“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit” (Rom 15:13).  

 

People hope for healing when they are sick and suffering, and the power of the Holy Spirit is alive and well at Corpus Christi Parish in St. Johnsbury, comprised of St. John the Evangelist (St. Johnsbury), St. Elizabeth (Lyndonville) and Queen of Peace (Danville). As far as I know, Corpus Christi is the only parish in the Diocese of Burlington that offers weekly healing services. Praying for the healing of the sick is a pastoral priority for me for three reasons: Jesus made healing the sick a priority; Jesus made preaching the Gospel a priority; and, most importantly, Jesus still heals the sick! 

People come to our healing services to pray either for themselves or for their loved ones, but the one thing they all have in common is hope. Some are hoping for a physical healing, a conversion of a loved one, healing from mental illness or grief – you name it. They are showing up with a lot of worry, anxiety, and suffering. Whether people get the particular healing for which they are seeking or not, they all get God’s grace because the healing is emanating from the Eucharist. I can’t heal anybody. Only God heals, which is why I direct their attention to Jesus in the monstrance and I intercede on their behalf. 

 

The healing ministry began in 1993 when I was a parochial vicar at the Mountain Valley Parishes in Bethel, Rochester, South Royalton, Sherburne, and Pittsfield. On one Saturday afternoon I was staying at the trailer the parish owned at St. Elizabeth Church in Rochester. The land abutted a cow pasture where cows were within petting distance from where I was standing. I thought to myself, “Twenty years of education and I am standing here looking at cows. Lord, what do you want me to do?” The Lord spoke to my heart at that moment and told me He wanted me to pray over the sick. That is how it all began, although its format has changed over the years. 

Today I am helped by Deacon Pete Gummere who has been praying over the sick in this parish for many years. We “tag team” the healing services. By that I mean I conduct a major healing service the 1st Sunday of every month at 3:00 p.m. at St. John the Evangelist. I am aided by a team of men who are former parishioners from Our Lady of the Holy Rosary in Richmond and Immaculate Heart of Mary in Williston, as well as Deacon Tom Lovett who serves as a permanent deacon at Corpus Christi. The Williston/Richmond team and I have worked together for several years. 

 

Deacon Gummere prays over the sick on the other three weekends of the month at the other three churches after Mass, so that between the two of us there is a healing service every week. The experience of seeing the power of Jesus at work has enriched my spiritual life and has deepened our Eucharistic devotion in the parish. We get non-Catholics who come to the healing services and for them it may be the first time they hear about the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist and have a Catholic priest or deacon pray over them.  

St. Paul in his letter to the Romans says that we abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Every week we pray in the power of the Holy Spirit hoping for healing and trusting in the Lord’s words that He who came that “the blind may see, the deaf may hear and the lame may walk,” may come again through our faith and hope. And He does. Jesus always keeps His word.