A Mass of Healing will be offered for Mary Grace Tassone at 7 p.m. Wednesday, July 8, at St. Patrick Catholic Church in downtown Grass Valley.

All are welcome, said St. Patrick’s Secretary Linda Shirkey. After the Mass, an Adoration and a Rosary will follow; during an Adoration, the Body of Christ in the form of a large communion wafer is set into a holder and placed on the altar, and people are invited to meditate in silence.

Those who cannot attend are invited to pray at home at that time.

Tassone, 78, remains in a Roseville hospital, badly bruised and in critical condition, after being assaulted early Sunday. Parish priest, the Rev. Sylvester Kwaitkowski, visited her Monday and reported she squeezed his hand, Shirkey said Tuesday.

Tassone was opening the church at about 5:15 a.m. Sunday when an attacker hit her on the head with a blunt object and dragged her to the side of the church, where she was found two hours later, according to Grass Valley police. A suspect, Alan Kierkegaard (aka Alan Sorensen), 50, is being sought on charges of attempted murder and carjacking.

To read more about the suspect, click here.

Tassone is well-known in western Nevada County as one of two nurses who worked at Sierra Nevada Memorial Hospital when it first opened in 1958, retiring after 50 years. She continues to volunteer there, praying for the patients.

“We call her our Prayer Chief,” said PEACE member and retired surgical nurse Susie Brasher.

Christians sometimes refer to Jesus Christ as “the Great Physician.” As faithful people, we consider God to be the source all healing, and health professionals to be instruments of that work.

Lutherans believe Christ is present in the bread (or wafer) and wine of Holy Communion. So, by having the Body of Christ present during this Mass of Healing and the Adoration, we focus our attention on the source of all healing, opening our hearts to God’s living presence in our lives.

At PEACE Lutheran Church, our prayers are with Mary Grace, the entire Tassone family and St. Patrick Parish as, united in Christ, we pray for the healing of our faithful sister.

We also pray for the assailant: May his heart turn to God and be opened to the saving grace offered through Jesus, God’s Annointed One.