NEW HORIZONS
Anointing of the Sick

On Tuesday, October 19 our sacraments class focused on the meaning of the Anointing of the Sick.  Therefore, in this article I will both summarize the history of this sacrament and end with thoughts about the Anointing of the Sick given at a General Audience on Wednesday, February 26, 2014 by Pope Francis.

Healing and Anointing in the Early Church

In his ministry Jesus healed the sick, cast out demons and raised the dead.  These were all signs that Jesus was the Jewish Messiah.  In Mark 6:13 Jesus not only prays for healing but also anoints with oil.  As is shown by the healing of the man who was crippled from birth in Acts 3:1-10, the early church continued the healing ministry of Jesus. The Christians of Jerusalem used oil in their prayer for healing as shown in James 5:14-15.
In 416 AD Pope Innocent I writes that James 5:14-15 refers to the faithful who are sick being anointed with Sacred Chrism which was prepared by the bishop. 

From Anointing of the Sick to Anointing of the Dying

There are stories which date from the 6^th and 7^th Centuries which describe healings in the church through the use of prayer and blessed oil by both priests and laity.  Ecclesiastical Reconciliation becomes a deathbed ritual which includes anointings for exorcism of evil spirits.  This anointing is only done by priests.  The custom of private lay anointing for healing, however, continued until the beginning of the ninth century.

Alcuin of York places a supplement of prayers and rituals in the Sacramentary which includes a newly composed rite for the priestly anointing of the sick and also includes prayers for the dying and the rite of final reconciliation.  This Sacramentary is used throughout the Frankish Empire.  By the end of the ninth century the “last rites” in the Frankish church were reconciliation, anointing and viaticum.  In the ninth century the anointing of the sick becomes a long and complex ceremony that required three or more priests.

In the Twelfth century the order of the last rites was changed.  The anointing was put at the end of the rite after reconciliation and Eucharist.  And so, in the Middle Ages the anointing was called:  last anointing or extrema unctio.  In the Thirteenth Century the rite was simplified which made it more available and easier to administer as only one priest was needed to do the anointing.  Now the anointing was only given at the end of a sickness when death was imminent.  In the simplified rite the prayers for healing were not included.

The Modern Sacrament of Extreme Unction

Both Martin Luther and John Calvin denied that that the reference to anointing in James 4:14-15 could be used to support extreme unction.  The Council of Trent stated: “Extreme Unction was the completion of penance and indeed of the whole human life, which should be one of turning toward God.  It was a sign of God’s mercy, for it enabled Christians to be forgiven for their sins and assured of their salvation.  Extreme Unction forgave sins and removed the remnants of sin.”

Return to the Anointing of the Sick

Extreme Unction was administered soon before death and so it came to symbolize that there was no hope that health would be regained.  In the 1950’s many questioned whether this sacrament should only be given to the dying or whether it should be given for those with serious sickness.  In The Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy 73 of the Second Vatican Council it is stated that “Anointing of the Sick” is not only for the dying but those in “danger from sickness and old age.”

Reflection of Pope Francis

In his General Audience, Pope Francis sees the story of the “Good Samaritan” in the Gospel of Luke (10:30-35) as a biblical icon which expresses what we celebrate in the Anointing of the Sick.  Each time we celebrate this sacrament the Lord Jesus draws near to the person who is sick in the person of the priest.  The Pope states that the innkeeper of the story, to whom the sick man is entrusted, symbolizes us, the Church, “to whom each day the Lord entrusts those who are afflicted in body and spirit, so that we might lavish all of his mercy and salvation upon them without measure.”

The Pope reminds us that the Anointing of the Sick offers the sick and aged reassurance of Jesus’ closeness to them.  Jesus draws near not only to relieve, strengthen and give hope to the sick person but also to forgive his/her sins.  May this sacrament remind us that nothing can separate the sick from the healing power of Christ.