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Thursday, April 13, 2006
The Healing Hand
By Jenara Regis Newman
Msgr. Cris Garcia remembers the healing hand of the Black Nazarene of Quiapo from early in his childhood when it was brought to his ailing grandfather, Don Gil Garcia. Now, that healing hand is temporarily with him, housed in the chapel of the Societes Angelis Pacis (SAP) in Cansojong, Talisay City. How it came to be there is a story in itself.
Msgr. Cris recounts that early this year, he said Mass in the Quiapo Basilica.
While saying the Mass, he asked the kneeling Black Nazarene to grant him the favor of being able to kneel: for three years, he could not genuflect because it was excruciatingly painful to do so. He said the faithful could kneel from the church door to the altar and here he was, a priest who could not even genuflect. And three times during that mass, he was able to genuflect. Just after the ceremony, the sacristan asked him if he wanted to see the original Black Nazarene. On the way there, he asked the sacristan where the healing hand was, to which the latter replied: It’s going around. In front of the original Black Nazarene, Msgr. Cris was able to kneel, on both knees, and he was able to do so from then on.
Back in Cebu, he met Louie Nacorda who wanted to revive the devotion to the Black Nazarene. In Cebu, Louie recounts there used to be a strong devotion to the Black Nazarene housed in the Recoletos church that was torn down. It was also the Recollect priests who brought the Black Nazarene to Manila 400 years ago in the 31st of May.
Some weeks back, Msgr. Cris was asked to say a healing mass in Ozamis. In the boat, Thelma Siao asked him to open a box. He was afraid to, thinking it would contain an armalite or some weapon. When the lady insisted that he open it, he finally did, to find that it contained the left hand, the pilgrim or healing hand, of the Black Nazarene, the one that was brought to his grandfather. This hand he used during the healing Mass in Ozamis.
He brought the hand back to Cebu, and notified in advance the community of the SAP chapel and some friends that he would say a healing Mass with the Black Nazarene’s hand upon his arrival. A few days later, on March 5, Msgr. Cris had a statue of the Black Nazarene installed in the chapel by the rector of the Quiapo Basilica, Msgr. Josefino Ramirez, vicar general of Manila. It was also supposed to be the last day for the healing hand to be in Cebu, but Fr. Ramirez announced he would let the hand stay here until the end of the quadricentennial year of the Black Nazarene’s arrival, which means the hand will be here until May 31, 2007.
There have been many healings reported with the use of the hand. One of the most dramatic was that of a businessman-doctor who suffered a massive stroke and whose daughter had told Msgr. Cris that the chances of his survival were very slim. Msgr. Cris visited the doctor and imposed the healing hand on him. That first time, the doctor seemed to open his eyes.
The following day, Msgr. Cris again visited the doctor and this time, the doctor opened his eyes and seemed to follow Msgr. Cris in saying the chaplet of the Divine Mercy. On the third day, the doctor was fully conscious and prayed the chaplet of the Divine Mercy with Msgr. Cris. The doctor has since left the hospital, fully recovered with no trace of his stroke in the laboratory exams.
During the year the healing hand is with the SAP chapel, Msgr. Cris says there will be healing Masses at 3 o’clock in Cebuano on Fridays and at 3 o’clock in English on Sundays, and at the 5:30 English Mass on Saturdays.
Those are the days the healing hand is in the chapel. On other days, Msgr. Cris says he goes to parishes or communities that request for it, bringing with him the statue and the hand to help heal the faithful physically and spiritually.
A caveat here: there is, of course, no guarantee that a person gets cured because of the healing hand, no matter how great his faith is in the Lord and in the power of the hand. In the final analysis, the Lord dispenses his favors to those he wishes; and to others, he may want them to suffer with him. Everything, after all, is in God’s almighty hand.
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (April 13, 2006 issue)
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