Jesus also charged his apostles with the task of spreading the good news and healing the sick:
"So they set off to preach repentance; and they cast out many devils and anointed many sick people with oil and cured them," (Mk 6:12-13)
This pattern continued after Jesus' death and resurrection. The early Church community saw forgiveness and healing as an important part of being faithful to Jesus' mission. Healing was one of Jesus' promises to us.
What do we do today?
Today the Church celebrates this promise in the sacrament of the anointing of the sick. The important elements of this sacrament are the prayer of faith (by the priest, the sick person and the community), the laying on of hands which invokes the Holy Spirit, and the anointing with oil.
The proper place for celebrating this sacrament is the home, the parish or community of the sick person, the place where they have to address their sickness and where they are supported by other Christians in the local Church. Of course, in emergencies, it can also be celebrated in hospitals.
Who is this sacrament for?
Anointing of the sick is not reserved for those who are about to die. The old terms of Extreme Unction and Last Rites are rather outdated today and rarely apply. It is a sacrament to help us to live. It is about bringing our faith in God to bear on those situations, caused by sickness, which require the help of grace - grace for us to continue living fully the life we are called to as sons and daughters of God. It is about being saved and raised up.
At the same time, it is not a sacrament for those minor inconveniences which can easily be dealt with by a dose of medicine or a heart to heart session of spiritual counselling. The mind of the Church is that this sacrament is for those whose health is seriously impaired by sickness or old age, and those who are about to undergo an important surgical operation. A sensible unscrupulous decision is called for, and when someone is unable to ask for the sacrament themselves the family and friends should consider what the sick person might request.
The Formula
When a priest anoints a sick person (usually on their forehead and the palms of their hands) he uses a formula which expresses the Church's desire for God to strengthen this person in their sickness, so that with their sins forgiven they may be restored to wholeness:
Through this holy anointing may the Lord in his mercy and love help you with the grace of the Holy Spirit. Amen. May the Lord who frees you from sin save you and raise you up. Amen.
Our care for the sick
We take it for granted that when someone is sick we should look after them. We are good at seeing to their physical needs. Yet the Christian Church has a responsibility to ensure that its members do not feel cut off or isolated from the community as a result of their sickness. This includes providing for their spiritual needs:
"If any one of you is in trouble, they should pray; if anyone is feeling happy, they should sing a psalm. If one of you is ill, they should send for the elders of the Church who must anoint the person with oil in the name of the Lord and pray over them. The prayer of faith will save the sick person and the Lord will raise them up again; and if they have committed any sins, they will be forgiven. So confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, and this will cure you. The heartfelt prayer of a good person works very powerfully."
(James 5:13-16)
Sharing Christ's ministry
The family and friends of the sick and those who take care of them in any way have a special share in the ministry of comfort. In particular, it is their task to strengthen the sick with words of faith and by praying with them, to commend them to the suffering and glorified Lord, and to encourage them to contribute to the well-being of the people of God by associating themselves willingly with Christ's passion and death. If the sickness grows worse, the family and friends of the sick and those who take care of them have the responsibility of informing the parish priest and by their kind words of prudently disposing the sick for the reception of the sacraments at the proper time. (No.34 General Introduction to Pastoral Care of Sick)
A prayer
The following prayer may be found helpful for saying when visiting a person who is sick:
May the God of all consolation comfort you in every way and grant you hope all the days of your life. May God restore you to health and grant you salvation. May God fill your heart with peace and lead you to eternal life. And may almighty God hold us all in the power of his love, the Father, and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Bouquets and Flowers For Every Event...
This information is intended for parents of school-age children and teachers who are imparting Religious Education within a Catholic school environment.
SACRAMENT OF THE SICK
The contents of these documents are related to the present day teaching of the Catholic Church in relation to Doctrine, Liturgy and Catholic practices. There are also special sections on Catholic Marriage and arranging a funeral in the Catholic Church.
Whenever Jesus cured a person, it was always as a sign of something else. The visible cure was a testimony that he had restored the person to a wholeness which often could not be seen. He cured a paralysed man almost as an afterthought to forgiving his sins, and frequently he restored a person's health because they had shown great faith in him.
MINISTRY
- COULD THIS BE YOU?
Ministry of Consolation
There are some ministries which are so much part of the normal running of our parish communities that we forget they exist. We grow used to the fact that someone "has always done that" and we never stop to think how impoverished we would be without them. A case in point is the ministry of consolation which the Order of Christian Funerals encourages. When a person dies we like to think that people pull together and gather round to support the family. In fact the rite encourages us to do this in a more formal way and speaks of a special ministry:
Members of the community should console the mourners with words of faith and support, and with acts of kindness, for example, assisting them with some of the routine tasks of daily living. Such assistance may allow members of the family to devote time to planning the funeral rites with the priest and other ministers, and may also give the family time for prayer and mutual comfort.
So there is a growing number of these ministers who are found in our parishes today. They represent the caring presence of the Church at the time of bereavement and they are around after the funeral to lend any support that might be required.
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