Miracle of the Healing cloth

“Temporary lang ato life so I do good to everyone, aron wala nakoy problema.” This is the mantra of 64-year-old Candelaria Go. Dequito, who, since 2002, started giving out miniature images of Sr. Sto. Niño to anyone and everyone she meets.

This mother of four successful professionals is a native of Camiguin and now resides along Natalio Bacalso Avenue. She used to be a top dealer of the international brand Mondragon for 10 years until it closed down. She was the cream of the crop that the company even rewarded her with two cars for her achievements then. That being said, it was evident that she has also established financial stability that has served her well until now, although her businessman husband is also very supportive of her. Now, apart from her charity works and religious activities, she engages in buy and sell to keep her workaholic spirit going.

Candelaria, fondly called by her friends as Madam Lily, always has that soft spot for the less fortunate. But it was sometime in 2002 after her return to Cebu from the United States, where she was based for six months, that she made it a point to stuff her car with candies to give out to children who would knock on her window every time she halted for the stop sign. Later on her good gesture paved the way to handing miniature images of the Sto. Niño to strangers. Asked what triggered her act then, Madam Lily does not know why.

“Ambot nganong nabuhat to nako. Basta naa lay murag naghunghong nako nga manghatag ko,” Madam Lily told The Freeman Lifestyle, during a casual talk at her residence last Sunday afternoon. 

She just went on giving miniature images of the Holy Child until she met people who became friends that taught her how to recycle papers that are transformed into a container or platform of the miniature image. She also later on found a supplier for the images. 

But if Madam Lily still cannot explain why she started giving out images of the Holy Child, people close to her believe the act was a preliminary to something marvelous yet mind-boggling that was to occur four years after.

Dripping Oil

Sometime in 2006 at around 3 o’clock in the afternoon, Madam Lily discovered oil-like fluid dripping from her right side just below her ribs, but she did not mind it. She eventually forgot such discovery. Then fast forward to 2009 when she attended an event at the Sacred Heart Center.

“Pagpadung nako sa awto daghan nasang oil under my ribs but sa right side ra. Padung ko og laing event at that time, pag-abot nako sa venue, I wanted to squeeze it unta sa tasa to see unsa kadaghan, but wala na lang kay maikog ko sa catering,” she recalled.

Then a high school classmate, in a text message, informed Madam Lily she was in Cebu and asked her to go with her to the Basilica. It turned out her classmate, who was 60 years old at that time, suffered from high blood pressure, myoma, and diabetes and was in need of P500, 000 for the medical procedures she has to undergo. The classmate kept on touching her right side when she told her about the dripping oil. Another friend who had dysmenorrhea had also touched her blouse then. In short a lot of her friends have touched her right side at that time when she told them about her discovery.

But Madam Lily’s husband was worried, so he told her to see her doctor just to be sure. After a medical check-up, she was told nothing was wrong with her health. The dripping lasted only for half a day.

Madam Lily decided to keep her blouse unwashed and later brought it to the Basilica to have it blessed. While at the Basilica, she met a woman who told her she has received a “gift” from the Holy Child.

At that time she did not have any inkling what the woman meant. Then after several days, she learned that her friends, who had health problems and were able to touch her during the recurrence of the dripping oil, have been healed.

Since then, her friends have been telling her she has received a “miracle” but she did not give it much thought. However, she confided to her priest friends about it, who told her, God indeed might have worked in mysterious ways. Her question then was, “Why me?”

Healing Cloth

The time came that her other friends who had illnesses requested if they could have a piece of her blouse so that they could put it over the ailing part of their body in the hope of being healed. Though unconvinced, Madam Lily thought that if she could be of any help, there is no reason at all to deprive her friends. But instead of cutting her blouse to pieces, she decided to buy 100 handkerchiefs and rubbed them on her blouse. She thought that nothing will be left of her clothing if she allowed it to be cut gradually. 

Meanwhile another friend, in an effort to put some sense to what was happening shared to her Acts 19:11-12 of the Holy Bible that goes: “God did extraordinary miracles through Paul, so that even handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched him were taken to the sick, and their illnesses were cured and the evil spirits left them.”

Eventually, she decided to buy bulks of cloth and had it cut to pieces to save money because many people have been asking for it already after hearing wonderful stories of people who have been healed. But it was only in October last year that she was convinced about the gift when she herself cheated death and was miraculously healed after a heartfelt prayer. That time she was in Laoag for a religious convention when she had a heart attack, due perhaps to over-fatigue because prior to that trip, she just came from a pilgrimage to the Holy Land.

“Imagine unsa ka layo ang byahe from Laog to the Fort in Taguig — sa St. Lukes Medical Center. Ingon sila nawad-an daw ko og panimuot, nakalimot nako. But I prayed to God nga ayuhon ko niya,” she revealed.

The prognosis was that she suffered from enlargement of the heart, so her doctor decided that she be brought to Cebu and was confined at the Cebu Doctor’s Hospital. She underwent angiogram but doctors reportedly found nothing wrong. “Nawala lang,” she pointed out.

The “healing cloth” has gone a long way and has reached a lot of places already. People from all walks of life who have received the “gift” that is composed of an image of the Sto. Nino with a healing cloth and her contact details, claimed they have been healed. In fact, her mobile phone inbox is filled with messages from strangers who thanked her about the gift, while others ask if they could also have one.

The response is so overwhelming that Madam Lily decided to compile all these testimonies in a book that will be launched on February 2, at the Sacred Heart Center in commemoration of her 65th birthday. Her goal is very clear - to spread the good news and, in a way, give hope to the hopeless. 

The book contains testimonies of local personalities and people from around the country who claimed they have been cured by the “healing cloth.” But Madam Lily has this final message to the would-be recipients of her “gift”: “Pag-ampo gyud mo. Ayaw mo pagsalig.”