Our God is a true healer… so is St. Pio (Patrick Roquel)

OUR GOD IS A TRUE HEALER… SO IS ST. PIO

A TestimonyBy Patrick Roquel23 August 2011 

l am Patrick, devotee of the Sacred Heart of Jesus„ Mother Mary, and St. Padre Pio. I thank the St. Pio Center and the heads of our Center that I am given this opportunity to share with you how God and St. Pio blessed our family.

It was last 2007 when our faith was put to a test — a big trial came into our life. In my prayers, I always ask God to give us a happy, beautiful and bountiful life. I wanted to grow our business that distributes nutraceutical products like Ampalaya Charantia, Sambong, Lagundi tablets and other herbal products locally made by DOH. Our business grew in Manilla, Southern and Central Luzon, Cebu and other provinces in the Visayas area.

We had an employee in Cebu that had bad intentions from the very first day. He worked on breaking our business. A few months before the end of 2007, when we found out that out company lost millions of Pesos in collections and stocks. This started the downward spiral of our business. I lost trust and promised to find the syndicates who fooled us, and I wanted to seek revenge. Because of the limited sources we had left at that time, it wasn’t possible. Instead I went to church and found consolation. I asked God why these things happened to us.

In 2008, another incident happened to our business, but with a different set of people. Despite the reoccurrence, I continued to go to Church to find answers for what was happening to us and to find my peace of mind.

One morning I was with my son, Anton, and we came across the St. Pio Centre. We both prayed inside… I knelt down, cried, and prayed for mercy to help me and my wife, Elinor to get back on our feet and move on with our lives. From them on, we kept coming back.

In November 2008, with the help of my prayers to increase our business in growing leaves that can cure illnesses of people, I received a sign. I believed that I was being pointed to people and institution that can help me supply raw materials from the leaves I was growing. At one in the morning, I went to the altar in our house and took the bible. I asked God to confirm if I was doing the right thing and was on the right path. I opened the bible on a random page and the first verse I saw was Ezekiel 47:12, which read, “Fruit trees of all kind will grow on both banks of the river. Their leaves will not wither, nor will their fruit fail. Every month they will bear, because the water from the sanctuary flows to them. Their fruit will serve for food and their leaves for healing.” It was my answered prayer.

That was November 9, 2008 and it was a Sunday. My family and I attended the 10AM mass at the St. Pio Chapel. I was surprised because Ezekiel 47:12 was the first reading during the mass. I knew that my prayer request was answered. I even kept the Missal for that day as a reminder that God answered my prayers.

From that day on, my wife and I increases our resources and enlarged our territories. I went around Luzon, starting from Bicol to Aparri, trying to find seedlings of Lagundi and Sambong. We even went to Taal Volcano where we found Lagundi trees that were already being cut down by the locals who use the trees as charcoal for livelihood. We asked the villagers to use the trees for seedling propagation and continue growing it for income generation.

Right now we have thousands of plants with millions of leaves. Many small farmers are being helped because of this advocacy, such as the Aetas who started to propagate these herbal plants.

This year, the Mangyans, who are considered indigenous farmers, are now blessed with this opportunity as a means of livelihood. Right now, we supply the leaves of Lagundi to the company that made Plemex as advertised in TV and radio. We also supply the Department of Health for Sambong and Lagundi products that are sold in drugstores and some supermarkets. These companies and institution lead our farming of herbal pants on a bigger scale as they continuously help us.

It is true that miracles come from prayers, you just have to continue praying even if you know that your prayers are already answered and are continuously granted. Our God is a true healer and so is St. Pio. The wound that has been laid upon me and my family has healed, and our God and St. Pio will continue to heal our wounds.

I thank Our God the Father, the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Holy Spirit, for they responded to all my prayers. I also thank St. Pio for his intercession in all our prayer request, and our Mother Mary who helps us and guides us all the time.