Come to Me: Day of Healing brings crowds to Southwark Cathedral

Deacon Neil with Blessed Sacrament at healing event. Photo by Emily Newton.

Neither fear of COVID nor the havoc on the rail system last Saturday (19th February) stopped people streaming to the Day of Healing at St George's Cathedral organised by the Southwark Charismatic Diocesan Service of Communion (CDSC).

According to acting dean, Fr Francis, it was the fullest the Cathedral had been since lockdown began. More than 670 people registered for the event with others like the Missionaries of Charity, down the road, simply turning up on the day. The whole day, was live streamed resulting in a further 2000 people watching the event online in the first 48 hours. (See link below).

The theme of the day was 'Come to Me"'. Although advertised as a day of healing, the message from all the speakers was to come to Jesus himself, rather than simply asking for healing for a specific ailment. As Fr Joseph Edattu VC, the director of the Divine Retreat Centre in Ramsgate, said in his homily at the final Mass: "If you come just for physical healing, your knee might be healed this week, but it will be your back that goes next week, but if you come for Jesus he will be with you all the time."

Rev John Ryeland, an Anglican, and the director of the Christian Healing Mission encouraged listeners to realise that Christ lived in each one of them so they could all be agents of healing to those around them. Meanwhile Alice Hall, a lay missionary from the Sion Community, spoke about the Unbound ministry of deliverance and how people can be liberated from their hurts and destructive behaviour. Five priests were also on hand and there were queues of people wanting confession. So many in fact that even though some of the priests spent three hours in the confessional not all those who wanted it managed to received the sacrament.

Rev Neil Philipson, a Southwark deacon who led the Eucharistic healing service in the afternoon, walked up and down at the foot of the sanctuary blessing people individually with the Lord in the monstrance. He commented: "There was so much respect and faith in the Lord in the Blessed Sacrament. You could see in people's eyes the love they had for the Lord. Some were sobbing or holding up photos of their loved ones on their phones. They had come not just for themselves but brought others in their hearts with them. I remember one person lifting up a photo on their phone of someone in a hospital bed with tubes coming out of them. It was very moving for me personally. I felt it was a great privilege to be bringing them the Lord in this way."

There was also an opportunity for the laying on of hands and healing prayer by 11 teams of people in the Lady Chapel of the cathedral. Neil commented: "The lines of people just kept coming and coming. There was so much hurt and suffering. Many had lost spouses during the lockdown. I would have loved to have spent more time with each one but we could only pray for about five minutes or so. But I know everyone who came forward was blessed in some way."

The day was the first event to be organised by the newly constituted Southwark Charismatic Diocesan Service of Communion which is made up of different charismatic groups and networks which joined with the former charismatic diocesan service team to form the new body. Liz Corcoran, MC for the day, thanked the members of these different groups who included Jesus Youth, All Nations Catholic Charismatic prayer groups, Jesus Risorto, Divine Retreat Centre, Mothers Prayers, Parish Evangelisation Cells, who had served in so many different ways making the event possible and so smooth running. The team's next project in conjunction with the Southwark Agency for Evangelisation and Catechesis will be the Life in the Spirit Seminars on line in the Easter-tide period. (More information to be issued soon.)

Watch the service here: https://youtu.be/CgKprvdHDbg