MANILA, Philippines - In all of my 64 years of life, this is the year that I feel most blessed because I had the opportunity to attend the Eucharistic Mass and healing by Fr. Fernando Suarez. Indeed, God loves me. We spent the last week of March attending a miracle healing session with Fr. Fernando Suarez, the healing servant leader of Monte Maria Shrine in Batangas, but who is actually based with the Companions of Christ in Ontario, Canada. Brother Romualdo Abulad of SVD in Cebu sent me an e-mail about the healing stones of the Batangas shrine last year. And now, I witnessed a lot of healing during the two sessions we attended in New Jersey.
First, we had a Eucharistic Mass and then a healing session throughout the whole night of Monday at St. Veronica Church in Howell, New Jersey. It was a very prayerful and peaceful session, with people queuing and waiting for their turn. Nobody went into hysteria or created disorder or disturbance, although the police were around for crowd control. I also bought wooden and pearl bracelet rosaries, which oftentimes heal the sick.
After the session, Fr. Fernando Suarez came to us Filipinos and even asked if there were rice, sardines, and pan de sal in my cousin’s house, as those were what he wanted to eat for dinner. The Americans listening to us were flabbergasted that there was so much food in the church refectory, but he wanted sardines and Philippine pan de sal. It was something only Filipinos living abroad for a long time could understand — this pining for gut-level, simple Philippine food. So we bought sardines from the supermarket, went home, and got the pan de sal and rice, and my cousin brought the food to him in the refectory. She even heated it in the microwave and waited for him to finish eating. He was looking for Philippine toyo, but there was none, there was only teriyaki sauce.
Then Tuesday lunchtime, we had another prayer meeting and healing session in the house of a married couple from Batangas, both of them medical graduates of the University of Santo Tomas, now practicing pediatric medicine in the USA and living in New Jersey. The Filipino group was there, everybody bringing pot-luck Philippine food.
There was an open forum where Fr. Fernando Suarez explained the Mary Mother of the Poor ministry and foundation that he has founded, and we asked questions about it. I asked about the healing stones in the shrine that Brother Romy told me about. Indeed, people are going to the mountain shrine and gathering stones by the bagful. Some stones are even brought abroad, passing through customs and immigration in foreign countries without much problem, so that it is a wonder the stones in the mountain are not diminished or lessened.
I noticed that Fr. Fernando Suarez is a very simple man, with very simple taste and very authentic stories. He tells us how he was called by God to be a priest at 16, and almost at the same time, he was given a vision to heal. But he finished a degree in chemistry first, before he went to study in the seminary. Four seminaries rejected his application. Up to now, he is experiencing rejection by people, parishes, and even archbishops.
But when Fr. Suarez is healing, he seems to have a third eye. You do not even have to tell him what your sickness is, he seems to know where specifically to touch you. Many people are slain in the spirit, healed in the spiritual, emotional, and physical levels. Many cases are documented for presentation in Rome.
On Tuesday night, Fr. Suarez celebrated another Eucharistic Mass and healing session in the gymnasium because there were thousands of people from all over the United States.
There are three stories, though, that I find worth reflecting on.
First, Fr. Fernando Suarez was asked by the wife of the president of Universal Studios to minister to her husband who was in coma. He got healed and rose from his coma.
Second, Oprah Winfrey is trying to invite Fr. Fernando Suarez to appear on her show. So far, the answer from the ministry is “No.”
Third, the Bay of Batangas that is across the Monte Maria Shrine has natural healing waters because sharks go there to recuperate from their sickness. Sharks stay there as a kind of haven or shark’s hospital, because there are so many leeches that could seep their blood and cure shark’s diseases. This has already been proven by experts on ecology and veterinary medicine.