Asian Journal- The Filipino-American Community Newspaper

It would take more than a lifetime to watch the movie of your life—successes, sins and sorrows.  But for Brother Stanley Villavicencio, it only took him three days.  His life was presented to him by the Lord—and rewinded it three times to review—and further changed his life, devotion and faith.

Today, Bro. Stanley goes around the world to relay the Lord’s message of love and mercy.  In fact, he recently gave talks in Northern California and has just arrived from Brazil.  He is now in Los Angeles to share his unwavering faith and devotion to the Divine Mercy.

An ordinary man of extraordinary faith

Born in Bais, Negros Oriental, Bro. Stanley was raised a Roman Catholic and had a great devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus Christ, a devotion he started when he was still in grade school.

He married Melissa Gantuangco Villar, a nurse, and moved to Cebu to start a family. Still, his devotion continued, as close to his house was a chapel dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.   Having the chapel near his house had a great bearing on his decision, but after moving, he discovered that the chapel was portable.  “Portable lang siya, pero meron nag-donate ng lote, kaya we were able to build a permanent chapel,” he explained.  In 1983, he became Chapel President.

Bro. Stanley was basically and ordinary man. In 1993, he was an employee of AVSECOM (The Aviation Security Command). He also became a member of the Perpetual Dawn Rosary Association in Cebu.  

A miracle and a calling

In 1993, as head of the family, Bro. Stanley was suppose to receive the statue of the Virgin Mary into their home.  However, that morning when the statue arrived, he was not up and so his mother-in-law received it.   Concerned, she went inside the bedroom, where she found him convulsing, blood spurting from his mouth.  

Bro. Stanley was taken to Chong Hua Hospital in Cebu and was rushed to the Emergency Room. There, still bleeding profusely from his mouth, and convulsing, he was injected with the maximum dose of Valium to try to stop the convulsions and slow down the huge quantity of blood pouring from his mouth.   The doctors ran all sorts of tests, but could not locate the source of the bleeding, nor any kind of illness.   “Wala akong sakit noon,” he said and added, “but I was pronounced clinically dead by the doctors.”

Doctors took a blood test with view of giving him a blood transfusion, but his blood count was normal which medically was impossible, it meant that his body was not short of blood, despite the fact he had lost so much blood. He slipped into a coma, is heartbeat became slower, his skin color turned gray and then he stopped breathing.