In search of hope
Mass of Healing
in Downtown cathedral full of
prayers, tears, maybe miracles
Leaning on a wooden cane, Tasia Russell had tears in her eyes as the Rev. Eduardo Velazquez raised his hands and blessed her.
To call the moment emotional, she said, is a major understatement.
The Clintonville resident wasn’t the only one shedding tears at the recent Healing Service offered at St. Joseph Cathedral.
For her, the intensity of feeling came from more than asking for a physical healing of her uncontrolled epilepsy and multiple sclerosis symptoms.
“The one prayer that I always pray for is a strength-
ening of my faith,” Russell said.
Every other month, the Downtown cathedral holds a Mass of Healing and Healing Service.
The Rev. Michael Lumpe, cathedral rector, started offering the services in May on a feast day of St. Peregrine, the patron of cancer patients.
A survivor of colon cancer, Lumpe had attended healing services at the Basilica & National Shrine of Our Lady of Consolation in Carey in northwestern Ohio. His experiences there inspired him to bring services to Columbus for people unable to make the 90-mile trip.
Lumpe said the service is for anyone seeking “physical healing, spiritual healing.”
“Sometimes these things can be very emotional, with crying, because they are searching for hope,” Lumpe said. “Sometimes these can be very moving moments for people. They can be life-changing moments.”
At a recent Mass, eight priests administered, wearing white vestments at stations along the side aisles of the cathedral. There, they blessed people who sought healing. All were listened to and prayed for, and Catholics who asked for the sacramental anointing of the sick were marked with holy oil.
When participants approach priests, they tell them why they come — cancer, heart disease, alcoholism. Some are medical professionals and caregivers in search of guidance and support.
“We pray for them, we hug them, we let them know we’re there for them,” Lumpe said.
“This is a great opportunity to reach out to people and for them to reach out to Jesus, through us. ... Whatever we can do for people that is humanly possible and spiritually possible, we will.”
At the Mass, participants heard a reading from the Gospel of Luke in which Jesus heals a blind man, telling him, “Your faith has saved you.”
The Rev. Paul Noble called on those gathered to pray for “eyes of faith.”
“Jesus came that we might have the faith to see, Jesus came to give us the strength to follow him,” Noble said. “We have that wonderful opportunity this evening to open our hearts to the Lord’s healing presence.
“Let us receive that vision. Let us have that strength. Let us respond to him with our thanksgiving.”
Following the sermon, participants were invited to pray before a consecrated host and a piece of wood believed to be from the cross on which Jesus was crucified. Many approached the altar to kiss the ornate reliquary holding the wood.
Jennifer Mark, 44, of the North Side, said she attended the service knowing that God can perform a miracle. She said one was performed on her 20 years ago, when she suffered injuries in a traffic crash that doctors said were too severe for her to survive.
Now, she’s asking for help to regain balance and the ability to walk without help after a seizure and fall damaged her brain.
Her mother, Judy Mark, who helped steady her daughter as she used a walker, said the service gives a feeling of peace and hope. Russell, 49, said she doesn’t expect her ailments to go away, but said that attending the service was part of her plan to do everything she can to help eliminate her symptoms.
“Every drop of rain wears away the stone. You can’t see the effect of what that one drop of rain has done, but it still is wearing away the stone,” she said. “So this is just another little water, a drip in my bucket, and so I’m hopeful. I’m trusting.”
Doctors diagnosed Lumpe’s cancer in April 2014 after he lost 60 pounds. Doctors found a tumor the size of a baseball in his colon. He had surgery to remove the mass and underwent four of 12 planned chemotherapy treatments, stopping because the medication affected his memory.
He visited Carey for several healing Masses. His tumor is gone.
“I give a lot of thanks to the Blessed Virgin,” he said, referring to prayers to Mary at the Carey basilica. “What goes on up there is just incredible, with the healings. There’s something very special taking place.”
He said the services are not magic. Anointing of the sick, he said, is a sacrament that is centuries old. And so is the question: Why are some people miraculously cured and why aren’t others?
Lumpe said healing is not limited to the physical, and it can come on many levels.
Still, he said, three people have told him that the Columbus services have provided miraculous healings — two having recovered from cancer and the third from a heart ailment.
“I don’t doubt this. I just say a prayer of thanksgiving for it because Jesus is always at work,” he said. “So faith can heal.”