The mailbag is always interesting, rarely more so than when it involves the issue of alleged prophecy.

It's a volatile topic. Occasionally, a theologian or cleric will state that to "prophesy" doesn't mean to predict, but rather to proclaim -- and there is fact in that: preaching the Truth is one of the definitions, and perhaps the key one, of prophecy.

But throughout Scripture, prophets also foresaw future events. It is plainly written.

It is a very tricky topic to approach (italicize "very"). When does prophesying that edifies (which the Bible encourages) give way to sensationalism and titillation (playing to "itching ears," which Scripture does not encourage)? For example, what does one do with an article sent in the mail asserting that a "visionary and healer," Sister Raquel Reodice, RVM [left], of the Philippines, has had prophetic indications lately -- written in oil?

Some background: according to their website, the Religious of the Virgin Mary is a congregation fully approved by the Church and dating back to Sister M. Ignacia del Espiritu Santo, a humble, devout woman who lived during the Spanish colonial era in the Philippines. 

The order she began was approved by the Archdiocese of Manila in 1732.

Sister Raquel -- the healer and prophet -- is a member of this order, and as for her background (before we get to a recent unusual prophecy): "Back in June 1991, right after the eruption of Mt. Pinatubo, when sister did not have healing powers yet, a Filipino woman, a visionary, approached her," says a website dedicated to her story. "The visionary said that she would 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?"

"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 [after initial reluctance], she prayed to Our Lady for guidance and was thinking about what the visionary meant that Sister Raquel was supposed to "pick up Our Lady. After prayer, she reportedly gathered ten men to try once more to put the statue upright and they were shocked when indeed they could do what twenty men earlier could not.

"A military helicopter was requested by the local government to move the statue to higher ground," the account continues. "The pilot scratched his head, saying the helicopter was not powerful enough to lift such a heavy cement statue. Everyone 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.'

"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."

Notes another website: "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.

"After her first healings, her fame spread like wildfire. She conducted healing missions in ten countries around the world in the next four years: Spain, France, Taiwan, Thailand, Hong Kong, 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."

It is said that after spending time with her, famed Cardinal Jaime Sin of Manila said, "I give you my blessing to heal in Jesus' Name."

The lore has built around her. When she prayed to halt another eruption of Mt. Pinatubo, it is claimed, the steam and high temperature at the crater suddenly vanished. When she ordered a super-typhoon to make a detour, that also (allegedly) happened. "This was featured in many news reports," says the website. "When she prayed for SARS to go away in a global telecast with [host] 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.

"When Typhoon 'Ramil' threatened Ilocos a few weeks after Typhoon 'Ondoy,' Sister Raquel and a chaplain, Father Teofilo, fell on their knees in prayer, pleading to the Lord to spare the Philippines," said a newspaper Philippine Daily Inquirer. "Curiously, two high-pressure areas sandwiched Ramil, which weakened into a tropical depression and veered towards Taiwan."

If that isn't enough to discern, the newspaper also asserts that the sister "says she has received Divine messages to the world that in the last few months came in the form of mysterious pools of healing oil. This healing oil became the basis of Sister Raquel’s claim of messages from the Lord for the world. She did not hear voices, she simply 'felt' the messages overwhelm her consciousness, which she finds hard to describe.

"Second, Sister Raquel speaks of the urgency for the rich, comprising three percent of the country’s population, to give to the seventy percent who are poor. This virtue of sharing is not an option, it is an obligation, she says.

"Sister Raquel says the Lord is not requesting but demanding that everyone start helping others, praying harder, and renewing lives in Him. Sister Raquel stressed that people are not obliged to believe her. Faith is a gift and belief is of the free will. But there is nothing to lose in listening to the warnings, old warnings we have forgotten (the third secret) and everything to gain in renewing life in the Lord."