Anointing Notes for Students

THE ANOINTING OF THE SICK

Bibliography
Rite of Anointing and Pastoral Care of the Sick, New York, 1974.
Genevieve Glen, ed., Recovering the Riches of Anointing, Collegeville, Minnesota, 2002.
Charles Gusmer, And You Visited Me, New York: Pueblo Publications Co., 1984.
Lizette Larson-Miller, The Sacrament of Anointing of the Sick, Liturgical Press, Minnesota, 2005.
James Empereur, Prophetic Anointing, Michael Glazier, 1982.
Elizabeth Kübler Ross, On Death and Dying, Macmillan, New York, 1969.
Dominic Ssengooba, The Laity and the Pastoral Care of the Sick, Paulines, Nairobi, 1996
Rinaldo Ronzani, Christian Healing, Paulines, Nairobi, 2007
Pope John Paul II, Salvifici Doloris, 1984.


Chapter One OLD TESTAMENT

1. Sickness is Abnormal. The answers people in ancient societies found meaningful were often expressed in religious rituals and myths.
2. Yahweh is the Author of Sickness & Health. Dt 32.39, Ex 4.11, Am 3.6, Is 45.7.
3. The Whole Person is affected.
4. One Order – so disturbance in one area is felt in other areas as well.
The ancient responses to illness are sacramental as well as medicinal.
Funeral Rituals are also sacramental. Psychologically, they help people come to terms with the fact of death; sociologically, they provide an acceptable way to mourn and sacramentally, they express beliefs and hopes that make death bearable.
5. God’s desires to heal us. Gen 20.18, I Kgs 17.17-20, Num 16.47-50, Tobit, Ps 103, Hos 6.1-11.



Chapter Two JESUS AND HEALING

1. Healing: A Central Ministry of Jesus
Jesus has a deep compassion for people and he could not stand idly by while people suffered. He was a friend of sick people and took the part of the person against the illness.
His healing ministry is the Primary Witness of the Coming of the Kingdom. Lk 10.9, 7.22.
The healings of Jesus are very significant. Note opening chapters of Gospel of Mark.
Jesus Healed the Whole Person for Salvation. The Messianic Secret – it is likely that Jesus hides after some stunning cures because he feared that he would become known simply as a healer of bodies; he was Saviour, not doctor.

2. Sin and Sickness
Sickness is not the Result of Sin, Lk 13.1-5, Mt 5.45.
Sin and Suffering are connected. Affliction does not provide evidence that we are personally sinful, but it may result from the stress and disorder caused by sin and evil.
Sickness is a Sign of Deeper Evil. Jesus perceived that sickness resulted from a force of evil loose in the world which was hostile to God and his way. Sickness is a symptom of our need for deliverance. Jesus saw that people were not passive vessels in the battle between good and evil and that much suffering resulted from an active turning towards evil through sinful acts and attitudes. Such sin could open a person to sickness. Sin and sickness are expressly related by Jesus but not in the way that sin is the sole cause of sickness.

3. The Cure of the Blind Man
John, Chapter 9, gives an understanding of the nature of the sacrament of anointing.
While sin and sickness are both negative influences that diminish human life, Jesus rejected the simplistic notion that sickness is punishment for sin.
Anointing with soil and saliva
Pharisees, the enlightened ones: “Though I was blind, now I see.”
The sacrament of anointing demands faith on the part of the recipient. Faith is true sight, the sight that can penetrate beyond the surface of things to discern spiritual meaning.
The Gospel of Signs: Seeing – insight – Spiritual Sight. Light – illumination.
Story possibly refers to an early Christian Community.
It might be taken as the NT institution of the sacrament of anointing and it provides a kind of model for the sacrament.

4. Faith
Jesus was different from all the other healers. Sometimes he made use of his own saliva (Mk 7.33, 8.23); sometimes he made physical contact with the sick (Mk 1.31, 41; 6.56; 8.22-25), and he did make use of spontaneous prayer (Mk 9.29), but he did not use an invocation or a rite.
Jesus relied on the Power of Faith - "Your faith has healed you” (Mt 21.22).
Faith, like a Mustard Seed, is an apparently small and insignificant thing that can achieve impossibly great things. What faith can achieve is like moving mountains (Mt 17.20). Everything is possible for anyone who has faith (Mk 9.23).
Without such faith Jesus apparently unable to heal. ‘Go in peace. Your faith has made you whole’ (Mk 5.34, Lk 17.19; 18.42). The individual’s faith is a cause of the healing.
Faith – if the person speaks with sufficient conviction, it will be done for him – Mk 11.23, 24. But where there is doubt, nothing will happen – Mt 14.28-31; 17.19-20.
Faith is the conviction that something can and will happen because it is good and true; the conviction that goodness will triumph over evil always.
Fatalism – Nothing is going to change.
Faith – Infectious. The faith of Jesus awakened faith in others. The disciples look to him to increase their faith (Lk 17.5) and help their unbelief (Mk 9.24).
The Lack of Faith → No healings (Mk 6.5-6). Jesus awakened the spirit of faith that lay deep within people and this opened them up to the power of the Spirit of God, the creative force of goodness and truth.

5. The Wounded Healer
Jesus, the divine & human physician, is more deeply wounded than any other human being, ‘a man of sorrows & familiar with suffering’ (Is 53.3-5), and all his wounds and suffering are intimately linked with his mission as saviour and healer. Suffering of those in healing professions, AA, and ‘thwasa’ experience.

6. Conclusion
a) Jesus healed because he wished to bring people to conversion, because he was hostile to what made them sick and because he cared for people.
b) Healing must come from within; the individual or community have to take responsibility.
c) Those in need of healing must be open to receive help, must be willing to depend on others, and must trust in others.
d) Any real healing is linked with conversion. In many instances, Jesus tells the cured person: ‘Go, and sin no more.’



Chapter Three THE NEW TESTAMENT

The disciples shared in the Ministry of Healing and the Gospels recount that Jesus sent them out to cure the sick (Lk 9.1-6; 10.1-10). Their healing ministry shows that all evils are part of an overall network of sin – Mk .13. This ministry is related to sin, repentance and faith – Mk 16.15-18.
Physical healing is perceived as a sign of faith in Jesus & a catalyst for faith in Jesus and a sign that the Kingdom of God was present in the Church (Acts 3.12-16; 14.8-18).
Paul mentions healing & miracles as spiritual gifts from God for the benefit of the community – I Cor 12.9-10.
James 5:14-15: “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. Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, so that you may be healed”.
Presbyters – officials of the Church, not charismatics.
Prayer of Faith – not the oil, not something magical, but prayers to the Lord.
Practice existed in early Church.
Sick Christians will be raised from this weakness and saved from the obstacle that sickness constitutes towards their salvation.
Forgiveness – sickness is related to sin – care of the sick is directed to the whole person – both physical and spiritual healing is sought.
Anointing with Oil
A practice deeply embedded in the ancient Near East.
Israel ceremonially anointed kings, priests and prophets with oil as a sign of their special mission and of the gift of God’s spirit to help them.
Various objects of worship were consecrated by anointing and the heads of guests and the feet of visitors were anointed as were those who were freed from captivity.
Oil was used for treating wounds, preparing the dead for burial, cooking, athletic rub downs, and cosmetics. The use of oil speaks of strength & health, of light & beauty, of consecration & God’s spirit. It was a symbol of healing and religious anointing helped to give meaning to human fragmentation.
The Anointed One, Messiah, Christ: Jesus was recognised as being anointed by the Spirit of God.
Continuation of Ministry: Mk 6:13,18 & Jms 5:14-15 show that it was the intention of the early followers of Jesus to continue his healing ministry and to do so by using the most health giving sign they had at their disposal: anointing with olive oil. This ministry continues to this very day – Hospitals and Centres of Healing.



Chapter Four DEVELOPMENT OF SACRAMENT

1. Patristic Period
After the time of the Apostles, Christian healing was usually associated with oil. We see this in the liturgical texts for the blessing of oil by the bishop. So to the already healing olive oil was added the Church’s blessing and hope for spiritual healing as well.
Pope Innocent I writes of anointing as a kind of sacrament in 416.
Lay People administer sacrament to sick and oil used in the sacrament constituted a permanent sacrament.
Caesarius of Arles, 6th Century, encourages reception of sacrament.
In the Patristic Period, it was a sacrament in the broad sense, because it symbolised the healing power of the Holy Spirit, whose activity was often described as a spiritual anointing.
It was a Rite for the Sick, not Dying. The sacrament for the dying was Viaticum. The custom of lay anointing continued until the beginning of the 9th century.
There was more stress of on the bodily effects than on the spiritual effects. The sacrament was intended to promote wholeness of body, mind and spirit.

2. Reform of Charlemagne
Restriction to Priests and Bishops & the Creation of the Ritual designed to be done in the home of sick person.
Anointing also takes place in the local Church.
Eventually, the anointings settled on the five senses, indicating a stronger emphasis on sin. ‘By this holy anointing, may God forgive you whatever sins you have committed by the use of your sense of sight, sound, scent, savour, touch.’

3. Extreme Unction
Since the sacrament had to be celebrated by a priest and since anointing could not be given to penitents until they were reconciled, anointing becomes a Deathbed Ministry. Moreover, since anointing was very costly, penance was stressed, and some human experiences were perceived as not being allowed after it, anointing is pushed to the last moment of a person’s life. The sequence shifted from penance, anointing and viaticum to penance, viaticum and anointing in the 12th century, reinforcing the idea that anointing was ‘extreme unction.’
Focus on Spiritual Effects: - forgiveness of sin & preparation for Heaven.
Expected Cooperation of Sick Person by repudiating their sinful tendencies and turning to God.
Anointing for Beatific Vision
Franciscans: All venial sins were also forgiven. Dominicans: Guaranteed an unimpeded journey to Heaven.
Council of Florence, 1438: Extreme unction listed as the fifth of the sacraments and was to be given only to the sick who in danger of dying. It affirms the positive aspects of healing for mind and body; so the sacrament is presented not as that of the dying only, but of the sick.

4. Council of Trent, (1545-63)
Luther objects to the practice of anointing only the dying.
Trent defines anointing and speaks of the Spiritual, Psychological & Bodily Effects of the Sacrament. Even though the bishops recognised that Catholics sometimes used extreme unction as an excuse for not having to lead morally good lives and that priests charged a big stipend for it, they emphasised the spiritual benefits that anointing brought to people. Like penance, it was a sign of God’s mercy because it enabled Christians to be forgiven of their sins and be assured of salvation. Jesus had ordained that priests should anoint the sick since the practice was clearly commanded by the apostle James. The anointing was to be given only to the sick, especially those on the point of dying. The priest is the proper minister of the sacrament.

5. Post Trent
Plenary Indulgence for those who receive the Sacrament – Benedict XIV, 1747.
Anointing became a door to the Sacred Meaning of Death from being a door to the sacred meaning of sickness. Catholics could experience the meaning of their faith in a merciful and saving God through the security and strength they felt when death was upon them.
Still few Christians receive the Sacrament, because it was costly and because it was considered necessary to wait till the last moment, which meant people died before receiving it.

Chapter Five RECENT TIMES
1. Canon Law, 1917: Those receiving the anointing of the sick be “in danger of death on account of illness or old age”.

2. Benedict XV – Bona Mors, 1921: The reception of viaticum and extreme unction should not to be delayed, till they are about to lose their consciousness. Instead, as soon as their condition worsens and one may prudently judge that there is danger of death, they should be strengthened by these sacraments.

3. The popular association of sacrament with dying and death remained. The calling for the priest was seen as sign that there is no hope now. This calling was put off till the last moment, lest the arrival of the priest actually hasten death by frightening the patient.

4. Research in the 1950’s questioned the restriction of the sacrament to the dying and suggested that it should be given for any serious sickness. Some criticised the perception that its purpose was to prepare the soul for heaven; others argued that the effects could be physical and pointed out that the prayers in it were for the sick and others showed that the sacrament for the dying was viaticum.

5. In the Orthodox Church the sacrament was always regarded as the Sacrament of the Sick.

6. Vatican II: “Extreme Unction, which may also and more fittingly be called ‘anointing of the sick,’ is not a sacrament for those only who are at the point of death. Hence as soon as anyone of the faithful begins to be in danger of death from sickness or old age, the appropriate time to receive this sacrament has certainly arrived.” (SC 73). The Council directed that the sacrament should be administered early, when illness becomes serious. The ritual is to be revised and the last sacrament to be administered to the dying is Viaticum (SC 73, 74); a continuous ceremony must be prepared, which will integrate the various rites for the sick in a new sequence: reconciliation, anointing and viaticum.

7. While the Council accept that the sacrament prepares the person for final glory, it also connects with the tradition which includes healing among its effects. The Council integrates the suffering of the sick into the mystery of Christ’s saving passion and death. Conformation to the mystery of Christ makes human sufferings fruitful for the entire people of God. The Church exhorts sick people to associate themselves and their sufferings with the passion and death of Christ for the welfare of the Church (LG 11), (Rom 8.17, Col 1.24, 2 Tim.11ff, 1 Pet 4.13).

7. The Reforms:
New Rite for Anointing issued in 1972.
Now called ‘Anointing of the Sick’.
Anointing is available for all who are seriously sick.
Reintroduction of the laying on of hands.
Restoration of the context of anointing the sick within the Eucharist.
Viaticum becomes the last sacrament.



Chapter Six THE NEW RITE & OTHER ELEMENTS

1 Revised Ritual of 1972, promulgated by Paul VI.
· The new rite speaks of several sacraments of the sick and its thrust is widened to include the whole ministry to sick people.
· The sacrament is for those whose health is seriously impaired by sickness or old age.
· The Faithful are to be encouraged to receive it, by stressing it is the Sacrament for the Sick and not extreme unction through naming it the sacrament of anointing or anointing of the sick and through educating the faithful to ask for it.
· The sacrament should be celebrated before the illness becomes a test of courage and lucidity so the sick persons are able to participate in it.
· It can be received several times during a prolonged illness or during old age; it can be received by children and the mentally ill and even non-Catholic Christians.
· Prayer of Faith: It is the people of God who pray in faith.
· Laying on of Hands: An ancient gesture that carries many meanings – Jesus did this to heal the sick – touching a person brings comfort – sign of our prayer for the sick person and of the bestowal of the Spirit. It is done in silence.
· Anointing with Oil: The sick person is anointed on the forehead while the priest says, ‘Through this holy anointing, may the Lord in his love and mercy help you with the grace of the Holy Spirit.’ Then the priest anoints that hands of the sick person, saying, ‘May the Lord who frees you from sin save you and raise you up.’ The emphasis now is on healing rather than forgiveness and an abundant use of oil is recommended.

2. Purpose of Sacrament
Alienation & Fragmentation in Sick Person. Instead of being an integral part of the person, the body seems to be rebelling, causing pain and preventing the sick person from functioning normally. Sick people are cut off from the normal rhythms and people of everyday life. Their ‘wholeness’ is dissipated, scattered, and fragmented. ‘The sick bed, the hospital, is a prison.’ Sickness can cause depression, wear down emotional stamina and be a test of faith.
Sick people need the Love & Support of the community. The sacrament helps to awaken the supporting love of the Christian community for the sick person and ensure that attention is given to the needs of the sick person.
The sacrament facilitates an experience of the love of God and the love of the community and brings about a personal experience of meeting God as a source of strength and healing; it elicits a trusting cooperation with the grace of healing and induces a deep entry into the mystery of Christ’s own suffering, death & resurrection.
The sacrament aims at changing the perceptions of the sick person and the community from a meaningless situation to a ministerial one.
Witness of the Sick Person
Believing and hoping in a life-threatening situation.
Living the present moment.
Completing the sufferings of Christ for the good of Church and world, Col 1.24.
Revealing the Suffering Face of God, Jn 14.9.
The purpose of the liturgy is to sacramentalise both the support of the Christian community and the faith witness of the suffering person.

3. Body and Soul: The intimate relationship of body and soul is at the heart of the sacrament of anointing. Anointing is directed to both the spirit and the body of the person receiving it, since body and soul constitute a single reality embracing the entire person.

4. Cure: The sacrament does not promise physical healing. What it promises is God’s help in a time of need. God’s help may be given not as a cure, but as a spiritual strengthening. The ultimate promise of the sacrament is that we will come to the fullness of life by uniting ourselves deeply with Christ. Curing has to do with relieving or removing the physical illness. Healing belongs to the entire person, body and soul. Anointing does not guarantee cure; its aim is to heal the entire person. This could mean that the sick person is enabled to integrate his or her suffering into his/her life and become a person better at being himself/herself in the process.

5. Healing: The Church has other doors to the experience of healing, comfort in suffering and consolation in death. Prayer & Reading of Scripture – Informal Pentecostal Sacramental Rituals of Healing, like ‘Healing of Memories’ – Charismatic Prayer & the Laying on of Hands.
Charismatic Healing Prayer: Similarity and Different from Sacrament. Both are prayers of faith and show community’s concern. Though it does recognise that God can heal in other ways besides the physical, the charismatic service often seeks miraculous cures; while the sacrament is focused on union with paschal mystery and strengthening faith of the sick person and is the official and central way in which the Church ministers to the sick.

6. Minister & Ministry
· Minister: Priest or Bishop. Since lay people could anoint in the early Church, we could see an extension in the years ahead (Deacons and Chaplains).
· All Christians have the responsibility to satisfy the Spiritual Needs of the Sick (CL 230/3).
· SC 42 - Visiting the Sick is the duty of all (Mt 25:36).
· Prayers for sick people (Mk 14.38, Ecc 38.9-12). The purpose of prayer is to help the sick person accept his/her illness, open his/her heart to receive God’s healing, obtain a physical cure (if it is God’s will) and remind her/him that membership of a community entails responsibilities.
· Obligation of Priests: Total pastoral ministry to the sick. Priests should visit not just the dying but all those in their care who are suffering.

7. Community Responsibility for Sick People
Doctors and other health-care personnel share in the ministry. The rite urges frequent visits to the sick not only by the priest and the family, but by friends and other members of the community.
· The sacrament is to be celebrated in a communal fashion with a gathering around the Sick Person – SC 27. All those present are asked to participate in it as a sign of their concern for those who need their help.
· In some cases a communal celebration of the Sacrament for Several Sick People may take place.
· Communal Anointings are encouraged at the Parish Church within Mass.

8. Christian Care for Persons as Persons. The cardinal principle for those in the healing ministry is to remember at all times that they are dealing with a person.
9. Compassion: Every Christian is called to be compassionate.
· Lk 13:10-17 – Compassion of Jesus for Woman. The care of the woman is more important that the observance of the Sabbath.
· Jms 5:l4-l5 – Continuation of healing ministry of Jesus.
· The Sacrament of Anointing inspires all Christians to be Compassionate, to serve the sick, and to give respect to people who have lost their usefulness.
· This sacrament of compassion is prolonged by engaging in issues surrounding the global anxiety for the unborn, the handicapped, the old and the feeble.

10. Ambivalent, yet Clear:
· Sacrament of the sick or Sacrament of the dying. It speaks of physical healing, spiritual healing and divine forgiveness. It is as though there are two sacraments: anointing of the sick and anointing of the dying.
· Anointing is the assertion that Disease and Death are not ultimate and need not be overpowering. They are not to be feared but faced; they are not to be escaped but lived through. It is an opportunity for self-integration and reconciliation and a statement of belief in the resurrection.

11. The Dying: The new rite provides ceremonies and prayers for those who are indeed dying and will die shortly. Even the funeral arrangements are considered an extension of the Church’s healing ministry with the undercurrent of deep sorrow at human loss and yet a certain joy that the final rebirth has taken place.

12. Viaticum, receiving the Lord himself in Holy Communion, is the Sacrament for the Dying. When will we be nearer Holy Thursday than at the hour of our personal Good Friday? When do we best prophesy the drama of faith if not at the moment when we have to fight our last battle. Viaticum is the food given to someone to allow them go on a long journey. It literally means ‘with you on the way’ and refers to food for the journey from this life to the next. Death is not the end of life, but a departure for a real journey. “Death is not extinguishing the Light. It is putting out the Lamp because the Dawn has come” (Tagore). If our departures have found meaning in the Easter of the Lord, then we are ready to welcome death. This does not do away with the anguish or the suffering, but it does allow us to see its true meaning.
Viaticum is celebrated when it is clear that the person is dying, but still should take place when the person is alert. It may be repeated and it is preferable that it is celebrated within Mass. It should be a communal rite. It is similar to the rite of communion for sick people, with the person also being invited to renew his or her baptismal promises and after communion, the minister praying: ‘May the Lord protect you and lead you to eternal life.’
As death approaches, the sick person is also sustained by prayers for the commendation of the dying. Special prayers are also provided for the family and for the deceased after death has occurred.
When a person is already dead, the priest does not administer the sacrament of anointing. Instead he prays for the dead person, asking God to forgive his or her sins and graciously receive him or her into the Kingdom. If the priest has reason to believe the person is still living, he may anoint him/her conditionally.



Chapter Seven CONCLUSION
1. Jesus: Compassionate & Self-Giving. Because he encountered many people in great pain, suffering and woundedness, his outlook on human life was one of deep compassion and he fought against the evils that enslave humans. Indeed, his self-giving was his ultimate healing and his ministry reveals to us God’s compassion.
2. The sacrament reveals Jesus as healer and sufferer. He is revealed as healer of body as well as soul and as the face imprinted on Veronica’s veil, the image of suffering.
3. All those who show concern and care become the guarantors of God’s concern for sick people.
4. Witness of Sick: The sick person is strengthened to witness to his faith in the God of life, to live fully in the present moment, to associate his or her suffering with the sufferings of Jesus to complete them for the good of the Church and to reveal the suffering and patience of God.
5. Church: The Church’s concern for the sick is in fidelity to Christ’s command to visit the sick and is consistent with a holistic understanding of salvation as reaching the total person. In the sacrament the Church discloses herself as a Compassionate Community and always in need of healing. A Church who abandons those are regarded as being of no practical use or who turns her back on the sick, the drug addict, the alcoholic, the victim of HIV/AIDS is no longer the Church of Christ.
6. The Sacrament brings Fuller Life; if offers an enhancement of our own life. Sin is so entrenched in human life that even after celebrating reconciliation in other sacraments, the human need for healing is still there. The sacrament of anointing offers an additional assurance which can be of great help to the sick and the dying. It is intended like the other sacraments to make life fuller and better.
7. The Rites: The experience of serious illness is always a time of trial for the patient and for relatives and friends. The revised rites provide a rich resource for the community to utilise in expressing their concern and prayers for those who are sick.
8. Key part of Ritual: The sick person is anointed on the forehead while the priest says, “Through this holy anointing, may the Lord in his love and mercy help you with the grace of the Holy Spirit.” Then the priest anoints the sick person’s hands, saying: “May the Lord who frees you from sin save you and raise you up.”