I've first heard of Father Suarez around 2006, when there was a healing mass to be held in our office and the organizers were pre-registering the names of the sick who wishes to be healed. I didn't pay attention back then. After that, I'd hear his name time and again.
Fast forward to a day in 2011, my mom mentioned that she wants to visit Father Suarez's place in Tagaytay. But we never got around to it. Until last week, when she told me that one of our neighbors have listed her name for the healing mass at Glorietta Mall, Makati. She asked me Friday night if I was going to go with them and I said yes, more out of the fact that I wanted to personally assist my mom than experiencing the healing mass.
Then on the day itself, I was having 2nd thoughts about going with them. I was tired from a heavy week at work and I was thinking of just staying home to rest the whole weekend. A part of me was also starting to think "what do I need to be healed from? I'm fine physically". But another part of me was also telling me "you need to go, not just for your mom but you need to be healed from a lot of things and you know it because you can't sleep anymore with all the emotional baggages you've been carrying for a long time". Sometime mid-morning I told my mom that I won't be going anymore and she got got irked with this and chastised me. I decided to take a nap and will just decide afterwards. I woke up at 2:30 pm from my nap and decided that I will join my mom and my neighbors to the mass. And so we went to Glorietta.
Upon reaching the activity center where the mass was going to be held, there was a "one-ticket, one person" policy. Needless to say, I didn't have a ticket. I told my mom and my neighbor that it's okay, I can just stand outside the area and I'd still be able to hear the Mass. I'd just wait for them outside.
And I did just that. I stood outside the designated area and was already thinking of going to Greenbelt chapel to attend an anticipated mass or just sit there and spend time with God (minus Father Suarez), when a woman suddenly approached me and asked "Miss, wala kang tiket? (Miss, you don't have a ticket?)" and I replied in the affirmative. Then she gave me one. She was supposed to go with a friend but her friend didn't show up. At that very moment, I knew that I was meant to be there. And as if God really wants me to be sure that I am invited to that celebration, another woman approached me and gave me another ticket! So now I have two tickets! I saw a couple waiting outside and it looked to me that the wife really wanted to go in, so I approached her and gave her my extra ticket. I also told her to just wait for a while and someone might be kind enough to give her a ticket so that her husband can get in.
While waiting for the mass to start, I still wasn't sure what to ask from God, I mean to heal me from what? Then Father Suarez came out and started the celebration. In his opening message, he emphasized that the fact that we were all there, some even coming from far flung provinces, is enough to know that God sees us, He knows each and every one of our needs, that God is pouring His infinite mercy on each and everyone of us. Father Suarez reminded us also not to be shy in taking God's mercy.
I like the story he shared with us that when he first received his gift, he had doubts whether this gift was from God or the devil. I like it because it showed the human side of Father Suarez. I mean he is human, but to be given a gift something like his, I know that it's not ordinary and not easy. At the start, he even had doubts whether the gift was from God or from the devil.
The Gospel was the story of the apostle Thomas. Yes, THE Doubting Thomas. Father Suarez emphasized how blessed we are who lives in this day and age when Jesus no longer roams the earth, yet we believe in Him. Unlike the apostles who have spent time with the Son of God and yet they still have their doubts.
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| I was on the 2nd floor already and only had my iPhone to take this pic |
After the mass, that's when the healing service began. I belonged to the last batches of people who lined up for the healing service because I got in late. This gave me time to watch as Father Suarez laid his healing hands on the afflicted. I saw people being slain in the spirit. And it gave me goose bumps seeing those. In that moment, my mind was telling me that I was seeing Father Suarez, but my heart knew it was God's who was working on this people and briefly, I had a glimpse of what it was like during the time of Jesus when people would do anything just to touch His cloak or even be just in His presence. To my limited human mind and standard, Father Suarez isn't someone whom I will refer to as handsome. But he's got an aura that made his face so peaceful, serene and divine. I knew that I was seeing God in Him at that very moment.
When it was my turn to stand in front and be touched by Father Suarez, he touched me on my on my left shoulder, but I grabbed his hand and held it for a few moments. I was at lost for words. I didn't know what to ask God while I was holding the hand of His beloved son. But I felt that Father Suarez wasn't in a hurry to let go of my hand that moment when I grabbed it despite the others who are also in need of it. He stayed there until I let go of his hand. On a hindsight, I felt that God was there, it was His hand I was holding onto and He never hurried me up to let go of His hand, because He knew how much I needed it. I let go of Father Suarez's hands after a few seconds as I knew that there were still others who needed those hands more than I do. But it was enough for me.
I came home feeling lighter and much more at peace. I woke up feeling light hearted. And thankful for the encounter that I had with Father Fernando Suarez.
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