February 18, 2025 // Diocese

The Healing Power of Prayer Is Available if We Seek It

Paula Lent

Last fall, St. Thérèse, Little Flower Catholic Church in South Bend began offering prayers for healing after all their Masses throughout the first weekend of every month. The response was overwhelming. 

The humble parish was unprepared for so many people to immediately respond to the invitation to receive prayers.

“The first weekend it was offered, there was a huge demand, and [there were] only two team members, so it went on for hours, and people had to leave before being prayed with,” parishioner Susan Fox told Today’s Catholic. “There were more who came forward to pray at the other Masses, and we had two to three teams. Even so, there were so many people seeking healing, that prayer still went for hours after each Mass.” 

Public Domain/New York Metropolitan Museum of Art
“Christ Healing the Blind” was painted by Italian artist El Greco in either Venice or Rome around the year 1570. It shows Christ healing a blind man whose parents are behind him.

Although that first weekend was “somewhat chaotic” from the standpoint of human logistics, according to Fox, “Jesus worked powerfully. He was able to work through those who volunteered to pray. Someone’s cancer completely went away after prayer.”

“It was wonderful,” she said afterwards, once test results came back showing the woman’s cancer was gone. “And it happened in a fledgling community of pray-ers just trying to figure things out!”

Perhaps this all shouldn’t be surprising – that people are hungry for the Lord’s healing touch, and He is able to work even amidst chaos. After all, in the Gospels, we find numerous accounts of Jesus performing healings, and often they, too, happen in the midst of chaos: Crowds swarmed Him, bringing everyone they knew who needed healing (cf Mt 15:30-31); on His way to heal a young girl, a hemorrhaging woman had to push through the crowd to touch His tassel as she sought healing with determined faith (Mk 5:21-43); men tore off the roof of a house to bring their paralyzed friend to Jesus so that he might receive His healing touch (Mk 2:1-5). And Jesus empowered His disciples to do the same, giving them the authority to heal the sick and cast out demons (Mt 9:36-38-10:1).

The parish ministry at St. Thérèse was initially called the Healing Hearts Ministry in honor of its goal to bring the powerful healing love of Jesus to hearts in need. The ministry got its name from Joe and Monica Higginbotham, who had met Fox through various prayer meetings and shared with her a passion for bringing people into a healing encounter with the Lord. After the trio began dreaming about forming a regular prayer ministry, Joe, who is the music and worship director at St. Thérèse, recommended asking the parish’s pastor, Father Julius Okojie, if he would be open to such a ministry at St. Thérèse. A prayer ministry had once existed at the parish before the pandemic, and Father Okojie welcomed the idea of this new ministry outreach. And so, it began in September of 2024.

“This new iteration has been well received by parishioners, many of whom had experienced such ministry in the past,” Father Okojie told Today’s Catholic.

For Fox and the Higginbothams, the ministry itself has been an answer to prayer. Having experienced the healing love and power of Jesus in their own lives – and witnessing it in the lives of others – they felt it was important to help to share His love more widely. Fox told Today’s Catholic that she had asked herself the question: “What have I done to let others know of the incredible love of Christ? Going to Mass every day does wonders for me, but how am I letting it do wonders for others?” When Joe suggested the prayer ministry, she said she knew it was the answer they were all looking for.

Members of the prayer ministry team are quick to underscore that although we should never be shy of asking the Lord in faith for physical healings, we should always seek the Healer more than specific healings. They underscore that healings in the Gospels and in the life of the Church are not ends in themselves; they are like sacramental signs that point to the reality of the Kingdom of God and the Lordship of Jesus. For Jesus said, “I came so that they may have life and have it abundantly” (Jn 10:10).

“In one way or another, Jesus always heals. It might not look like what we were seeking, but there will always be some kind of healing,” Fox shared. “In addition, many healings take time and/or additional prayer. … Whether there is physical healing or not, almost everyone who comes has an encounter with Christ. … Once one has had such an encounter, they are forever changed, and their relationship with the Lord explodes into reality in their own lives.” 

Terri Sergio has been on the prayer team for many of the prayer ministry weekends at St. Thérèse, and she shared with Today’s Catholic how the ministry has been received by the parish community.

“What I have noticed is that everyone we pray for is thankful for the opportunity,” Sergio said. “I know that some have come back another time. They all say they feel peace from the Lord, and some also say they experience God’s love through the prayer time. We have been told of one woman whose cancer disappeared, and a baby who had been having seizures every day which stopped. People feel seen and heard when we tell them that they are beloved children of the Father, no matter how unworthy they feel. Many of the people come for reasons other than physical healing – family issues, job search, or asking for discernment in the next step in their life.”

Fox echoed these sentiments, saying: “I have mostly witnessed the effect that personal prayer has on people, in letting them feel the love and compassion of Christ through us. Within that prayer model, I have also witnessed great emotional, psychological, and even physical healings. One of the most common things I have seen has been the return of joy to those seeking prayer. They usually come with faces and bodies etched with worry, pain, or fear. And they leave with joyful hearts and with a new sense of security, purpose, and love.” 

St. Thérèse has recently transitioned from offering its healing prayer ministry during one weekend a month to a new model in which a Mass for the sick is held on the third Thursday of every month, which began on February 20. 

“Every Mass is a healing Mass because Jesus the Healer is the One offering and being offered at every sacrifice of the Mass,” Father Okojie told Today’s Catholic. “The unique thing about these Masses … is that, unlike daily Masses, the Sacrament of the Sick will be administered within these Masses, and people will have the opportunity to be prayed over after Mass ends,” Okojie said. 

“We intend to make available the Church’s liturgical and sacramental life of healing especially to those who are really sick but would either not ask for these sacraments on their own or might not know they exist,” Father Okojie continued. “We will have the Sacrament of Reconciliation prior to the Mass and also administer the Sacrament of the Sick only to baptized, seriously sick Catholics whose health is seriously impaired by sickness or old age,” he emphasized. “Thus, the sacrament would only be administered to those who meet these criteria.” 

However, everyone – Catholics and non-Catholics, including those who don’t meet the criteria for the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick – is welcome to participate in the Mass and to receive individual healing prayer from the prayer ministry team (which has grown since the first weekend!) after the Mass. 

When asked what she might say to someone who has never experienced healing prayer before, Fox told Today’s Catholic: “It may seem very different than what you’re used to, and it might be very different from what we have seen in the last few generations. But it is real, and Jesus is pouring out the Holy Spirit in incredible measure these days. He always meets people right where they need to be met.” 

A Mass for the Sick will be held at St. Thérèse, Little Flower Catholic Church in South Bend on the third Thursday of every month. Confession is available from 6-6:45 p.m., and there will be praise and worship music from 6:30-7 p.m. The Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick will be administered to those who qualify to receive it during the Mass itself. After Mass, several prayer teams will be available for anyone who wants to receive individual prayers.