As the day of the procession of the Black Nazarene draws near, thousands of devotees flock to Quiapo Church to pray for personal intentions.

One of the devotees is Elizabeth Tan, 60 years old, who has been a devotee of the Black Nazarene for 50 years. Elizabeth said that her faith was strengthened when God appeared to her.

"I believe in God. I have been a believer of God since then, but my faith was truly strengthened when he appeared to me. I cannot explain the feeling when I saw him," she said.

Elizabeth reminisced about how her prayers to the Black Nazarene healed her mother during her illness when they were stuck in the hospital for a long time.

"Indeed, I have been a devotee of the Nazarene for 50 years, and I have been more devoted since my mother fell ill. Both my sibling and I were taking care of our mother when the doctor said that there was no hope for her survival. I asked my sibling, 'Why? Is the doctor God?' Of course, the doctor isn't God,'" she asked.

"When I went home, I saw a replica of the Black Nazarene in our neighbor's storage room where all saints were piled up. The Nazarene is quite dirty, so I took it and cleaned it up. Then I prayed to the Nazarene. I said, 'Lord, give me another chance to extend my mother's life, grant it to me.' Fortunately, God did prolong my mother's life," Elizabeth said.

By then, during the pandemic, Elizabeth's mother was in the throes of death, accepting her mother's impending passing.

"Then the pandemic came, and I said, 'Lord, if you will take her, I will accept it. Because I don't want her to suffer anymore.' So, when she turned 80 years old, she passed away. That's how it happened," she said.

When asked what her prayers are to the Black Nazarene as the annual celebration of Traslacion approaches, she said good health and peace to everyone.

"I hope no one gets sick anymore, there's no more pandemic, everyone is free. And then, I hope everything becomes better. I also hope that my family will have strong health, and no one will get sick," said Elizabeth.

Devotees are highly anticipating the feast day of the Black Nazarene on 9 January as hundreds of thousands of devotees are expected to flock to Quiapo church. The procession of the Black Nazarene from the Quirino grandstand of Quiapo Church had been canceled for the past three years due to the pandemic. As it returns this year, authorities are expecting over two million devotees to join the Traslacion.