WCPO Channel 9 - Cincinnati, Ohio
5/6/2010
Rapid City Journal, SD
Priest's ministry affects body, spirit
Prayer for healing
Written by Mary Garrigan, Journal staff |
Posted:
Friday, October 9, 2009 12:00 am
February 10-16, 2008 Issue | Posted 2/5/08 at 12:28 PM
Come Monday, Feb. 11 — feast of Our Lady of Lourdes and World Day of the Sick — thousands will descend on the famous shrine in Lourdes, France, to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the Marian apparitions in a small grotto.
Most will also seek to touch, collect or even drink from the famous spring whose water is said to have delivered physical healings to countless people since St. Bernadette Soubirous brought it to the world’s attention in 1858.
But millions cannot get to Lourdes. Where do they go for hope and healings?
Anywhere a healing Mass is celebrated.
And what should the “hopeful faithful” expect at these sacramental services? Certainly not the sort of theatricality and histrionics seen on many televangelism broadcasts.
What, then? Father Richard McAlear of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate can tell us first-hand. From the churches of America to the other side of the world, including Papua New Guinea and China, he has conducted an international healing ministry since the 1970s. (He’s now online at FrMac.org.)
Father McAlear begins his answer by pointing out Pope Benedict’s frequent exhortations to “experience God.”
“You can talk about God, but at some point people need to experience him, and that’s what the healing Mass does,” says the priest. “It is an immediate way of experiencing God.”
The Catechism backs him up. “In the sacraments Christ continues to ‘touch’ us in order to heal us,” we read in No. 1504. “The Holy Spirit gives to some a special charism of healing,” adds No. 1508, “so as to make manifest the power of the grace of the risen Lord.”
Father McAlear and other healing priests say they’ve seen dramatic physical healings from cancer, leukemia, blindness and heart problems — especially among the poor and in mission countries. But those kinds of deliverances are not the “be all and end all” of the sacrament of the anointing of the sick.
“It’s what is going on inside — the inner pain, depression, sadness, grief, loss, loneliness,” explains Father McAlear, quoting Isaiah 61:1, and saying the most important healing is of the heart. “A lot of times it’s manifested in physical illness. The need is there to touch the heart and the inner spirit. That’s where the healing Masses make their contribution,” he says. “The spiritual need can only be touched spiritually. Then everything else follows. The hope is restored, the darkness is lifted.”
Giving Us Rest
“The physical healing is a real blessing but that’s only temporary; you’re going to die and the healing is not going to make a difference,” says Father Robert Rousseau, pastor of St. Augustine Catholic Church in North Branford, Conn., who has held monthly healing Masses for more than 20 years. “The most important healing is the one that brings us closer to the Lord.”
During the prayer after Mass and prayer in the presence of the exposed Blessed Sacrament — a common practice among healing priests, who usually seek to emphasize Jesus as the Great Physician — people experience a deep sense of peace, says Father Rousseau.
Sometimes, when hands are laid on them or chrism oil is applied during the Mass, they “rest in the spirit.” That’s another way of saying that some drop to the floor as if in sudden sleep.
Father Rousseau makes clear that such a phenomenon is nothing to be afraid of; nor should those who do not fall backwards feel as though they’re doing something wrong. “God can heal the way he wants,” he says. “He treats everybody individually.”
Sometimes these healings combine the physical and spiritual in astonishing ways.
One stands out for John Botaish, president of the Lourdes Marian Center in Denver. He describes the incident, which happened during the years he was assisting the Center’s recently retired Father Michael Walsh.
A young nun in a major congregation was extremely wheat-intolerant and could only receive the Precious Blood, recalls Botaish. She strongly desired to receive the Sacred Host. The day after Father Walsh prayed for her, she could. And she also ate pasta.
“Her desire wasn’t to consume wheat products but to receive the Eucharist in the standard species in the normal way everyone else did,” says Botaish. “The prayer was answered in a very intimate way by Christ.”
And then there’s the Marian-intercession aspect of healings at Masses.
“Lourdes is the perfect example,” Father McAlear explains. “It’s absolutely Marian front and center, and yet absolutely Christ-centered. This is a perfect combination of the presence of Christ the savoir, Christ the healer, and Mary — who kind of owns the place. She never obstructs Jesus or gets in his way. The priests at Lourdes tell me the healings happen when they bring the Eucharist out. The focal point of the healing is usually around the Eucharist.”
No one knows better than Father Roy Henderson of St. Andrew Catholic Church in Bridgeport, Conn. When he was a teen and met a little boy named Chris who had cancer of the stomach, back and brain, he remembered something his mother said to him as a young boy.
They were Methodists, but, showing him a picture of Lourdes, she told him, “One day you are going to go there.” As the 18-year-old, Henderson decided to get Chris to Lourdes but the boy was too sick to travel. Young Henderson flew alone to get a bottle of water from Lourdes.
After he did, he decided to let the water dribble slowly over his own left hand. He was born with severe cerebral palsy and had no bones, only cartilage, in the fingers of his hand.
Here’s how he describes what happened next: “My whole arm stretched out like someone was pulling it. My fingers popped like popcorn from the inside out. The bones grew! There was no pain. My arm’s not perfect, but as I tell the young kids today, God enabled me to do the one thing I need to do as a priest: say Mass. God doesn’t want perfection; he just wants willing respondents.”
“I couldn’t be a Methodist and a minister and still pray the Rosary and honor Our Lady of Lourdes with prayers,” says Father Henderson. He became Catholic and answered God’s call to the priesthood.
His own healing gift broke out one year after he went to Lourdes. For the past 17 years, he has celebrated healing Masses in his diocese and in several other states.
Today he says of Our Lady of Lourdes, “She is the stem of my chalice.” And the healing he’s most grateful for? “She brought to me the reality of the Eucharist.”
One needn’t travel to France for that greatest of all healing touches.
Staff writer Joseph Pronechen
writes from Trumbull, Connecticut.
Alice Suki cried when the Rev. Richard McAlear touched her head. Nearby, people were lying on the floor of Stella Maris chapel, crying and praying. Others swooped in to lighten their fall, wipe their tears or say a prayer. For McAlear, the Mass on April 30 was not out of the ordinary.
A member of the healing ministry since 1976, McAlear performs hundred of healing masses a year. A part-time priest-in-residence at Ave Maria University, McAlear spent the past few months sharing his gift with the Southwest Florida community.
To some, McAlear is simply a healer.
"You don't think nothing happens at first," said John
Ganzelli, 51, of Naples. "It's all supernatural stuff.
It's incredible."
Ganzelli has attended four services this year. He said
he didn't think the service helped, but soon his prayers
of recovery came true.
"I don't know if these are miracles, but they sure are
something," McAlear said.
At first, the mass looks like every other mass on Ave
Maria's North Naples campus. The process is the same,
expect after communion, visitors have the chance to
leave or stay and be prayed over.
Most, McAlear said, choose to stay.
On April 30, Stella Maris overflowed with people looking for help. Some had physical ailments, while others had emotional issues. And still others wanted nothing more then a blessing. Rosemary Benavitz of Naples sat in the front row with her 17-month-old daughter, Mary Grace, in her lap. Mary Grace was born with Down Syndrome, and Benavitz has been brining her to McAlear's masses since she was three weeks old. "I don't come here looking for a cure for her," Benavitz said. "This is a holy man giving a blessing from God and I just wanted him to give Mary Grace a blessing."
It only takes a few seconds, but most leave feeling
blessed, McAlear said.
"God's blessing upon you," McAlear said as he put his
hands on Suki's head. "Peace."
Suki, 64, of Naples, did not attend the mass to be
healed. Instead, she said she hoped to spread her good
wealth to others.
"This is my first time, other then the time I took my
mother-in-law, coming to a healing mass." she said. "Nothing is wrong with me. God has just been so good to
me, I really feel I need to come and share."
The Catholic Charismatic Renewal began in 1967 after a retreat held at Duquense University in Pittsburgh. As the movement grew, it gained recognition in the church and among its leadership. According to the National Service Committee of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops issued a statement in 1969 stating that the charismatic movement "has legitimate reasons of existence. It has strong Biblical basis."
The gift of healing isn't exclusive to clergy people, McAlear said. "There are quite a few lay people who have this gift," he said. "If you have a gift of healing, get up and use it." McAlear said he didn't always use his gift. Until the mid-1970s, McAlear said he rarely prayed over people, afraid his gift would get him unneeded attention. That isn't the case now, though.
McAlear spends half of the year in Southwest Florida, the other half he travels around the world performing ceremonies everywhere from Catholic churches to rain forests. And McAlear said it's the work in the underdeveloped parts of the world that hits home the most with him. "In my experience, in the mission fields this is how they evangelize," McAlear said. "Healing is to affirm God's presence, in the mission fields there's healing galore."
McAlear has traveled to New Guinea, Korea and Guatemala to perform the Masses. In Korea, he said he met a woman who kept asking which one of the priests was Jesus. McAlear said he just pointed up. The healing masses make up for the lack medical aid in impoverished countries, McAlear said. While the people attending McAlear's masses stateside generally have access to medical care, they're looking to fill a void, he said. "Most people are hurting, they have a fear of the future," he said. "(I pray for) all of those inner things and we leave with a whole new energy. Every once in a while you get a miracle, but what I discovered is words don't heal, love heals."
Marylin Krepf of Naples assists McAlear during his masses. Krepf has been attending healing masses for three years and she knows it isn't McAlear, but his love of people, that is doing the healing. "Father McAlear is the instrument for God to heal hearts," she said. "He knows it is God doing the healing, you can almost feel embraced by God. This is an amazing, different kind of love. I invite everyone I meet because I want them to experience this kind of love."
The Rev. Richard McAlear travels the world because people are hungry for what he has to offer: peace, tranquility, love, healing. If the past is any indicator, people searching for help will find it when McAlear visits the area this week to celebrate Mass and offer blessings.
"I definitely got a healing myself," said Marian Battle, head of interior design for the church proper at St. Louis Church in Pittsford. "I first met him in the '90s and I personally was having some difficult times." Battle's husband of 32 years had died and she needed - and said she received - emotional healing.
McAlear, a Boston native who was ordained a Roman Catholic priest in 1970, began his healing ministry six years later. He is a member of Oblate of Mary Immaculate order.
Often, move than 1,000 people gather to see the priest, who gives the credit to God for healings. Last year, about 1,300 came to St. Mark Church in Greece, including a woman who asked if Battle could help her get to the service. The woman wasn't Catholic and "had not had God in her thoughts for years," Battle said, but got what she was looking for.
"People are looking for healing and teaching, and they want to be loved by Jesus Christ," said Elfie Davis, a parishioner at St. Louis Church and a friend of McAlear. Davis found healing from memories of World War II that she could barely talk about before. "I think that the hand of God truly reaches out to those that really believe," Battle said, adding that there's an aura of spirituality and calmness when McAlear visits the church.
Recently Father Richard McAlear OMI, visiting many parts
of Australia and New Guinea from the United States,
ministered at St. Joseph's Church, Rozelle over two days
to a completely filled church. Besides belonging to the
Catholic Charismatic Renewal since 1972, he is a member
of the Association Christian Therapists, a large
US-based group of doctors, nurses, clerics and other
health professionals, including pastoral care workers.
After the celebration of the Eucharist and in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament, Father prayed with and anointed each person with blessed oil. A great number were touched by Jesus and rested in the Spirit; many were in tears, but Father McAlear reminded those present that it is really Jesus who heals. Anyone else is only the instrument whom God uses. Father McAlear's message was very clear. It is really Jesus who is the centre and focus. All are there in the name of Jesus.
We must always go back to placing Jesus in the centre.
What makes us Christians is our belief and unity in
Jesus Christ. It is the faith that we carry in our
hearts that matters - to know him as MY PERSONAL LORD
AND SAVIOUR, and to believe that he would have died for
me if I was the only person alive. When we proclaim
Jesus as Lord, healing follows. It just happens, because
that is what Jesus does.
Tapes of the teachings may be ordered from Build on the
Rock (phone 02 9764 4327)
Father Richard spent the following weekend in Canberra
conducting a conference for health professionals and
those involved in caring for the sick. It was richly
blessed and people received spiritual healing as Jesus
touched them. Over 100 people attended, a large
proportion of whom were doctors. Father prayed that the
doctors' own healing gift would be strengthened in a
special way.
Tapes of the conference teachings can be ordered form
Mary Pidcock (phone 02 62487264)
The Rev. Richard McAlear prays over Linda Amendola of Pittsford at a healing service in 1999. McAlear, who conducts services around the world, has a large following here.
Rather than see a river of hurt and sorrow, the Rev. Richard McAlear looks out at the long line of people waiting for his healing prayer – the lonely, the grieving, the infirm, the weary – and sees a sea of hope and longing for God’s love. That hope and that faith despite these woes keep him going night after night in churches all over the world, says McAlear, because he believes the feeling is mutual: “God wants very, very much to love them back and for them to be happy.”
McAlear, a 58-year-old Roman Catholic priest of the Oblate of Mary Immaculate order, will visit the Rochester area beginning Friday night, conducting three healing services and a daylong retreat. He often is referred to affectionately as “the healing priest.” It is a title that brings a warm chuckle, but one he shuns. This isn’t me doing this at all,” say McAlear, whose Masses often pack churches wherever he goes. “I am just a channel, the intersection, if you will, of the person who comes for healing and God. Christ does the healing.”
Talk about “laying on hands” and some people might picture the thunderous, arms-flailing tent healers of Hollywood or televangelism. But McAlear’s is a quiet, meditative style in which eyes meet eyes, prayers speak louder than actions and hardly a word is spoken. Some people do slip to the floor after he prays over them, but more often he sees both wide smiles and free-flowing tears – of joy, or release, of some hunger assuaged.
“The reaction is not new in theology,” says McAlear,
who is ordained in Rome and holds master’s degrees in
philosophy, religious education and theology.
“It is called ‘simple ecstasy’ – being wrapped up in the
lord. The spirit can come in overwhelmingly. You see a
lot of weeping. All the hurt buried in (people) pours
out. You know, there is terrible loneliness and grief,
feeling of rejection, people feeling abandoned, left
out.”
Elfie Davis of Pittsford has known McAlear since the late 1970s and helped arrange his visit here. Back then, her son, now an adult, was suffering from allergies, she said, and seemed to feel better each time she would bring him to one of the priest’s Masses. She, too, feels the sense of longing of the faithful when McAlear calls for people to come forward for prayer. “When Father starts his healing service, sometimes we have to really help him because people will just rush up to him,” she said. “They are so anxious for his prayer.”
As was Donald DeBlase, 31 of Brighton. Three years ago, battling cancer, with the ups and downs of the accompanying chemotherapy, DeBlase said McAlear prayer over him for healing. The cancer later went into remission, and DeBlase gives credit to many factors, but especially to God. Now he attends the healing services whenever McAlear visits, he said. “When he touches you,” DeBlase said of McAlear, “it is a different feeling. I can’t put it into words. I just felt a presence.”
McAlear, who receives no fee for his visit and depends
on an offering for his travel expenses, says his message
is always the same everywhere he goes.
People should fee God’s love. God is really here. He
cares about you. He’s right here. He’s with you. He
really cares for you. And he loves you very much.”
Used by Permission of the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle
MOUNT MORRIS – “Spirit come, transform us. … Draw us to
share others’ burdens, healing and loving with truth.”
The strains of the song brought people into the spirit
of what would happen at St. Patrick’s Church on the
evening of Oct. 8, and why they had come from their
homes and jobs to gather together under the
magnificently carved wooden arches of the ceiling of the
fine old church on Chapel Street.
People of all ages and backgrounds gathered together that night to experience what God might do through Father Richard McAlear at this year’s Healing Mass. The choir, hidden unobtrusively in the loft above the people’s heads, sang angelically as the troupe of priests and ministers processed through the considerable crowd that filled the pews. The notes floated down over the heads of the people and seemed to settle onto their faces, relaxing their features as peace settled into their hearts. Bells tolled far overhead as the service began.
Father McAlear has become familiar to the people here over the past three years. He stood at the altar in Kelly green vestments, his hair a little grayer than when we last saw him and more white streaking through his beard. His face bore the memorable look of caring and concern that one would expect on the face of a shepherd tending his flock. Although a visiting priest, Father McAlear clearly holds the people of this community in his hand and heart.
“We come with faith and some come with hope. Your hope wil not go unheeded by God. Nobody comes by accident, because God has invited you,” Father instructed the people in the church. Following the evening Mass and Eucharist, the altar was opened for people to come forward to receive the individual healing God had for each. The altar was flooded with young and old and Father McAlear took time with each and every one, speaking words and prayers of encouragement or, at times to simply gaze into an anguished face and delivering a gentle touch on the cheek.
One frail woman, led by a friend, approached the altar with head covered and darkness shadowing her face. When she turned to return to her seat, her face radiated a look of such pure joy, it was clear she had met God face to face at that altar. That vision will not soon leave my memory.
Some dropped to the floor of the church as they “rested in the Spirit” after receiving prayer from Father. This is a phenomena recognized by the Catholic Church as the power of the Holy Spirit so filling a person with heightened inner awareness that the body’s energy fades away until it cannot stand. There person keeps consciousness but is under the healing power of the Holy Spirit.
The evening of Oct. 8 has passed, but the memories of
the evening linger on.
Thanks to the Western Livingston Faith Communities for
sponsoring this year’s Healing Mass at St. Patrick’s
Church in Mount Morris. And thanks to Father Michael
Brown and the people of the church for opening their
doors and hears and making the community welcome.
Used by Permission of Livingston County News
The decision to forgive is one that is often arrived
at after much struggle. The problem with forgiveness is
that there is something to forgive - hurt. Forgiving an
injury, pardoning a wrong, letting go of a hurt unjustly
inflicted, are all spiritual actions that can be wrung
from the depth of the soul. The work of forgiveness is
not something to be taken lightly. It is never glib; it
must always come from the heart. To forgive too easily
or too quickly can be an escape from the real soul
struggle that is the price of forgiving. Facing the
pain, confronting the situation with honesty and
choosing the path of forgiveness are real works that
engage the heart and soul.
The struggle ultimately is always a spiritual one and
should be done in prayer. Christ Himself went into
prayer in His struggles, as we see in the Agony in the
Garden. His example is for our instruction and
encouragement.
First, we see that the decisions we make are always
centered around the Father's Will. Secondly, we see that
making this choice can involve the agony of a spiritual
battle within the soul.
It is always necessary to bring the struggle to prayer and in prayer, struggle with the Father's Will just as Jesus did. Certainly there are other levels of emotions, memories and feelings that are involved. These will be engaged as well. The most basic level of struggle, however, like the decision itself, is spiritual.
Jesus is no stranger to the human struggle. He led the way by his suffering and Cross. Jesus is the man of suffering who experienced every level of hurt, injustice, betrayal, abandonment and rejection. Although deeply wounded and profoundly hurt, He won His victory through forgiveness and love. His heart was so cushioned by love, understanding, and compassion that poison from the wounds never festered so as to embitter Him or destroy Him.
Forgiveness returned love wherever injury was received. This is the spiritual victory taught by Jesus but often beyond our reach. Often we need to stretch ourselves with a love that lies beyond our capacity. We find our strength in the Cross and suffering of Jesus. When we unite to the Cross in our own suffering, we also experience the victory of the Cross. Jesus suffered and died so that sins might be forgiven. It is this victory of forgiveness that we want to taste in our own lives. To unite to the Cross is to find healing in the very act of mercy.
The perfect prayer that the Lord has given us is the Eucharist. All of our spirituality flows from the Eucharist and returns there as well. It is the highest form of union with the Lord Jesus Christ.
We know that the Lord Jesus is truly and fully present
in the Eucharist. We know too that celebrating the Mass
is the memorial of Jesus' Passion. The Mass is the
unbloody sacrifice of Calvary rendered present in every
time and place. When we celebrate the Eucharist, "we
proclaim the death of the Lord," St. Paul says.
The Eucharist, with its many dimensions, brings us to
Calvary where we enter into Christ's Passion, are
touched by it, and are united to the Sacrifice of the
Cross.
When the Eucharist is appreciated as a sacrifice, and celebrated authentically, each person who participates is invited to offer his or her life in, along with and through Jesus. One's life involves all the struggles, hurts, needs, feelings and emotions that make up one's life. It is not simply the virtues, gifts, and blessings that we offer but our basic humanity in all its frailty. That is the part of us that is still unfinished and has its share of shadows and dark corners. We offer ourselves just as we are.
When we offer ourselves to the Father in union with Jesus, we seek the pure surrender of faith that characterized His self offering on the Cross. We offer this Eucharistic sacrifice often because we need to grow, mature and deepen in that faith surrender.
At the Offertory of the Mass, bread and wine are offered to the Father. These gifts symbolize the life of each one who is sharing in the sacrifice that is being offered. They are not simply external symbols being lifted up in a devotional way. Each person is being offered; to participate means to join in personally by offering one's own heart on the altar.
The bread and wine, food and drink, symbolize life itself. We even call bread "the Staff of Life." Going more deeply into the symbolism, we recognize that these common elements have rich meaning. The bread is made from many grains of wheat, the wine from many grapes. To produce bread and wine, both wheat and grapes must be crushed and broken. Life is like that. Each one comes with a history of crushing and bruising experiences. Bread and wine symbolize not simply life in the abstract, but life with all its bruising, crushing and painful experiences. Every person offering the Eucharist has a share in the pain of life with all its hurtful dimensions.
It is these experiences that produce the
need to forgive so much, so deeply and so often.
Therefore, before we reach for forgiveness, we offer our
lives to the Father in union with the broken and
suffering Jesus, the Crucified. The Offertory of the
Mass takes on a deeper meaning and becomes a healing
moment; there we surrender our brokenness, painful
memories and hurts. They are let go, being identified
with the crushed grapes and broken wheat being offered
on the altar at the hands of the priest. As we offer our
lives in faith, we offer our need for healing and our
desire to forgive.
At the Consecration, the bread and wine become the Body
and Blood of Jesus, the Crucified One. Since we already
have identified with the bread and wine, we too are
taken up, consecrated and so become the Body of Christ.
Each person is being claimed by Jesus as His very own.
What you do to this one, you do to me because we are
one, He is saying.
Being one with Him and being united to Him is the
healing grace. Our hurts and wounds have become His.
He takes our wounds and cleanses the poison of
resentment and anger. He imparts the Spirit, given "for
the forgiveness of sin," and pours out His redeeming
blood shed for forgiveness and reconciliation. Now the
flow of forgiveness is no longer ours alone, it is His.
This is Jesus, forgiving, reconciling, embracing all in
unity. It is even Jesus excusing - "they know not what
they do" - with understanding and compassion.
In His heart He holds all His people, the hurting and
the ones who inflict the hurt. He understands, more
deeply than we ever will, why people hurt others. His
love embraces all in unity and in peace.
When we receive Communion, we enter into that Heart of
Charity where all are reconciled and united by love and
forgiveness. To be divided by anger or resentment is to
negate the meaning of Communion and render it void.
Taking Communion is to enter intimately into Christ
Jesus and become one with Him in a profound and sacred
union. As we stand in that holy place, we are linked
with all who are held in the Heart of Christ. This is
the meaning of the phrase that we are the Body of Christ
as Church and community. In Him there are no
distinctions or barriers, no divisions and no disunity.
His mercy embraces all in equal measure of love.
The Eucharist invites us to deep forgiveness in the
secret places of the heart. It will never allow hidden
anger or unresolved resentment to divide the Body and
tear at the seamless garment of His love.
As Eucharist invites us to that level of forgiveness and
mercy, it also empowers us to achieve it. Sin is
forgiven in the Sacrifice of Calvary, the very sacrifice
we celebrate. The blood of Christ is poured out for
pardon and reconciliation - the very blood we take at
Eucharist.
We are invited to place in the chalice all unforgiveness,
as well as all our unhealed hurts, unmet needs and
conflicts.
We cannot trust in our own strength, which is insufficient. We dare not rely on our feeble human efforts. All our hope is in Christ Jesus and the power of this perfect gift.
One of the final actions of the Mass is the thanksgiving
after Communion. This is the time to rest in His Heart
and absorb the gentle yet profound power of His love. It
is the time to express gratitude and simply be thankful
for saving grace.
We need to celebrate Eucharist in a meaningful way,
surrendering the need for healing, sincerely desiring a
forgiving heart and choosing the path of mercy. We can
then conclude the Eucharist with the final spoken
prayers of gratitude and praise: "Thanks be to God!" We
have touched grace and been touched by Mercy.
The Eucharist is the gift of the Father who reconciles
all to Himself. It is the gift of Jesus who shares His
mercy and forgiveness. It is our gift to each other in
granting pardon and seeking unity as the fruit of mercy.
Freely received, mercy is freely given.
Blessed are the merciful, for mercy will be shown to them.
Comfort The Rev. Richard McAlear lays hands on the face of Linda Amendola during a healing service.
When they come down the aisle -- the hurting, the scarred, the infirm, those who simply want to reach out to God -- the Rev. Richard McAlear gently reaches out. He lays his hands on their faces, anoints them with blessed oil.
It was once said of faith that for those who don't believe, no words are possible. For those who do, no words are necessary.
So this Roman Catholic priest, who travels the world
trying to channel the power of faith into healing, says
nothing to those who have waited in line. He looks into
their eyes, and they look back, full of hope.
"Once you really understand the pain in the people's
hearts and the power of Christ to heal, there is nothing
to say," says McAlear, whose healing liturgy, open to
all, is expected to draw hundreds to St. Louis Church in
Pittsford tonight.
"I have noticed lately people cry a lot," says McAlear, a 56-year-old Oblates of Mary Immaculate priest from Massachusetts who began his travels nearly 30 years ago. "There are a lot of tears. People carry so many burdens now. They need prayer for many things."
McAlear is not the kind of healer for whom people pop up from wheelchairs or throw away their crutches, although there have been more than a few physical healings through the years. "The Catholic tradition tends to be more sacramental, very earthly and human, gentle, quiet. We pray for healing in a quiet way. This is mostly inner healing for emotional burdens. And when people are healed of those, often physical stuff can go away, too."
He will not take any credit and is modest about the
hundreds who come to him.
"This is God. It isn't me," says McAlear, who also is a
member of the Association of Christian Therapists, a
national group of doctors, nurses, clerics and others.
McAlear conducted other healing Masses at Catholic
churches this week, including at St. Bridget Church on
Mark Street. "He is a very gifted guy, well-educated and
down to earth and he has some spiritual gifts that touch
people's lives," said Rev. Anthony Mugavero. "Several
people said they were touched in a very significant way.
It was quiet and gentle but stirring."
No one knows that better than Elfie Davis of
Pittsford, a member of St. Louis Church. She and her
husband, Charley, have attended at least 100 of the
Masses and have accompanied McAlear on several trips
overseas.
Years ago, McAlear publicly prayed for her. She says she
felt a heat radiate though her body and an overwhelming
sense of God's presence. "It is a fruit that lasts," she
says. "It creates a tremendous joy and peace and yet a
seriousness, a silence that penetrates your very being."
"Suffering does not have to destroy you," McAlear says. "The hurts you feel -- you have to give them to God....God wants to take them away."
• Used by Permission of the Rochester Democrat and
Chronicle