The Sacrament of the Sick
Over the winter months from mid November to March I was struggling with illness. The doctors could not find out what the cause of it was. All the blood tests came back normal and apart from feeling exhausted I felt perfectly fine. My body just wanted to close down and sleep. I could go to bed at 8.00pm at night and not wake up until 9.00/9.30am in the morning. I would potter around the house and some days would need to go and have a lie down in the afternoon just to get through the day. Other days I would be fine. It was very unpredictable. The hardest thing about this was that I had no idea when it would end and my body would return to normal.
For the most part of this I felt quite at peace about it and felt that I just had to “ride it out”, that my body would sort itself out again as some point in the future. However, at one point I did get very down and went to see a friend and had a good chat about things. This made me feel much better and lifted my spirit.
During His public ministry, Jesus healed people—the blind, the lame, etc. His healing touched both body and soul. In most of the accounts of the healing miracles, the ill person comes to a deeper conviction of faith. The healing ministry of our Lord continues through His Church. Jesus instructed the apostles and sent them out: "They expelled many demons, anointed the sick with oil and worked many cures" (Mk. 6:13). St. James provided a clear teaching regarding the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick: "Is there anyone sick among you? He should ask for the priests of the Church. They in turn are to pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord." (Jm. 5:14-15).
The Church offers us something much more than a chat with a friend. The Anointing of the Sick is special because it offers spiritual strength, peace and courage to overcome the anxiety and worry that often accompany serious illness or old age. Rather than only being for the dying, it brings God's grace for healing—physically or spiritually—and forgives sins, uniting the sufferer with Christ's passion.
The 2 keys aspects that make this sacrament special are spiritual healing. The primary effect is to give spiritual strength by providing peace and courage to face suffering. The sick person is anointed with oil to give them strength to endure their suffering. The second aspect that makes this Sacrament special is the forgiveness of sins. If a person is dying and is unable to have the Sacrament of Reconciliation this sacrament removes those sins. This can be especially comforting when somebody is dying.
This Sacrament used to be only given to those who were at the point of death and you may remember it as Extreme Unction. (Extreme Anointing). This meant it was kept for those who were at the point of death and the priest was called in at the last minute. Now it is seen as being needed by those who are not just at the point of death but for anybody who is need of healing/strengthening. It is given to people who are about to have a serious operation; those who struggle with old age and the physical and mental struggles this brings and those with long term illness.
It is much more beneficial than just a chat with a friend!
Ursula Walker
Spiritual Rep
spiritualrep@lrcd.org.uk