ONLY SOMETHING diabolical must have intervened to prevent full devotion to the Blessed Mother as Mediatrix of All Grace in her 19 apparitions in Lipa, Batangas in 1948. While the Vatican had, in 1951, declared the Lipa events – primarily involving Marian apparitions to the late Teresing Castillo – as not being supernatural, devotion to Mary, Mediatrix of All Grace has been ironically allowed since then.
It was my uncle, Lipa Archbishop Emeritus Ramon Arguelles, who reopened on Sept. 12, 2005 the veneration of Our Lady, Mediatrix of All Grace. On the same date the following year, he declared every Sept. 12 as National Day of Pilgrimage and Prayer to Mother Mary as Mediatrix.
In 2009, he appointed a commission to reinvestigate the apparitions which was later declared anew by the Vatican as not being supernatural, to the chagrin of my uncle.
Last Sept. 12, my uncle posted in our family Facebook messenger account as follows: “Happy Feast of the Most Holy Name of Mary, Mediatrix of All Grace! Her urgent plea is for penance and prayer for the holiness of consecrated ones, priests particularly, and for the conversion of China and all Asia. The predominantly Catholic nation in this hemisphere plays a key role for the realization of this desire of God, of the Mediatrix of All Grace and of the Church. The 500-year-old Christian nation’s failure to become, with Mary, the Third Millennium Evangelizer will be disastrous especially for the Church in the Philippines. May every Filipino Catholic be equal to the Millennium challenge.”
On June 4, 2015, in a homily at San Sebastian Cathedral, my uncle said: “I declare today what I always have at heart: Mary, Mediatrix of All Grace of Lipa is worthy of belief.”
On September 15, 2015, as part of the feast day celebrations in Lipa, he released an official statement of approval declaring “that the events and apparition of 1948 also known as the Marian phenomenon in Lipa and its aftermath even in recent times do exhibit supernatural character and is worthy of belief.”
But on May 31, 2016, he reluctantly issued another statement that Vatican had, with apparent finality, declared the Lipa events as not being supernatural, despite allowing continuing devotion to Mary, Mediatrix of All Grace.
My uncle retired three years short the age mandated by the Church.
Two years ago, in a family reunion, my unclearchbishop told me he continued to believe in the authenticity of the Lipa events. Something diabolical, he said, must have intervened to block full devotion to Our Mediatrix of All Grace. This now has assumed more credence in our times, especially here in the Philippines.
Sometime ago, Cardinal Ricardo J. Vidal, archbishop emeritus of Cebu, wrote to the Philippine bishops that on Oct. 17, 1949, Mary Mediatrix of All Grace told visionary Teresing: “Pray hard for China’s dream is to invade the whole world. The Philippines is one of its favorites. Money is the evil force that will lead the people of the world to destruction.”
The Mediatrix of All Grace added: “Prayers, sacrifices, self-denials and the daily recitation of rosary will soften the heart of my Son as I said before.’”
Now, it is easier to relate to this Marian warning, isn’t it? The time for action is now. Mary, Mediatrix of All Grace was specific in the actions to take.
