I met Fr Angel Luciano in 2001 in Shenton Way when I was working at DBS Bank. He celebrates lunchtime masses every first Friday of the month at the DBS Auditorium.
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When I heard him speak, I could tell that he is a Filipino. I was so touched by his homily, I felt closer to home. Being an OFW in Singapore as an IT Analyst for almost 10 years, it was my first time to encounter a Filipino priest!

I couldn’t contain the joy and excitement of seeing a Pinoy Priest in this foreign land, so I remained in my seat, to savor the moment of his presence, even after the mass. Then I approached him and introduced myself. I asked him if I could stay for the next mass and he agreed wonderingly.
When I went home that night, it felt as if his holiness from the two consecutive masses rubbed off on me such that, when I took my shower, the Gospel of St Matthew resonated in my mind:
"Where two or three are gathered in my name, I will be there in the midst of them."
(Mt 18:20)
I encountered the same Scripture verse again during the weekend when I was with my family at a swimming pool and the next Monday when I opened my Bible in the MRT on my way to work!
At that time, my contract with DBS was ending soon and my husband and I decided that I would not renew my contract. We decided that I would stay at home to take care of our 3 sons.
I reflected on God’s message for me in this Scripture verse. On the First Friday of the following month, I approached Fr Angel and asked if he could lead a Bible Study group at my neighborhood in Orchid Park Condominium at Yishun. I was so excited when he joyfully accepted!
That was the beginning of my spiritual journey.

I gathered all the stay-at -home moms and grand moms I knew, together with my mother, in our neighborhood and formed a Monday Bible study group with Father Angel as our Spiritual Adviser. Mothers and grandmothers happily gathered weekly in our home with crawling toddlers in tow until they grew into tweens and teens.
Father Angel also recommended that I get an image of Our Lady of Fatima and start a Block Rosary Crusade with our members.

Beside the Bible Study on Mondays, we had a monthly Block Rosary in which the whole family took part in, husbands included. Our Bible study group lasted for six memorable, spirit-filled, and joyful years until 2007. The Block Rosary Group flourished, taking in many families of OFWs. To this day, we have 2 images of Our Lady moving to different homes on a monthly and bi-monthly basis in Sembawang.

Because of Fr Angel, our children grew up learning the culture of Block Rosary through praying the Rosary together as a family and with the community. They also learned to embrace the tradition of Simbang Gabi despite being raised in a foreign land away from home.
Father also nominated me to lead the Lectors group for the Tagalog masses at the Church of Our Lady Star of the Sea. He also assigned my husband Boy Fetalvero to lead the group of Pinoy Communion Ministers to assist him in different Parishes where he celebrates Tagalog Masses every weekend and during the nine nights of Simbang Gabi in December.

With his constant guidance, he inculcates in our hearts the spirit of servanthood and humility. Since then, my husband and I have become active in service for the parish. I have been a Catechist for 10 years now and my husband is an Extraordinary Minster of the Holy Eucharist as well as a helper in the RCIA ministry.
Although I lost my father at a very young age of 4, I found fatherly love and guidance in Father Angel, and my 3 sons found in him the doting Lolo that they never had. He taught Boy and I how to nurture our marriage and family with God at the center of our lives. Our children looked up to him and dreamt of becoming a Priest like him someday when they were young.

We will forever be grateful to Father Angel for being God’s instrument to nurture faith, hope and love in the Filipino community in Singapore.
We will surely miss dropping by at St Michael's Church to have breakfast of coffee and a bag of Pandesal with him on a holiday. But we trust in God's plans for him and for the Filipinos in Singapore.
I will always keep in my heart the wisdom from his mother that he repetitively says in his homilies, “Ang Diyos ang maalam sa lahat! (God is omniscient)”
Thank you Father Angel! Our prayers are with you! We love you!
- Boy&Doods, Nathaniel, Ezekiel & Gabriel Fetalvero & Mother Aida
Originally Published July 12, 2016 on
Doods' WIX Site - Wisdom, Virtues & Inspiration