My Close Encounter with Fr. Fernando Suarez

I got a call from Nydia Yap at 2 p.m. last September 22. She was picking me up on the way to the airport to welcome the very popular Fr. Fernando Suarez who was invited to say Healing Masses here in Tacloban City.

The organizers for this huge event was the Sacred Heart Parish (where I am serving as Lay Minisiter), headed by Fr. Oscar Florencio with Nydia Yap as vice chairman, Servants of the Living Word headed by Kuya Alex Montejo and Pintados Foundation headed by Eugene Tan.

It was my first time to see him in person and truly enough he looks like a regular guy though I noticed that he had that ready smile and he was sort of a very warm person.

I told him about the tourist spots here in Leyte like the San Juanico Bridge, Sto. Niño Shrine, People’s Center and our beautiful beaches. He got interested to see the Sto. Niño Shrine for I told him that it was built by former First Lady Mrs. Imelda R. Marcos as a showcase for everybody to see the beautiful things she acquired or was given to her from either presidents, kings or head of countries all over the world when she was still the First Lady. Truly, Fr. Suarez together with Fr. Jeff and Fr. Javy were very impressed with what they saw – ivories, the mosaic paintings, Amorsolo paintings, huge chandeliers, brass chairs from Europe and other magnificent things.

At 9 p.m., we had to leave for he had to say the Vigil Mass at the Sto. Niño Church, which was also the venue of the two-day Healing Masses. I attended the Mass where I assisted him as Lay Minister.

In his homily, I learned that he was only 16 years old when he found out that he had this power to heal. He was praying the Our Father to a woman in wheelchair for 20 years and suddenly she was able to get up and walk. But he kept his power to heal as a secret. He finished his studies and graduated as a Chemical Engineer and was able to work in Canada. There he met some priests who learned about his power to heal and encouraged him to enter priesthood so he can make full use of his special gift. He was ordained in 2002 in Canada and has healed thousands of people including all the VIPs of the land.

The next day, the start of the healing Masses, there were about 20,000 people, some were inside the church while the others lined up outside just to attend the Mass and be touched by Fr. Suarez. People in wheelchairs and stretchers were given priorities.

After the Mass, he changed his vests and started the healing. He first went to the priests who co-celebrated with him in the Mass and started touching their foreheads, and one by one, they fell down. I saw Msgr. Ben Bacierra, Msgr. Ramon Aquiloz and Fr. Oscar Lorenzo. One of the retired priests, who was in his wheelchair, was able to walk.

Since I was in the altar, I decided to line up with the priests so I can be touched and healed. And when he came to me, I fought hard not to be “slain” because I was embarrassed that people will teasingly say that “nagpaka priest din ako” but his hand was so intense and I fell down.

Then he went to the crowd. I was just behind him and I really witnessed all the miracles he performed. So many people from their wheelchairs were able to stand and walk and he asked them to push back their own wheelchairs. I also saw how he clasped the ears of the deaf so they could hear and cover the eyes of those who were blind so they could see. There was a lady in her 20s and she told Father that she has a cyst in her breast, so Fr. Suarez touched her and prayed and then he asked her to feel her cyst again and the lady just started crying because it was gone.

I was crying throughout the healing because I felt the presence of God and I felt His love and compassion for all of us sinners. I felt very grateful also that I was assisting the great Fr. Suarez in his mission to heal.

The healing ended at about 5 p.m. I told him that I was going home straight because I was really tired a needed a massage. Would you believe that after the healing, he went straight with Eugene Tan to the Leyte Provincial Tennis Court to play tennis? I just couldn’t believe his energy.

The next day, while on our way to Sto. Niño Church, we noticed that the streets were filled with people and he decided to just walk going there. It was about 500 meters away. He placed his hand over my shoulder and pretended to be just ordinary parishioners going to the healing Mass. It was a good thing that the second day was scheduled for out of town parishes and nobody recognized us until we reached the gate of the church when the policemen had to make way for us to enter.

After the Mass, the Healing started. This time, the people were almost doubled because of the news of the miracles he performed the day before.

Aside from being so humble, I also noticed that Fr. Suarez was also very generous. He told me to list down the name of a mother who had a sick baby and he gave her P2,000. He also saw a mother and her one-year-old baby with a big lump in his neck and he asked me to get their names for he wanted to give them P5,000. He coordinated also with UST hospital for their immediate operation and promised to pay all the expenses. He also gave P30,000 to a Barangay Kapitana from Calbayog City whose 17-year-old daughter had a big lump in her neck. He promised to pay for all the expenses they will incur for her operation and told them that they can stay with him in Manila.

At about 2:30 p.m., Fr. Suarez told me to tell the people lining up to go inside the church to go on both sides outside the church where there were chairs prepared because he was going to do the healing there. But after a few minutes, he asked me again to let everybody come inside and I really wondered why, until the heavy rain poured down. Truly, this man has a super sixth sense.

There was news on national TV and radio that somebody died in his healing Mass but the truth was, he was brought there and died before the Healing started. A letter was sent by the sister of the man who died, thanking and telling Fr. Suarez that the death wish of his brother was just to be brought to his Healing Mass.

Truly, I will never forget this experience of meeting a wonderful, popular, kind, humble and lovable person like Fr. Fernando Suarez for the rest of my life. This was indeed a blessing from the Great One above.