Gulf Pine Catholic

6 Gulf Pine Catholic • December 9, 2022 I concelebrated a Mass for healing recently in the parish next door. The cel- ebrant was a priest in his mid-eighties and formerly a native of the area. What made this Mass different was not that it was a Mass of healing for people in the community who were sick. But, it was a Mass of healing for a particular person who was a member of the parish for almost twenty years. He was a sixty- nine year old man who, four months earlier, had quadruple heart bypass and just recently found out that he had stom- ach cancer. The church was packed with people. Extra chairs had to be laid out to accommodate the crowd. The local choir chanted out the familiar hymns that enhanced the celebration. Ten altar servers graced the steps of the marble altar, making way for the main celebrant and myself. Oh, yes! The Mass was a Mass of healing for the parish pastor. As I glanced around the crowd, standing shoulder to shoulder, I realized two things: one how well respected their pastor is and secondly, how sad that sometimes, it takes sick- ness or often tragedy for many to show their solidarity and appreciation. The week before the Mass, their pastor wrote a letter to his parishioners. He asked them to pray for him; to give him time and the privacy to process and come to terms with the cruel cross of cancer that was thrust upon him now. As priests, so much of our lives are lived in the public eye, under the gaze of watchful eyes. We project a public persona, so often encased in a clerical mask that hides our human face. Sometimes, due to the pressure of presumptions, the expecta- tions of everyone; the need to have all the answers; our being straight-jacketed into conformity, our masks crumble and our human face shatters the mask. Someone says the wrong thing at the wrong time. Some- one else shows up at the wrong time. Someone else tests your patience or questions your motives or integrity at a meeting. The walls shatter; the demeanour changes; seething resent- ment begins to percolate within. Alone and in his own inner sanctum, the priest tries to rationalize. Alone, he sits, stews, often resenting, often questioning. In the darkness and con- fusion within, he doesn’t have a spouse who will allow him to unleash his pent up feelings. Without a comforting ear to listen; a supporting touch; it become so easy to allow what- ever caused the heartache and crushed spirit to multiply and magnify during the long dark night alone. Often, in the inner sanctum of his life, the priest sheds his own silent tears from the weight of the cross of having to be right all the time, for having to be perfect, for having to have all the answers; to be both a people pleaser and solver; a per- son who must fly under the radar of church authorities or be subject to zero tolerance. Of course, he enjoys his work as a priest. After all, he is an instrument of God’s power; a healer of hearts and souls; a bridge builder between heaven and earth; a meeting place for all human emotions and struggles; a trouble-shooter through complex relationships; a signpost to a land beyond. Above all, he is not only a healer but a wounded healer. Many don’t see his personal crown of thorns or his wounded side. He is so careful to hide them deep within and so the cler- ical mask is donned once again because of expectations rather than reality; because of perceptions rather than the curse of being human. AMass of healing, such as the one I concelebrated, brings all of us to our knees, challenging us to make a deeper exami- nation of conscience; to see and accept our flawed human na- ture; to shred to pieces our masks of conformity; to recognize that we are all wounded and in need of healing. In our day, he is not only an endangered species but also is a member of flawed but redeemed human race. (On November 24th -- Black Friday -- one week follow- ing the Mass of healing -- Fr. Jackie Conroy died) Father Michael Tracey is retired and lives in Ireland. He can be contacted by email at mtracey1@bellsouth.net . His website is www.michaeltracey.net. Impact Across the Pond Father Tracey Several causes for sainthood were recently advanced by the Vatican, including the elevation from venerable to blessed for Maria Berenice Duque Hencker, a Colum- bian nun who founded multiple religious congregations, including the Little Sisters of the Annunciation. The mir- acle Pope Francis approved for her cause to advance was the 2004 healing of a 13-year-old boy named Sebastian Vasquez, who had a rare degenerative disease that had caused multiple comas and near-death experiences, leav- ing him consigned to a wheelchair and fed through tubes from the age of seven. In a Columbian newscast reporting on his healing, Sebastian said, “A little sister found out about the case and went to take a prayer to the clinic and a photo of Mother Maria Berenice and told me to make friends with her.” Mother Maria Berenice was born in 1898 and died in 1993, only a couple of years after Sebastian was born. His healing took place a decade after her passing. Earlier this year, Sebastian passed away, after enjoying many years free from the illness that plagued his childhood. A state- ment issued by the General Directorate of the Congrega- tion of the Little Sisters of the Annunciation read, “There are God’s designs that we do not understand, but we are certain that [Sebastian] is enjoying the presence of God and Mother Berenice.” A little over a month after Sebastian’s passing, thou- sands gathered at the Metropolitan Cathedral of Medellin, Columbia, for the Beatification of Mother Maria Berenice. In the homily, Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, prefect of the Dicastery for the Cause of Saints, praised the way she emu- lated our Blessed Mother through her love for the poor, saying that the poor “were at the center of her existence” and noting that “she had, in particular, a love for the poorest children, whom she considered the favorites of the Lord.” Blessed Maria Berenice started the Congregation of the Little Sisters of the Annunciation in 1943 to serve children and families. In 1957, she founded the Franciscan Missionary Sisters of Jesus and Mary for Afro-Columbian women called to religious life, an initiative begun in opposition to racial discrimination of the time. In 1964, she founded the Missionary Brothers of the Annunciation as the men’s branch of her congregation to work with the poor, the im- prisoned, and the marginalized. In an interview with ACI Prensa given shortly before his death last year, Cardinal Jorge Urosa Savino, former archbishop of Caracas, Venezuela, said of Mother Maria Berenice, “She was a woman of living and firm Christian faith, of intense Marian piety and great mettle, an enthu- siastic entrepreneur, with many initiatives to announce the name and love of God to those most in need.” Talk- ing about a long illness she suffered later in life, he said, “The Lord gave her a special strength to join the passion of Christ in the pain of illness and the weakness that it brings.” In looking at the life of Blessed Mother Maria Ber- enice, we see an amazing example of what it looks like to follow in the footsteps of Christ and our Blessed Mother. In her strength, she lifted up the most destitute people in society and was a tireless advocate for those on the mar- gins and those facing racial and economic discrimination. And in her weakness, she turned everything over to God, uniting herself to Christ on the Cross. May she continue to watch over the marginalized and lead all who call upon her intercession to healing in Christ. Fr. Ed Dougherty, M.M., serves on The Christo- phers’Board of Directors. For a free copy of the Chris- topher News Note, GOOD SPORTSMANSHIP, write: The Christophers, 5 Hanover Square, New York, NY 10004; or e-mail: mail@christophers.org . A healing leads to beatification Light One Candle Fr. Dougherty