STATESVILLE — Internationally known Catholic evangelist Alan Ames visited the diocese March 24-26, stopping at Holy Family Church in Clemmons, St. Philip the Apostle Church in Statesville and St. Michael the Archangel Church in Gastonia for three nights of prayer and healing.
Ames is an Australian Catholic layman whose life shifted at 40 from alcoholism and violence to daily Mass and Communion when he felt a “divine hug” from Jesus.
“I was filled completely with His love, as He reached down to my human heart and placed it inside His divine heart. I was in complete ecstasy. I felt like I was going to explode. I was filled with so much joy and so much happiness,” Ames recalled of the vision that changed the course of his life. “I never wanted to lose this feeling again. The love was so powerful, beyond anything you can imagine.”
That moment was so impactful that Ames now travels the world, sharing his story and message of Christ’s love, and blessing attendees with his healing gift from God.
Each healing service started and ended with Eucharistic Adoration, with priests celebrating Mass and hearing confessions before Ames’ testimony and blessing.
Father Bernard Oleru, the pastor of St. Philip Church and a priest from the order of the Missionary Society of St. Paul in Nigeria, referenced the gift of God’s healing presence in the Eucharist, encouraging his flock to speak to the Lord face-to-face, as he celebrated Mass for the Solemnity of the Annunciation.
“This day was a day of perfect healing,” Father Oleru said. “The world was healed on this day. As we gather today for Mass, let’s remember the greatest healing that is given to us is the presence of God.”
In the pews, many came hoping for a miracle. Some arrived with obvious ailments – a blind man with a walking stick, a woman with a knee brace and a teenager with scoliosis. Others needs were more subtle – the couple experiencing difficulty conceiving, the father whose children left the Church, a child unable to heal from the loss of her mother.
No one walked away from their wheelchair or left their hearing aids on the altar. Yet, by the end of the service, God’s presence was felt by the 600 attendees, with many experiencing what they already knew and what Ames and Father Oleru assured them of: God was in them, around them and in front of them all the time.
During Ames’ testimony, he encouraged the faithful to continue to seek miracles even if they felt nothing during the blessing. Attending daily Mass, dying to oneself through sacrifice, regularly celebrating the sacraments of confession and Holy Communion, and praying the rosary every day, he said, will heal.
In Statesville, some attendees were awed during the blessing when their legs seemingly slipped away from them and they floated backwards, “resting in the Lord.”
Nalawit Tekie drove from Charlotte with her family to attend the healing service with high hopes.
“I lost my vision about two years ago, and I am waiting for a miracle. I came to find healing. I don’t even know who he was,” Tekie explained, after she happened upon an advertisement for the service. “All I was told was that God works through him, and that is what brought us here. Even when he was talking, I saw a bright light shining over him. I felt a connection to him, like God was reaching through him.”
As the night unfolded, Tekie, like so many others, was struck by the unexpected mystical experience that awaited her. Ames touched her forehead, and she felt the overwhelming presence of the Lord, falling backwards gently to be caught by volunteers.
She wept tears of joy. She felt a cold breeze as her body noticeably still shook even as family members felt a warmth emanating from her when they hugged her.
“I was not expecting it. It just feels like I was not standing, lying down, or sitting. It was like I was floating on something,” she cried. “I felt this blowing wind that felt like snow blew at me. I didn’t know where I was. All I knew is there was this beautiful kind of light that had a blue tint to it. Even though I cannot explain it, I know God and the Holy Spirit went through me.”
Long before Ames set foot on the podium, the healing had already begun, Father Oleru said during the Mass.
“God knows your pains more than you understand them. He knows your sicknesses more than you know. That God you cry to at night, that you cry to during the day, that God is here for you,” Father Oleru said. “Today as you sit…view yourself as sitting face-to-face with the love of Christ…and I tell you before you leave these doors you will have a new story to tell, a new song to sing.”
For Tekie and her family, Father Oleru’s words rang true, and for her, her new story just started.
“I can’t say what part of me is healed, but I’m different and this was amazing. God is going to do something through me. I can just feel it,” she smiled. “I can’t wait to see what miracle is going to happen. This is just the start.”
— Lisa M. Geraci , photos by Troy C. Hull
