Anointing of the Sick

Reconciliation
Anointing of the Sick

“The Lord Jesus Christ, physician of our souls and bodies, who forgave the sins of the paralytic and restored him to bodily health, has willed that his Church continue, in the power of the Holy Spirit, his work of healing and salvation, even among her own members. This is the purpose of the two sacraments of healing: the sacrament of Penance and the sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick” (CCC 1421).

The Sacraments of Healing: Anointing of the Sick

From the earliest events of Jesus’ public ministry, he recognized humanity’s deep need for healing of both soul and body. In fact, when Jesus first sent out the twelve apostles, they both preached repentance and healed the sick: “They went out and proclaimed that all should repent. They cast out many demons, and anointed with oil many who were sick and cured them” (Mark 6:12-13). As the early Christian churches grew in their understanding of their mission, they too recognized that prayers for healing, both of bodily illness and of sinfulness, were moments of particular unity with God.

“Are any among you sick? They should call for the elders of the church and have them pray over them, anointing them with oil in the name of the Lord. The prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise them up; and anyone who has committed sins will be forgiven” (James 5:14-15).

Catholics believe in a sacramental (link?) understanding of the world: in God’s presence in all aspects of our lives. The seven sacraments of the Church hold the most significant moments of life and death out to us and say, “God is most especially united to us here.” The Anointing of the Sick recognizes that all efforts to heal the sick, sustain the elderly and comfort the dying are signs of God’s presence.

A person may receive the sacrament of anointing more than once. At one time it was conferred almost exclusively on people at the point of death, but the Church has returned to a more original understanding of our human need for “strengthening, peace and courage to overcome the difficulties that go with serious illness or the frailty of old age,” and against “the temptations to discouragement and anguish in the face of death” (CCC 1520). Though we almost always pray for healing during the celebration of this sacrament, it also reminds us that suffering and death remain an integral part of life, and that our suffering, and eventually our death, unites us to Christ’s passion and death, and to his resurrection as well.

Much like the blessed oil used for Baptism and Confirmation seals us in our new life in Christ and strengthens us for the mission of Christian life, oil is the tangible symbol of the Anointing of the Sick. It completes the anointings that mark us throughout our lives of faith and reminds us of God’s presence at every moment of our lives. In this sacrament, whether celebrated at a community Eucharist, with just immediate family or with only the priest and the sick person present, the priest or bishop prays over the sick person and anoints the forehead and hands.