“Healer of our every ill, light of each tomorrow, give us peace beyond our fear, and hope beyond our sorrow.” - refrain from hymn “Healer of Our Every Ill”
WINFIELD – “May the God of all consolation bless you in every way and give you hope in all your days,” said Father Thomas Mischler, pastor, as he offered the closing blessing to those who gathered at Holy Spirit on May 21 for a special Healing Mass.
“This is a Mass devoted to the sick, and allows us to utilize the gift of the deacon to give blessings,” added the pastor, who administered the sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick for those with chronic and more serious illnesses as Deacon Thomas Maicher offered personalized blessings to others who approached the altar with their intentions after the evening’s Scripture readings.
Father Mischler opened the liturgy by welcoming the parishioners and guests who came to seek God’s mercy. “We’re glad you are here tonight,” he said.
“Christ taught us to be a community of love and prayer for one another … that the sick may be restored to health. O God of compassion, take every family under your care so that we may grow in faith and love,” said the priest, who also administers St. Helen in Hebron and St. Mary in Kouts as the spiritual leader of One Catholic Family Parish.
He said the three churches, at the suggestion of Father Ian Williams, priest-in-residence at St. Helen, will continue hosting Healing Masses quarterly on a rotating basis, with the next one later this summer at St. Mary.
“I’ve been having a lot of health issues, and I’m waiting for a diagnosis, so I hope this Mass and the anointing helps me get through it,’ said Barb Philp, a Holy Spirit parishioner. “We used to have blessings for healing after Masses, certain Masses, but Covid-19 might have ended that. People feel the need for something a bit more than a regular blessing, something for what ails you, so this is nice.”
Philp said her prayer to God at the Healing Mass, asking him to “Give me strength to deal with whatever you have in mind for my future.”
Parishioner Gerald Mitsch said he “always talks to God, and to the Virgin Mary,” asking them to “watch over me and help me get better. When you get to be my age, it seems all you do is run to the doctor, but tonight we are running to God, and he’s right here.
“I came to get a blessing from this special Mass, and that will be pretty nice,” Mitsch added.
Kim Lenti is a new parishioner from Winfield and came to the Healing Mass to pray for others. “I have a number of people to pray for, and they each have different illnesses and addictions,” she said. “I’m praying for healing for all of them, that God hears their cries, and His will be done.”
For the Scripture readings, Father Mischler said he looked to the Gospel of Luke for the story of Jesus raising a young man from the dead and returning him to his widowed mother. (Luke 7:14)
“After hearing of the miracle, John (the Baptist) sent two apostles to ask Jesus, ‘Are you the one who is to come, or should we look for another?’” noted Father Mischler. “We are looking for the power of God to be at work in our lives, and depending on the seriousness of our need, to receive an anointing or a blessing.
“In Luke’s Gospel, it says that Jesus looked at (the widow) with compassion, and it is good to know that Jesus has compassion … this act begins a cycle of Jesus curing the sick, healing the blind … signs that the Kingdom of God has been established in our midst,” he added. “The key point is that He is moved with compassion and God works through Him.”
Father Mischler noted that three recent popes addressed the healing power of God. “Pope St. John Paul II spoke about healing and mercy in reference to his own illnesses before he died, and Pope Francis talked about the Catholic Church being a field hospital for the souls of the faithful,” he said. “Pope Leo XIV has not directly addressed illness, but has talked about the poor and the need for the Church to be a source of strength.”
In closing the Healing Mass, Father Mischler offered a final blessing to the congregation: May the God of all confer blessings in every way and give you hope in all your days, and may he restore your health.”
Caption: Listening to prayers for comfort and an end to suffering, mother and daughters (from left) CeCe, Cris and Luna Mundo, of Winfield, participate in a Healing Mass at Holy Spirit in Winfield on May 21. (Marlene A. Zloza photo)
