Nearly 250 women, young and old, gathered for a day of spiritual renewal and fellowship at Sacred Heart Major Seminary

DETROIT – Nearly 250 women of all ages from southern Toledo and northern Flint gathered at Sacred Heart Major Seminary on August 10 for the annual Black Catholic Women’s Conference of the Archdiocese of Detroit.

The day-long conference, titled “Pilgrims of Hope: Our Journey in Christ,” was organized by Vickie Figueroa, the archdiocese’s cultural director and coordinator of Black Catholic pastoral care, who also served as master of ceremonies.

The joyful morning began with praise and worship, followed by a keynote address by Dr. Valerie D. Lewis-Mosley, a mass with Father John McKenzie, a priest in solidum at Christ the King Church and School in northwest Detroit, as well as afternoon workshops and working groups for youth.

“The Black Catholic Women’s Conference seeks to provide an opportunity for women of all faiths to come together and support one another through workshops, worship services and prayers that utilize the gifts and teachings of the African American experience,” Figueroa said before introducing the keynote speaker.

Lewis-Mosley, of the Archdiocese of Newark, is a renowned healer, scholar, pastoral theologian, author and social justice advocate. In her keynote address, she spoke about the many obstacles women face on their pilgrimage to eternal life, using her own life as an example.

“I want to start by saying that God is so good because I didn’t have to be here this morning,” Lewis-Mosley said, explaining that she first contracted COVID-19 three weeks ago and is even more vulnerable to the virus because of a life-threatening chronic illness.

Lewis-Mosley said she was coping well with normal symptoms, but the virus had affected her knee and kidneys so severely that she could no longer walk.

After waking up at 3 a.m. in excruciating pain, Lewis-Mosley turned to God in prayer: “‘If I am to speak to these women about healing of mind, body and soul, you must either give me another good foot or you will make a way, Lord God, for me to go and witness the healing of mind, body and soul,'” Lewis-Mosley recalled praying.

“God is a healing God – God is a powerful, wonderful God. God is a very good and gracious God, and I am here this morning because I stand in the favor of the Lord, who is faithful, and who will remove every barrier if we will only believe that the only blood that has power is the blood of the Lamb,” Lewis-Mosley proclaimed from the podium. “And so, my sisters, I am here this morning, without pain – I can still walk and breathe.”

Dr. Lewis-Mosley said that through the Word of God, men and women receive what they need for their lives. When a person encounters obstacles, he must know them in order to preach and live the Word of Jesus Christ.

“Our faith comes from hearing and understanding the Word of God,” Lewis-Mosley said. “To overcome the barriers that we are talking about today on our pilgrimage, you need some fortitude. You need some strength, and that strength comes from the Holy Spirit.”

Some obstacles are health and physical problems, Lewis-Mosley said, pointing to her cane. But like Job, you have to know how to turn to God in faith and trust Him to heal and remove obstacles.

Even if the fruits are not immediately visible, “delay does not mean denial,” Lewis-Mosley explained.

“God had already sent the message of healing. God had already sent the anointing, so even if only one foot is healthy, keep praising and singing – keep dancing and trusting in the Lord, because the barrier is moved by faith,” Lewis-Mosley said. “Jesus told us if you have faith like a mustard seed, you can move a mountain or a barrier, even heal a broken leg; you can heal a sick heart. You just have to have faith.”

Spiritual healing is also necessary, said Lewis-Mosley. To do this, you have to put down the barrier or burden and let God do the work.

“God will move a barrier and bless us if we humble ourselves before God and say, ‘God, you’re making it right,'” Lewis-Mosley said. “If we stop trying to be superwomen … God will do the work.”

Lewis-Mosley urged the assembled women to use the transubstantiation of the Body and Blood of Christ during the Mass as an opportunity to lay aside their problems and surrender them to God.

“How many of you say during the Eucharist, when the Body and Blood are offered at the Lord’s Table, ‘This is an opportunity to just put my problems, whatever they are, on the altar and leave them there’?” Lewis-Mosley asked. “How many of you pick them up and take them out of the church to think about and pray about the same thing Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and all day Sunday because you think the Lord has not heard you?

“The Lord heard your prayer, you just didn’t listen,” she continued. “You put it down and then you picked it up again. How can the Lord carry your barrier, your burden, if you don’t put it down? You leave that barrier on the altar and walk away from it.”

By laying down the burden and trusting in the blood of the lamb, one can live out one’s faith, said Lewis-Mosley, encouraging the women to live their pilgrimage of faith together in “collaboration and cooperation.”

Lewis-Mosley cited the African spirituality of Ubuntu as an example.

“Ubuntu means running the race together,” said Lewis-Mosley. “African mysticism and spirituality says if you want to go somewhere fast, run alone. Well, I’m not trying to run fast these days, I’m just trying to get to the end of the finish line, but the journey for pilgrims is to run the race together.”

“You may not get there fast, but you will all get there together, because if I hop on one leg, you will carry me,” she added.