The Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick
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And He said, “If you will listen carefully to the voice of the
LORD your God,
and do what is right in His sight, and listen to His commandments,
and keep all His statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you which
I have put on the Egyptians; for I, the LORD, am your healer.”
Exodus 15, 26
In the Catholic Church,
the Anointing of the Sick, also known as Extreme Unction, is a sacrament that
is administered to a Catholic “who, having reached the age of reason, begins to
be in danger due to sickness or old age,” except in the case of those who
“persevere obstinately in manifest grave sin.” The sacrament provides physical
and/or spiritual healing according to God’s will. It offers necessary graces so
that the sick person may prepare for death; it pours out consolation and hope
and provides an opportunity for the forgiveness of sins even when the sick
person is too ill to receive the sacrament of Reconciliation. The Anointing of
the Sick is often administered near the time of death to bring the person
receiving the sacrament spiritual and physical strength. As a sacrament (an
outward sign of something internal), it is performed to give God’s grace
through the Holy Spirit. Only priests (presbyters and bishops) have the
authority to minister the anointing of the sick using oil blessed by the bishop
since Christ gave his apostles and the men they appointed in the ministry
special power over natural and supernatural phenomena.
The Sacrament of the
Anointing of the Sick has its foundations in “the economy of salvation.”
Because sin has entered the world, illness and suffering plague our human
condition. “In illness, man experiences his powerlessness, his limitations, and
his finitude.” Those who are gravely or chronically ill catch a glimpse of
death and are humbled by their illness. They acquire the wisdom of the fact that
health and happiness aren’t permanent, and their lives must eventually come to
an end (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1500). The acquisition of wisdom is a
good thing, but illness, suffering, and the thought of approaching death do
carry a negative influence. Although an ill or dying person might become more
mature and able to discern the more important things in life than what one had
previously thought were essential for happiness and contentment but, in
reality, were temporal and fleeting in their shallowness, “illness can lead to
anguish, self-absorption, sometimes even despair and revolt against God.”
Still, suffering and/or dying can be good in that it often prompts a person to
search for God and be reconciled to Him (CCC, 1501).
The Sacrament of the
Anointing of the Sick is particularly important in the life of the Church
because it is a medium through which Jesus extends his love to the sick and
dying. Our Lord heals the person in body and soul by conferring his graces to
help them overcome their anguish and despair and make peace with God for peace
of mind and spiritual rest.
God’s chosen people
of the Old Covenant lived their sicknesses in the presence of God. They
lamented their illnesses and misfortunes before God because they believed God
was punishing them for their sins. Illness served as a means of conversion and
prompted the Israelites to seek God’s forgiveness. With forgiveness should come
restoration. The true Israelite in spirit sought the grace of being at peace
with God in spite of their unfavorable condition unlike those who were seeking
a temporal change of fortune for the better. In any event, “illness was linked
to sin and evil, while faithfulness to God restored life” (CCC, 1502).
In the New Covenant, Christ is the physician in his consubstantial oneness with the Father. Christ’s compassion for the sick and the lame and his numerous miraculous healings of a variety of infirmities was a radiant sign that God had visited his people and that the kingdom of God was in their midst (Lk 7:16; Mt 4:24). Our Lord came into the world to heal the whole person, body, and soul, with the forgiveness of sin. The physically and spiritually infirm were in need of him (Mk 2:5-12). Jesus went so far as to identify himself with the sick to remind us that we should have the same love and compassion for them as he had (Mk 25:36).
The
Magisterium of his Church reminds us that “His preferential love for the sick
has not ceased through the centuries to draw the very special attention of
Christians toward all those who suffer in body and soul. It is the source of
tireless efforts to comfort them” (CCC, 1503). In carrying out the sacramental
rite, the priest acts in persona Christi as a physician. He is essentially a
spiritual healer, but there have been occasions in which physical healing has
been miraculously brought about with the forgiveness of sin and reconciliation
to God by the grace of sanctification or justification bestowed through the
sacrament.
Jesus offered his
apostles a share in his priestly ministry and invested in them the authority to
preach the gospel and call people to repentance. And this commission included
the power to cast out demons and heal the sick by anointing their heads with
oil (Mk 6:12-13). In the Catholic rite, a priest prays over the person and
anoints their head and hands with chrism (holy oil). The anointing is the means
by which there are supernatural results. The act of anointing someone is a
power in itself that comes with the manifestation and operation of the Holy
Spirit. The anointing is the presence and power of God through which the
efficacy of divine grace heals the soul and restores it to good health.
If miraculous
physical cures accompany spiritual restoration, they serve as visible signs to
remind us of the connection between suffering and sin. Jesus healed the
paralytic to show that he had the authority to forgive sins. If he hadn’t had
this authority, he couldn’t have produced the miracle that happened (Mt 9:1-8;
Mk 2:1-12; Lk 5:17-26). The scribes and Pharisees who told Jesus in their rage
that only God could forgive sins had no idea that he was, in fact, God
incarnate. Nor did they see that as a man Jesus was given the divine authority
from the Father to absolve people of their sins and the power to miraculously cure
them in the power of the Holy Spirit. It was this authority and power that was
transferred from Jesus to his apostles since it was in his humanity that the
divine Person carried out his priestly ministry.
This same authority
and power lie with the Catholic priest. The chrism that he uses in conjunction
with the formula of prayer is symbolic of its effects. When a priest anoints
the head and palms of the hands (Roman rite) of those who are gravely or
chronically ill and close to death in most circumstances, the primary purpose
is to give spiritual strength, notably the graces of faith and hope, though the
sacrament does address the physical, bodily conditions of the illness. The
anointing is regarded as a means of health and comfort, and as a symbol of being
consecrated to God. For the sacrament to be effective, the recipient must have
faith in God and in His power which is communicated through the sacrament. He
or she must also be repentant for the forgiveness of sin.
The Universal
Magisterium of the Catholic Church teaches: “A particular gift of the Holy
Spirit. The first grace of this sacrament is one of strengthening, peace, and
courage to overcome the difficulties that go with the condition of serious
illness or the frailty of old age. This grace is a gift of the Holy Spirit, who
renews trust and faith in God and strengthens against the temptations of the
evil one, the temptation to discouragement and anguish in the face of death.
This assistance from the Lord by the power of his Spirit is meant to lead the
sick person to healing of the soul, but also of the body if such is God’s will.
Furthermore, “if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven” (CCC, 1520).
Again, in almost all
cases, the body isn’t physically healed and restored to health by God’s will as
a grace of this sacrament. But there are beneficial psychological and emotional
effects produced by the Holy Spirit. Miraculous cures are extremely rare
because suffering unites us with the passion of Christ. “ By the grace of this
sacrament the sick person receives the strength and the gift of uniting himself
more closely to Christ’s Passion: in a certain way he is consecrated to bear
fruit by configuration to the Savior’s redemptive Passion. Suffering, a
consequence of original sin, acquires a new meaning; it becomes a participation
in the saving work of Jesus” (CCC, 1521).
Christ conferred
redemptive value on suffering and death which are penalties for original sin.
He transformed what was evil into something good. But our Lord and Savior’s
objective act of redemption must be joined with our subjective redemptive
participation. We remit our temporal debt of sin by joining our suffering with
Christ’s suffering so that we reap the full benefits of the eternal debt he
alone has paid on our sinful behalf, provided we accept our suffering as a
means of temporal reparation for our sins. The grace of the sacrament gives us
the power and wisdom to discern this truth and the strength to accept our cross
and carry it together with Christ so that we might be saved and rewarded with
eternal life (Mt 16:24; 2 Tim 2:11-12).
By the grace we
receive, we may be configured to Christ in his passion, death, and
resurrection. Thus, the grace in the sacrament not only benefits the person
receiving it but also the whole Church and the people of God. In this sense, it
is called “ecclesial grace.” By “freely uniting themselves to the passion of
Christ,” the sick who receive this sacrament “contribute to the good of the
People of God.” The Church, in the communion of saints, intercedes for the
benefit of the sick person by celebrating the sacrament, while he or she
“contributes to the sanctification of the Church and to the good of all men for
whom the Church suffers and offers herself through Christ to God the Father”
(CCC, 1522). By configuring themselves to Christ in his passion and death, and
having a share in his self-sacrifice, the sick person can merit grace (de
congruo) for the entire body of Christ (cf. Col 1:24).
Finally, in
preparation for the final journey, the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick
should be ministered to by a priest or bishop without hesitation when death is
imminent. In addition to the anointing, those who are gravely ill or dying
should receive the Holy Eucharist as Viaticum. “Communion in the body and blood
of Christ, received at this moment of passing over to the Father, has a
particular significance and importance. It is the seed of eternal life and the
power of resurrection, according to the words of the Lord: ‘He who eats my
flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last
day.’ (Jn 6:54). The sacrament of Christ once dead and now risen, the Eucharist
is here the sacrament of passing over from death to life, from this world to
the Father” (CCC 1524).
The Latin word viaticum
means “provision for a journey,” from “via” or “way”. For Communion as
Viaticum, the Eucharist is given in the usual form, with the added words “May
the Lord Jesus Christ protect you and lead you to eternal life”. The sacraments
of Baptism, Confirmation, and the Eucharist form a triad called “the sacraments
of Christian initiation.” The sacraments of Reconciliation or Penance, the
Anointing of the Sick, and the Eucharist as Viaticum constitute the end of the
Christian life. These latter are the sacraments that “‘prepare for our heavenly
homeland’ and the sacraments that ‘complete the earthly pilgrimage'” (CCC,
1525).
Perseverance is a
particularly important character trait for us to have to be successful in life.
It means determination at working hard regardless of any odds or obstacles that
may exist. It is to insist and to be firm on getting something done and not
give up. This practical definition can be applied in a spiritual sense and in a
Christian context:
“Brothers, I do not
consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do:
forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead,
I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ
Jesus.”
Philippians 3, 13-14
“Let us hold fast the
confession of our hope without wavering,
for he who promised is faithful.”
Hebrews 10, 23
“For you have need of
endurance,
so that when you have done the will of God
you may receive what is promised.”
Heb 10, 36
“Count it all joy, my
brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds,
for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.
And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and
complete,
lacking in nothing.”
James 1, 2-4
“Blessed is the man who
remains steadfast under trial,
for when he has stood the test
he will receive the crown of life,
which God has promised to those who love him.”
James 1, 12
EARLY SACRED
TRADITION
O God who sanctifiest this
oil as Thou dost grant unto all who are anointed
and receive of it the hallowing wherewith Thou didst anoint kings and priests
and prophets, so grant that it may give strength to all that taste of it and
health
to all that use it.”
St. Hippolytus, Apostolic Tradition, 5:2
(c. A.D. 215)
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“In addition to these there
is also a seventh [sacrament], albeit hard and laborious
In this way there is
fulfilled that too, which the Apostle James says: ‘If then, there is
anyone
sick, let him call the presbyters of the Church, and let them impose hands
upon
him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord; and the prayer of faith
will
save the sick man, and if he be in sins, they shall be forgiven him.’”
Origen, Homily on Leviticus, 2:4
(A.D. 244)
“Of the sacrament of life,
by which Christians [baptism], priests, kings and prophets
are made perfect; it
illuminates darkness [in confirmation], anoints the sick, and by
its secret
sacrament restores penitents.”
Aphraates the Persian Sage, Treatises, 23:3
(A.D. 345)
“Why, then, do you lay on
hands, and believe it to be the effect of the blessing, if
perchance some sick
person recovers Why do you assume that any can be cleansed
by you from the
pollution of the devil? Why do you baptize if sins cannot be
remitted by man?
If baptism is certainly the remission of all sins, what difference
does it make
whether priests claim that this power is given to them in penance or at
the font?
In each the mystery is one.”
St. Ambrose, Penance, 1,8:36
(A.D. 390)
“Behold, I have
given you authority to tread upon serpents and scorpions,
and over all the power of the enemy; and nothing shall hurt you.”
Luke 10, 19
