THE PASCHAL MYSTERY AND THE ANOINTING OF THE SICK

 

THE PASCHAL MYSTERY AND THE ANOINTING OF THE SICK

A good part of Jesus’ public ministry involved miracles of healing.  These healings served as signs of the coming of the Kingdom of God.  They also convinced some that his teachings could be trusted.  An attentive scholar of the prophets who witnessed his miracles might reasonably have wondered if they were fulfillments of prophecy, such as in Isaiah 35: “Then the eyes of the blind shall see, and the ears of the deaf be opened.  Then the lame shall leap like a stag, and the mute tongue sing for joy,” or Isaiah 53: “Surely he has born our infirmities and carried our diseases.”  Jesus himself pointed to his healing miracles as proof of his messiahship when the disciples of John the Baptist asked him if he were “the one who is to come” (cf. Mat 11:2-6).

  The healings which Jesus performed revealed his compassion for both the temporal and spiritual needs of the human person.  They also anticipated his ultimate victory over all suffering and death, which he would win by his Paschal Mystery.  The Catechism teaches that “They announced a more radical healing: the victory over sin and death through his Passover.  On the Cross Christ took upon himself the whole weight of evil and took away the ‘sin of the world’ of which illness is only a consequence” (#1505; cf. Jn 2:29).  In the Old Testament illness is sometimes viewed as the result of personal sin, even though, as in the case of the parable of Job, it also recognized that illness and bad fortune are not always merited.  While some people become sick because of their sinful lifestyle or culpable neglect of their health, most people become sick as the result of a pathology or disease for which they have no personal responsibility. 

The sad fact is that apart from a tragic injury everyone will eventually get sick and die.  There are no exceptions.  Since this is a universal experience, Jesus in his mercy gave us a sacrament to help us when we are in extremes.  This sacrament is called the Sacrament of the Sick, or the Anointing of the Sick, or Extreme Unction (i.e., Last Rites) if the individual is actively dying.  The grace of the sacrament unites the sick to the Passion of Christ; it strengthens them so that they may offer their sufferings to the Lord in reparation for their sins or those of others; it prepares them to pass from this world to eternal life; and it forgives mortal sins without confession in the case where the individual is physically unable to confess.  If it is God’s will, the grace of the sacrament will restore one’s health, which I have witnessed on several occasions. 

Since it involves the forgiveness of sins through the ministry of the Church, the Sacrament of the Sick can only be celebrated by a priest or bishop, who while saying the proper formula anoints the sick person with holy oil and lays his hand on him or her.  It is important to keep in mind that every sacrament must be celebrated in person; it cannot be celebrated over the phone, or by zoom, or with the priest standing outside the room of the patient.  All the sacraments require human proximity, and all require touch except for Penance.  Moreover, the sacraments are for the living and cannot help a person who has died, which is why it is not a good idea to wait until the last moment to call the priest.    

Some of the prayers for the Rite of the Sacrament of the Sick directly evoke the Paschal Mystery, which of course refers to the Passion, death, and Resurrection of Christ.  For example, after the patient receives Communion the priest says, “All-powerful God, through the Paschal Mystery of Christ your Son you have completed the work of our redemption.  May we, who in these sacramental signs proclaim his death and Resurrection, grow in the experience of your saving power.”  Another example, said for someone who is dying: “May Christ who was crucified for you bring you freedom and peace.  May Christ who died for you admit you into his garden of Paradise.”  The Sacrament of the Sick is a healing sacrament, an important help to salvation, and a great comfort to the sick and dying.  Christ and the Church are present in the person of the priest and those who are gathered at the side of the person who is sick or dying.  All this was made possible by the Paschal Mystery of our adorable Savior.