MANILA, Philippines — They have their own stories to tell, own prayers to be heard, and own wrongdoings to be set right. But they have one thing in common – a faith so strong that makes miracles happen.

Thank God for the wonderful weather, the clear Holy Tuesday morning allowed thousands of Catholic devotees to flock the MonteMaria Oratory in Alfonso, Cavite, the new healing sanctuary of known healing priest, Fr. Fernando Suarez, for its first Lenten recollection.

People from all walks of life began crowding the 33-hectare area hours before the scheduled recollection which started at 9 a.m. It was organized by the National Sandigan Foundation (NSF) and the Divine Mercy Philippines.

Donnie Salvador, board chairman of the NSF and the organizing committee chair of the recollection, expressed gratitude to the Catholics who attended the celebration.

“We did not expect to have this huge a number of recollection participants. We only expected hundreds but God gave us thousands.

”Fr. Suarez also showed great appreciation for the efforts of each participant who went out of their way to attend the recollection.

“The result was overwhelming. Unexpected as the number of participants were, we were also thankful to God for calling them to come here. Even on how they helped each other despite the heat and the tight space.”

Nancy Cornelia, 45, of Bago Bantay, Quezon City, came to participate as a vow and gratitude to God for giving her second baby after 27 years. “I thought it would now be impossible with my age, but it happened,” she said, who is now four months pregnant. Nancy longed to have a second child.

But with the hardships she and her husband went through, they both decided to delay it until she reached her age now that for any woman her age, would be difficult to bear a child and a risk at that.

Sonny Francisco, 52, an events stylist, showed his full devotion to the miraculous cross that Fr. Suarez kept and was placed inside the Monte Maria Oratory.

Last October 2010, he slipped and dislocated his right knee making it impossible for him to walk on both feet without any pain. When he was asked to decorate the venue of the Lenten Recollection, he noticed cobwebs covering the face of Jesus on the cross.

Grabbing the ladder, he wiped the cobwebs off and uttered, “Panginoon, sumasampalataya ako.

” That night, he covered his wounded knee with the cloth that he used to wipe Jesus’ face. The following day, the pain was gone. “I never really believed in miracles but when it happened to me, I readily opened myself to Him,” he said.

Lady Grace Obillo, 26, a physical therapist, said that she was six months pregnant then when the doctors diagnosed her baby boy to have a left heart syndrome, which resulted to the baby’s abnormal circulation. The doctors said that the baby might die upon giving birth which really hurt both Lady and her husband, Ronald.

They did all means for the baby to survive until it was time for her to give birth. Out of desperation, she dialed the number of Brother Rolly, one of religious in the Monte Maria Oratory to pray for her to which he replied, “Amen.”

At that point, she accepted her fate. Until the baby was born --- alive and normal. “We’re so happy. For us, he is a miracle,” she said. She named the baby Mateo, which means, God’s gift.