Hundreds turn out to venerate St. Jude relic

Every morning, Bob Kusma of St. Francis de Sales Parish prays to St. Jude, called the Apostle of the Impossible. He asks the popular saint for help with challenges in his life, including strength and healing following a debilitating stroke.

Kusma was one of more than 800 people who were energized spiritually by taking the rare opportunity to come to pray before a relic of St. Jude — a piece of bone from his arm — on Dec. 16 in St. Francis de Sales Church. The church is located in the McAfee neighborhood of Vernon. This was part of the relic’s first tour outside Italy — and its only stop on the tour in the Paterson Diocese.

“It was amazing. I feel great,” said Kusma after venerating the St. Jude’s relic. “Doctors said I would never walk again, but I am. St. Jude helps me with whatever I need.”

One of the Church’s most beloved saints, St. Jude is the one to whom people turn when they are desperate and have tried everything else. He is associated with healing and other miracles.

Pilgrims from the Paterson Diocese and beyond New Jersey filled St. Francis for a Mass that started the visit. Then, they made a long line to wait their turn to venerate the relic. The bone is housed in a centuries-old wooden vessel carved in the form of an arm bestowing a blessing.

“This arm embraced the savior of the world. That’s how close we are at this moment,” Father Carlos Martins, who brought the relic to St. Francis, told worshippers. He urged them to “accept St. Jude as your friend. Jesus has a plan for you to make you a great saint. [On this faith journey], St. Jude will be with you always.”

During their visits to the relic, the faithful placed devotional items, such as rosaries, against the glass case around the reliquary, which transformed them into third-class relics. Visitors also placed pictures of loved ones against the glass to symbolically entrust them to St. Jude’s care.

Paula Kuzicki of St. Francis de Sales Parish has a “special devotion” to St. Jude, praying to him for help with challenging medical and family issues.

“It was intense. St. Jude is my patron saint for all times. I felt a special connection to him,” Kuzicki said of the experience. She prayed for her family.

The main celebrant and homilist of the Mass was Father Martins of Treasures of the Church. It’s a ministry from Michigan that partners with the Vatican to make relics accessible to Catholics around the world, which is presenting the pilgrimage tour. Mass concelebrants were Father Christopher Barkhausen, St. Francis’ pastor, and Father Emerson Francisco, parochial vicar of Good Shepherd Parish in Andover.

Father Barkhausen told The Beacon, “The beauty of St. Jude is that he not only helps people with their seemingly impossible challenges in life but also offers hope to them and to a world that doesn’t offer a lot of hope.”