Monthly Newspaper • DIOCESE OF BRIDGEPORT

WESTON—Calming piano music filled the church of St. Francis of Assisi in Weston on a beautiful spring Saturday morning, making a perfect atmosphere of healing for those who gathered at the Healing and Anointing Mass, seeking to receive the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick.

“This morning we gather as a people of faith to pray for our sisters and brothers who are gathered here who will be asking for the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick,” said Bishop Frank J. Caggiano, who was the main celebrant of the Mass, concelebrated by Father Jeffrey Couture, pastor of St. Francis of Assisi parish. “They come here to seek healing, to ask God’s grace of consolation to help them to bear the suffering, physical, mental or whatever it may be that the Spirit can help them to do,” said the bishop.

The bishop reflected on his trip to Lourdes, France last year with the Order of Malta, saying, “All of us coming to Lourdes were in some way seeking healing, for we were all, in some way, seeking healing…from the hurts that come from perhaps the inability to attend to someone we love in his or her hour of suffering, or the hurts that we afflict upon ourselves, the suffering from our own sinfulness, which is a sickness of spirit, which differs from the sickness of the body or the mind…but we were all seeking, in some way, healing.”

Each reading at the Mass was centered on healing, of which the bishop said, “Recall the miracles that we just heard in the Gospel. Jesus healed the sick, gave sight to the blind, and even raised the dead as a sign of a truly healed life which we will not have in this earthly existence. They were signs of the inbreaking of the body of grace, as a foretaste of a life which is promised to us by His death and resurrection, where every tear is wiped away, every disease is cured, every brokenness made whole and every sin forgiven.”

The bishop addressed the gathering, saying, “healing will come to everyone in this church who seeks it as the Lord wishes to give it, not as we wish to have it for ourselves.”

To those being anointed, the bishop said, “God will touch you mightily. He will come to you, He will lighten your burden in ways seen and unseen, but He will never abandon you.”

“We will all be invited to be healed,” the bishop said, “May we dilate our hearts to be surprised by the ways that grace will change our life so that we may carry this burden for a purpose that only God may know…so that we may all leave this church this morning better and more fully healed in His infinite and merciful grace.”

After the homily began the liturgy of anointing. Those who were being anointed were asked to stand and the bishop walked from pew to pew to administer the sacrament to each of them, first the laying on of hands and then the anointing with chrism oil.

Instrumentals of Amazing Grace, the St. Francis Prayer and other beautiful melodies played in the background as those seeking healing received the Anointing of the Sick.

At the closing of the Mass, the bishop reminded the gathering, “He is the Divine Physician and He has come to each of us today.” After announcing that the Healing and Anointing Mass would now be an annual event, the bishop left the congregation with one last reminder, saying, “Never forget, my friends, that in your greatest hour of suffering, the Lord is never more close to you than that. As difficult as whatever burden you carry do not be afraid, the Lord is with you every step of the way.”

The bishop then personally greeted each of those who received the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick outside after Mass.

This Mass was organized by the Office of Faith Formation. The goal of the Office of Faith Formation is to foster, guide and support the endeavor of life-long formation in the teachings of Christ and all aspects of the Catholic Faith on both the parish and diocesan levels.

Under the direction of the bishop, chief catechist of the diocese, the Office of Faith Formation strives to accomplish this goal of catechesis and evangelization for all ages.

(For more information visit the Office of Faith Formation website at: www.bridgeportdiocese.org/faith-formation. For any questions call: 203.416.1670 or email: officeoffaithformation@diobpt.org.)

Photos by Amy Mortensen