Mystagogy
Reflections on Easter: Service of Light (Blessing of the Fire, Lighting of the Easter Candle; Christ our Light); Readings (Creation, Abraham; Moses; Isaiah…though the mountains; Isaiah…come to the water; Ezekiel…I will give you a new heart; Romans…baptized into his death; Mark…He is going before you into Galilee); Baptism (litany of the saints, baptism, candle, renewal of vows); Celebration of Reception (…I believe and profess); Confirmation (laying on of hands, anointing); Mass (Gloria, sermon, communion).
Questions and answers: Chapter 27: Anointing of the Sick
What is the Anointing of the Sick? A sacrament of healing by which Jesus through the anointing and prayers of a priest, gives health and strength to a person who is seriously ill.
What does Jesus accomplish through the Anointing of the Sick?
a. increases the divine life in an ill person
b. sometimes restores health to that person
c. gives the graces needed to accept illness
d. forgives sin and removes the temporal punishment due to sin (mortal sin is forgiven
if confession is impossible).
What is the sign of the Anointing of the Sick? The anointing with the oil of the sick (forehead and palms) with the words of the priest: “Through this holy anointing may the Lord in his love and mercy help you with the grace of the Holy Spirit. May the Lord who frees you from sin save you and raise you up.”
How is the Anointing of the Sick administered? A liturgical and communal celebration best celebrated with the Eucharist (after Mass). The priest calls to prayer those assembled. They begin with an admission of guilt for sin and prayer for forgiveness. The priest reads scripture passages revealing the healing activity of Jesus. He invites those witnessing the sacrament to join him in prayer on behalf of the sick. Then the priest silently lays his hand on each sick person invoking Jesus to come and cure the illness. After he anoints each person, the service ends with the Lord’s Prayer.
Who may receive the Anointing of the Sick? Anyone who is seriously ill due to sickness or old age (not necessarily in danger of death, the elderly in a weakened condition, a person undergoing serious surgery, seriously ill children who understand the meaning of the anointing).
6. Is the Anointing of the Sick given only to the dying? See above. The terminally ill may be included. The Anointing of the Sick may be given conditionally for a person in a coma. Other last rites include: Viaticum (Communion), prayers for the dying and the Apostolic Blessing. Groups may also pray the Chaplet of the Divine Mercy by the dying person’s bedside.
Anointing of the Sick sharing
Concluding Prayer:
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
and where there is sadness, joy.
O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek
to be consoled as to console;
to be understood as to understand;
to be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive;
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen