? One has to be extremely careful. As of this writing, there were about eight visionaries who have talked to Sister Raquel.

In all cases, their predictions were considered but there was always room for doubt. For Sister Raquel, they may or may not happen. She believes strongly that the hand of the Lord is her final and absolute guide in all these. It is His will which will finally prevail, not the words of visionaries. So let it be, she says. If she is an instrument of the Lord, the Lord will make ways to make it so in His time and in His way. So Sister Raquel is never worried, even though she proceeds always with caution.

A French lady came from Paris, looked everywhere for her for a whole month, and found her 'accidentally' at the RVM headquarters in Cubao, Quezon City. She said Sister Raquel would one day be involved in 'global evangelization', whatever that meant. Another visionary predicted that one day she would receive the gift of prophecy.

The hundreds of stories of Sister Raquel is now available in the e-book ‘Healing Stories of Sister Raquel’ (which you can obtain from this website, refer to DOWNLOADS). Sister Raquel's healing power is perhaps related to a cataclysm, namely the eruption of Mt. Pinatubo. And the gift of prophecy, if it will indeed be hers, may be a third eye to see future cataclysms in order to give a message to Mankind, the same message of the Bible throughout the Old and New Testaments, the same message of all the Marian apparitions of 450 years or almost half a millennium, from Our Lady of Guadalupe, Mexico in 1531 to Our Lady of Medjugorje, Yugoslavia in 1981.

This message is really so short and so simple, a child cannot miss it, namely, pray, return to the Lord, repent from sins in order to receive His blessings and avoid His wrath and punishment. Cataclysms were in many biblical events as much as they are today, just like Pinatubo. It is really the combination of the theology of fear and love, of punishment and salvation. Since the time of Abraham and Moses, this message has always be the same. It is also the message of the healings of Sister Raquel. Every terminal cancer she heals has the same message as the Bible, return to the Lord and be blessed. Healing is a product of conversion, of returning to the Lord.

And so, after Pinatubo, Sister Raquel was swept into a whirlwind of healing beyond her imagination. The Lord has healed thousands, many of terminal diseases, cancer of the brain, breast, bone, leukemia, lupus, even leprosy through the hands of Sister Raquel. The Lord has healed the blind and the deaf through her intercession. It is their stories, not Sister Raquel's. The stories in this book are simply their testimonies.

After her first healings, her fame spread like wildfire. She conducted healing missions in 10 countries around the world in the next four years, Spain, France, Taiwan, Thailand, Hongkong, Italy, Canada, United States, Japan, and England. In 1992, she covered five countries in three months. Her second and third trips were in 1993 and 1995. Filipinos from California to New York flocked to her.

She was swept into the violent vortex of media coverage, interviewed by radio, television, and the press. Thousands came to her for help. She was offered her own radio and television program, but she refused, not knowing if she was ready for such a high-profile lifestyle.

After a few years, the frenzy died down. After the storm was the lull. Sister Raquel settled in a quiet remote place. She became the superior of the RVM-run Mother Ignacia Retreat House in Novaliches, Caloocan City. Occasionally, some people came for healing, but the storm had left and the big crowds had vanished.

On September 8, 2000, on the birthday of Our Lady, an article written by the author of this book was published in the Philippine Daily Inquirer, entitled You can see forever, in Pilipino, Tanaw mo ang walang hanggan, which is the story of Chapter One in this book.

After that article came out, the second storm in Sister's life came. Like a deluge after the drought, many came to Sister Raquel once more, some from as far as Davao and Taipei. When the article came out, the telephone rang the whole day. Suddenly, the big crowds came to the once-quiet Novaliches retreat house.

The focus of this book is not so much on Sister Raquel but on her healings as the hand of the Lord. Her hands, as she explains, are not hers but the Lord's. This book is about the Lord, who is called 'the hound of heaven', not so much about Sister Raquel. His voice echoes through the wilderness, through the dark dungeons of human life, seeking souls for salvation, which are lost in the spiritual wastelands of modern civilization. This book is a collection of published articles on the healings of Sister Raquel, and the testimonies of those who were healed.

PART II.
Searching for God’s Will

When Sr. Raquel Reodica, RVM received her gift of healing, there were two big hurdles before she would accept the gift. First, is the gift really from the Lord? Second, would the Church approve of it? In a span of days, the two hurdles would be bridged. It took the Church 20 long years to approve the Fatima miracles. Why was the Lord in a hurry to heal the world through Sister Raquel?

First is the hurdle - is the gift really from the Lord? The gnawing question echoed in her mind - has the Lord indeed chosen her? How would she know?

A rich French woman visionary named Caroline came up to Sister Raquel two weeks after the Mt. Pinatubo eruption, "I have been looking for you for so long. At last, I have found you."

Sister Raquel was startled, "Who me? Why?"

"Jesus told me to look for you and give you His message."

Sister studied the woman carefully. She did not look crazy, and seemed normal in spite of her seemingly ridiculous statement. She was ready to dismiss her as she was tired, but out of curiosity, she asked what the message was. The woman said the Lord has chosen her to have the power to heal in His name.

"How do you know all this?", she asked.

Caroline replied, "He told me. I am only a messenger. He will give you a sign so you will have no doubt whatsoever."

For three hours, the woman related her story, months of searching through Africa. She stumbled into the Philippines. By accident, she ended up in the RVM convent in Ilocos. They sent her to the headquarters in N. Domingo. She was on verge of giving up, until Sister Raquel arrived. Caroline knew instantly somehow and without doubt it was her in her vision.

Bothered that there may be some truth to the vision, in spite of her skepticism, Sister Raquel did the only thing she knew. She went to the RVM Mother General and asked what was she to do. The Mother General said, "Go ahead. Try it. If it is not the Lord, we will find out. If you cannot heal even a toothache, then it is all a farce. But then if you can, we will know for sure, right?"

Sister Raquel admired the wisdom of the Mother General. To believe or not was not important at that moment. The task was to find out. So let it be. There was no need to speculate, just bow in obedience.

Sister went to the garden to meditate, saying, "Lord are you there?" She felt a strong presence to her right. It was His silent reply that indeed He was there.

"What do I do? Am I to be Your healer? What is your agenda? Suppose You are not God and I promote you, what happens to me?" The question was logical and challenging.

Sister recalls the reply that came in the deafening silence, "Go ahead, heal in My name."

Sister recalls how most of the prophets in the Old Testaments refused the call but they had no choice if they were chosen. Suppose she was indeed chosen. She asked, "Are You telling me the same thing You told all those prophets? Why me? Why not the Cardinal or Mother General or the Carmelites? Why me?"

Sister knew the answer in her heart. She just had to obey the Mother General who said, like the Lord in silence, "Go ahead. Try it out."

The chance to prove if Caroline's message was true came like a lightning bolt. That very evening, one of the RVM sisters in her staff from Cebu suddenly appeared. She was in extreme pain and the Mother General told her to go to the hospital after she reported to Sister Raquel. And so she went ot Sister Raquel.

Sister Raquel asked, "Lord, is this it?"

She told the sick nun to stand before the statue of the Sacred Heart and close her eyes. Sister Raquel prayed, "Lord, here are my hands. They are now your instruments."

Sister Raquel touched the nun on the forehead and on every part of her body which was in pain. The nun jerked when she touched her lower spine, complaining how hot her hands were. All her pains vanished instantly. In her excitement, the sick nun told the Mother General, who said she did not have to go to the hospital, and to keep the incident a secret.

Jesus told a leper not to tell others that he was healed. Like the leper, the nun told everyone anyway. The news spread like wildfire. Every sick RVM nun came to Sister Raquel. From then on, the whirlwind began. Her world changed instantly and profoundly. Within two years, she would circle the world many times in healing missions, China, Japan, Spain, California.

Today, 15 years after, she wants to hear from Caroline but she never replied to her letters. Caroline, if you will somehow read this in the Internet, please come and visit Sister Raquel.

The second hurdle was - would the Church approve. For Sister Raquel, who knew the history of the Church and the turmoils surrounding Fatima, Lourdes, and Medjugorje, she was scared of this second hurdle. In these three cases, archbishops and cardinals became the hurdles by playing devil's advocate, which was their role. For they would not risk the Church endorsing a farce.

So the day of reckoning came. A month after she received the gift of healing, when the news had spread like wildfire, the late Cardinal Sin invited her for breakfast. His car picked her up, which made her more nervous. Was the Cardinal angry at her that he was not informed of her healing activities?

Sister Raquel was nervous when Cardinal Sin invited her for breakfast. She asked herself, "If the Cardinal says he does not believe in my gift of healing, what will I answer him? Perhaps I should say, whatever you say, Cardinal. No problem. If he says I should stop, I will stop in obedience. No problem." Sister Raquel prepared herself with all sorts of answers to all sorts of imagined questions. She was afraid that the Cardinal was angry that she did not tell him about her healing activities, if the Church approved of them. But the fact that she had the go signal from the Mother Superior comforted her. Still, this was the Cardinal, the highest Church official in the nation, to whom her congregation was beholden as the agent of the Pope.

Cardinal Sin greeted her with his famous smile as wide as the Cagayan River. Instantly, Sister Raquel’s fears vanished, but still some apprehension remained. The Cardinal told her to go to the dining area for breakfast. There, he was greeted by a host of priests asking her to heal them after breakfast.

Later, after breakfast, she sat down with the Cardinal who said, "I have heard you are into healing." Sister nodded her head nervously.

"Let us go into the chapel. My shoulders are heavy and painful. Be kind enough to heal me."

Let me put it without drama. In a few minutes, all the pain vanished, and Cardinal Sin said, "I give you my blessing to heal in Jesus' name."

And so what took the Fatima miracles 20 years to bridge ecclesiastical hurdles, Sister Raquel took a month. With the two hurdles bridged, the first - was it really a gift from the Lord (part one), and the second - does the Church approve, Sister Raquel was ready for the world.

But why did it seem the Lord was in so much hurry to get Sister Raquel going in her healing ministry? Is it perhaps because of our era of many disasters due to Man's sins? Is the Lord in panic to make people pray and return to Him, otherwise there will be more, tsunamis, bird flu, hurricanes? Is it Agape, God's love for sinful Man who will be the object of His wrath if he does return to His fold?

Later, Sister Raquel would have the gift to talk to nature. When she prayed for Mt. Pinatubo to not erupt once more, which the late Punongbayan predicted, the high temperature and steam at the crater suddenly vanished. When she ordered a super-typhoon to make a detour, suddenly it did. This was featured in many news reports. When she prayed for SARS to go away in a global telecast with Julie Yap Daza, Time Magazine reported two weeks after that SARS suddenly and mysteriously vanished as fast as it emerged. Skeptics doubt if all these could be attributed to a lowly Filipino nun in prayer. But the thousands who have been healed in the last 15 years believe she has the power to talk to nature as much as she has the power to heal them.

Recalling the story of her gift of healing, Sister Raquel says that it is so easy to reconcile the will of Man to the will of God. All Man has to do is surrender himself totally and God will do everything. This does not mean Man will simply sit there waiting for God’s hand. He must also act, but his movement must search for the will of God. That is the only way God can work wonders. He cannot act if Man’s will resists. They must work in tandem.