It was 6pm when I arrived. I went straight to the garden. It was chilly. The garden smelled of roses. The bright full moon lit the sky. Folks hovered. I kept wishing for some heat. Then, I recall this must be how cold it was when Mama Mary travelled to visit her cousin, Elizabeth.

Ten were expected to attend. But, close to 60 folks came. After praying the rosary, we sang Ave Maria, and volunteers were asked to pick 7 white roses for each basin, stripping off the petals. We prayed to the Holy Spirit.

Then, ice was poured into the basin without the petals, and water was added. In front of us, the water had turned to rose oil, and folks dipped their rosaries into the rose oil.

I touched the rose oil, it was slick, it was slippery. It felt like oil and It smelled like roses.

Then, we lined up to get one rose petal. Brother Carmelo held each petal and placed the petal next to our neck. We paused. We held it warm and close.

Then, an image appeared in mine, as others. For me, it was St. Francis talking to Jesus on the Cross. Others got Our Lady of Guadalupe, some the Santo Nino, still another the 3 children of Fatima.

The rose petals, when wet, changed to the Eucharist, while other rose buds turned into salt. Cris scooped up each host as it formed and gave each one, a host, formerly a petal. I saw it transformed, with a heap of rose petals and below the heap, each petal had become a Eucharist, round, soft and like a doughy wafer. I received it willingly. No hint of rose oil.

Some of the unopened rose buds turn into salt crystals resembling diamond on its clarity and shimmering qualities. The next day, the crystals melted, no residues left. I did taste one – it was salty.

The real miracle is to see folks vigorously make friends, strangers in fellowship, getting to know one another and deepening their faith in God through Mama Mary and her loyal steward, Brother Carmelo Cortez.

Thank you Charina Vergara for taking the photos. Thank you Cris and Benel Se-Liban for hosting us and feeding us abundantly.

Thank you Brother Carmelo Cortez for being a conduit of faith, hope, and love!

His story:

Bro. Carmelo fed folks in Sampaloc, where 80% of the local area residents tested positive for Coronavirus last March. They had not eaten for 3 days. He visited them and braved the pandemic.

After feeding the residents, folks kept hugging him. He expectedly got the Coronavirus.

He survived Coronavirus against all these odds: he lost his sense of smell, he underwent dialysis, his oxygen level went down to 63, he was supposed to be intubated, but he refused as it meant that he would keep pressing the Ambo bag, and he believed that his friend died from this method, as the mechanical action could not be sustained by a very sick man.

Bro. Carmelo could not breathe for 14 days. He was hooked up to a portable oxygen tank. Still, he helped others change their diapers as they had overrun their diapers and the stench, he described, was unbearable.

He waited for hospital space, while in the hospital parking lot for 9 days out of 14 days, in sweltering, punishing heat, where sweat drips down to his achy joints. By the 9th day, he was admitted into the emergency area of the Metropolitan Hospital. He had lost 30 kilos in body weight by the time he got home.

During this Coronavirus, he believes that our collective lesson is to help each other survive and stay healthy. Material goods are secondary, even money, he said, but a scoop of rice can feed hungry folks.

He had severe sepsis aka blood poisoning, and he bade goodbye to his family and friends. While in the hospital, he got a lot of mass cards, praying for the repose of his soul, as folks thought he had died.

He was fed rice and egg white, then bopis, pinapaitan, crispy pata, and dinuguan.

After 14 days his alcohol bottle turned into rose oil. He then got healed.

While in the parking lot, he saw all the folks that he had helped in the past, those who died that he had forgiven, and he saw all who died in his family and those of his friends he had helped.

His hospital bill totaled Php 2 million, and he still awaits for Philhealth to remit the Php 750,000, that he is entitled to, to pay for the hospital bill. He finally had to arrange a monthly payment plan of Php 25,000. By the way, he was paying Php 300 monthly health premiums to which he has received zero reimbursement for his hospital bills, during his Coronavirus illness.

His donations come in the form of rice sacks, which he usually asked for, so he can feed the poor.

To date, he and the loyal followers of Mama Mary have built a house of prayer, a shrine in Bulacan and Quezon, and another is being built in Visayas. The shrine has been donated to the diocese. His gift of manifesting images of Saints, Mama Mary and the Lord and healing dates back to 1991.

I found him to be credible. After the images manifested, the pronounced smell of rose oil, the rose buds turned to salt crystals that mimic diamonds, I knew it was extraordinary that my limited mind cannot explain.

It made me recall my Holy Land pilgrimage where in Jesus’s tomb, one rubs a piece of cloth on top, and the smell of permeating rose oil was experienced. All my co-pilgrims had the same moving experience and your body reacts with pumped up adrenalin, a high that was natural and dizzying, as it was extraordinary. Even a scientist, a nurse administrator attested to the events. It was a divine gift!

P.S. He is staying longer in the US, as his oxygen level went down to 83 and the airlines did not allow him to fly back, until his oxygen levels reach close to normal, 93+.

https://www.visionsofjesuschrist.com/weeping597.html – Read this article that appeared in Balikbayan Magazine, a sister publication to Asian Journal