PINE BLUFF — There’s not a lot of difference between the first Friday Mass St. Peter Church in Pine Bluff holds every month and any other Mass on any other night anywhere in the diocese.
There are no wheelchairs or crutches, at least, not tonight. The choir’s selections lack much of the celebratory tone that anchors their Sunday singing. The responses, too, are a little thin — most of the congregation doesn’t come here regularly, many aren’t even Catholic. The Mass and adoration that follows moves quickly, respectfully.
It is only when Father Anil Thomas, SVD, steps in front of the altar and beckons people to come forward that you see what’s different tonight. In face after face of the long queue of people who approach to receive an individual blessing, you see the eyes — the ones hollowed by the fatigue of fighting their disease or rimmed with worry over the fate of a sick loved one. The eyes that plead for some scrap of hope or clench tightly as they claw for inner peace with the same ferocity as their addiction claws for another drink.
“Sometimes we need a touch, a physical touch, a spiritual touch,” said Father Thomas prior to the blessing. “And that is why we are here, to experience God in a special way.”
The healing service has been held here since 2012 and attracts people from a number of surrounding states. One time, people drove all the way from Houston despite an ice storm in the area and tonight, guests from as far away as Memphis will contend with several inches of snow by time the service is over.
Father Thomas held similar services at his other assignments and while the faces and the scenery change, the focus does not.
“We get a lot of people, all the time I see people, different people, they come from far and wide,” Father Anil said before the service. “I’m not here to give them the physical healing; I’m here to give them a boost in their spiritual life. The faith is the main thing.”
Father Thomas reiterates the point from the pulpit, saying as he always does, “We came here, maybe, for miracles, but miracles are not the foundation for our faith.”
That is not to say that people have not experienced miracles or healing as a result of divine intervention. After all, nothing is beyond God. It’s just that Father Thomas doesn’t consider these instances to be the ultimate outcome. Rather, he said, they are simply a visible sign that something more important has taken place.
“I tell them always it is not I who do it. I am here to do a healing Mass,” he said. “As a process, some people get physical healing, but I don’t care about those things. What is my aim is to energize people in the spirit. Even if they don’t get physical healings, they get some kind of spiritual healing.”
During the service, Father Anil places his hand, one by one, on the forehead of each supplicant. His eyes are closed, but his face is relaxed. The length of his prayer varies with the person, in some cases he also whispers in their ear some bit of encouragement or additional blessing. He concludes each by tracing a cross on the petitioner’s forehead.
The process lacks the histrionics common to television healers, no one names the source of their distress nor do they make a show of things when it’s over. Many people’s lips moved in prayer and a few cried as Father Thomas prayed over them. A couple of people collapsed into the comforting arms of friends and relatives upon returning to the pew. Some of the people sway or feel their legs give out, so volunteers stand by in case they are needed to lend physical support.
About 100 people attended the 6:30 p.m. Feb. 7 Mass and healing service, representing a variety of races and ages. Corrine Jones, a Catholic from Pine Bluff, said “I’m from Ireland and I have been to a lot of churches and been around a lot of priests in my life. The first time I came to one of the healing services, I was here for my sister who was having a difficult pregnancy. I felt a feeling like I’ve never felt before. It was so powerful. I haven’t missed one since.”
Volunteer and parishioner Scott Fratesi raised his hands in prayer throughout the line of people making their way to the front. Tears streamed down his reddened face at the sight of a young boy’s blessing. For many he murmured, mantra-like, “Power in your presence.”
“What I see is the power of God working in someone’s life and reaching through their sickness or their addiction,” he said. “People come here to seek Jesus and the Holy Spirit and when the Holy Spirit comes in, signs and wonders follow. When you seek God, he shows up.”
