Anointing of the Sick circumstances

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All surgery is life threatening my friend take it from me I am a nurse of 30 years experience. Anointing before surgery is certainly appropriate.
Hope you don’t have an upcoming surgery
 
How can you discourage a sick person from receiving Annointing. I am a nurse and I have seen people die inexplicably and suddenly for minor illness.
 
Arkansan said:
For example, when I had a cyst removed, my priest offered to visit me in the hospital, but did not offer (and I did not ask for) Anointing of the Sick, since it was not a life-threatening condition. That was the correct course of action.
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@Arkansan I am sorry you where not offered the Anointing of the Sick by the visiting priest. I personally would have asked to receive the Sacriment as I see any form of surgery always holds risks to human life.

“It is fitting to receive the Anointing of the Sick just prior to a serious operation.” (CCC 1515)
 
To FrDavid96: I meant no disrespect Fr. I didn’t know you were a priest and I’m sorry we do not agree on this subject.
 
mbmulkern said:
All surgery is life threatening my friend take it from me I am a nurse of 30 years experience. Anointing before surgery is certainly appropriate.
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You’re missing the point. A person can be facing certain death and they still can’t receive anointing if they don’t have a life-threatening illness (which is why we don’t anoint those about to be executed).
TheHolyTrinity said:
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Arkansan:
For example, when I had a cyst removed, my priest offered to visit me in the hospital, but did not offer (and I did not ask for) Anointing of the Sick, since it was not a life-threatening condition. That was the correct course of action.
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@Arkansan I am sorry you where not offered the Anointing of the Sick by the visiting priest. I personally would have asked to receive the Sacriment as I see any form of surgery always holds risks to human life.

“It is fitting to receive the Anointing of the Sick just prior to a serious operation.” (CCC 1515)
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1514 The 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 fitting time for him to receive this sacrament has certainly already arrived."130

1515 If a sick person who received this anointing recovers his health, he can in the case of another grave illness receive this sacrament again. If during the same illness the person’s condition becomes more serious, the sacrament may be repeated. It is fitting to receive the Anointing of the Sick just prior to a serious operation. The same holds for the elderly whose frailty becomes more pronounced.

A serious operation is one in response to a life-threatening illness. The risk is irrelevant if not caused (at least concurrently) by an illness.
 
mbmulkern said:
All surgery is life threatening my friend take it from me I am a nurse of 30 years experience. Anointing before surgery is certainly appropriate.
Hope you don’t have an upcoming surgery
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Surgery is not an illness.

As I said earlier, the Church does NOT anoint against surgery, and surgery is NOT a reason for the Sacrament of Anointing.

An illness or condition which is life-threatening is a reason for anointing.

Read what I wrote—which is obviously not what you did the first time.
 
TheHolyTrinity said:
“It is fitting to receive the Anointing of the Sick just prior to a serious operation.” (CCC 1515)
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Because a “serious” operation is only done if there is a “serious” illness in the first place.

It is the illness that is the reason for Anointing; not the operation.
 
I have a good friend who had the anointing of the sick done after he was diagnosed with prostate cancer, too. It’s totally appropriate for cancer since that can be life threatening. My son had his tonsils out this year and on our way to the surgery we stopped at church and had his throat blessed, since his tonsils were causing problems but weren’t life threatening. He did have to have a biopsy done on a spot and if that had come back as cancer that could have potentially spread, then an anointing would have been appropriate. Thankfully everything was fine, though.
 
I here what you are say, though was not clear in my wording.

Majority of those requiring surgery is because of illness, with a few exceptions. In the OP’s circumstances prostate cancer and pending surgery. Even simple surgeries have risks.

1514 The 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 fitting time for him to receive this sacrament has certainly already arrived.”

1515 was quoted from the CCC.

On a personal level my father had stomach cancer in the early stages and received the The Anointing of the Sick prior to his surgery.
 
TheHolyTrinity said:
On a personal level my father had stomach cancer in the early stages and received the The Anointing of the Sick prior to his surgery.
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You are sill missing the point. Anointing of the Sick is not a sacrament administered because of surgery.

In that example, the Sacrament of the Sick was administered because of the cancer, NOT because of the surgery.
 
Look here people.

When patients are admitted to an overnight stay in the hospital, they are given hospital gowns.

Just because people who receive Anointing of the Sick are often wearing hospital gowns, that does not make hospital gowns the reason for the Sacrament.

I do not care how many people respond and say “my so-and-so was wearing a hospital gown when the priest anointed, therefore hospital gowns are a reason for anointing” it still won’t be true.

Surgery is NOT a reason for Anointing of the Sick.

It will not matter many people respond and say “so and so was anointed before surgery.” Really, it won’t change anything.

The Sacrament of Anointing of the Sick is administered when there is an illness (or condition, or whatever other word might apply) that makes a person begin to be in danger of death.

Surgery is not an illness.

It is NOT the surgery that is cause for the Sacrament. It is an illness or condition of being physically unwell that is the reason. Sometimes there is a secondary condition (not necessarily the one that caused the operation) which places the person in the beginning of danger-of-death such as a breathing issue or a weak heart which might manifest itself during the surgery. It is for this condition of the person’s health that the Sacrament is appropriate and is administered.

The Sacrament is administered because of some health reason, some illness. Surgery is not an illness.

When an elderly person receives Anointing before surgery, it is not because of the surgery, it is because the weakened state of the person means that the surgery might have the unintended consequence of causing death or other more serious illness. Again, it is not the surgery, it is the illness.
 
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My understanding is that Extreme Unction is not a sacrament for those only who are at the point of death. It is
  1. This sacrament (like all sacraments) is a community celebration;
  2. sickness involves more than bodily illness;
  3. anointing heals us through faith.
In my Parish we have a Community Celebration - Anointing of the Sick. These celebrations speak eloquently about key themes of Christian life: mortality, vocation, responsibility, limits, suffering, care-giving.

In our Parish we are all aware that tensions, fear and anxiety about the future affect not only our mind but our body as well. These illnesses can be serious. They can move us to ask for the healing touch of Christ in the Sacrament of Anointing. The Sacrament are acts of faith; they grace the whole person-body, soul and spirit.

In the sacrament we pray that the sick be healed in body, in soul and in spirit. God alone knows what kind of healing the sick need most: that a wound be healed; that a fear turns to confidence; that loneliness be embraced by the support of a praying community; that confusion in the face of all the whys-why me, why suffering, why now-turn to insight.

The Sacrament of Anointing does not remove the mystery of human suffering. Yet its celebration gives us a window into the mystery of a loving God. Our loving God raises up the crucified Son to display his victorious wounds, sitting triumphant at the Father’s right hand.

Pax Christi
THT
 
The Sacrament of Anointing is for when someone “begins to be in danger of death from sickness or old age”, not for “tensions, fear and anxiety about the future” or the like. The practice of indiscriminately anointing people who don’t have life-threatening conditions is a grave abuse of the sacrament, for the same reason that using Doritos or beer for the Eucharist would be.

It doesn’t need to be reserved for the hour of death, but the recipient does need to actually have a condition which has death as a probable outcome (or at least would, if extraordinary medical interventions were not forthcoming).
 
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@Arkansan, post:36, topic:464576, The Sacrament of Anointing for the Sick is one of seven Sacraments, it is a Sacrament of Healing. Nor is it just for physical illness, nor is it Indiscriminate. Those who feel they need the Sacrament should ask for the Sacrament, otherwise what is the point of the Sacrament?
The sacrament of Anointing of the Sick is one of the seven sacraments of the church that has had to undergo an image makeover. Before the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965), those who received this anointing were always very near death, hence the name “last rites” or “extreme unction” identified when this sacrament was celebrated. After the revision of the rite of the anointing of the sick, the idea was stressed that this sacrament was to be celebrated as one of healing that encompasses the whole person in mind, body, and spirit. One does not have to be on one’s “death bed” to celebrate this sacrament, but open to the healing power and prayers of the church, praying and anointing in God’s name, as directed by the practices of the early church: “Is anyone among you sick? He should summon the presbyters of the church, and they should pray over him and anoint with oil in the name of the Lord, and the prayer of faith will save the sick person, and the Lord will raise him up” (James 5: 13-14).

The celebration of the anointing of the sick is a prayer of faith, a belief that God is with us, cares deeply for us, and desires our wholeness. When this sacrament is administered, the priest lays his hands on the head of the sick, silently prays for them, and then anoints the person with the oil of the sick, one of the three blessed oils used sacramentally, on their forehead and hands.

The Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick can be celebrated at a home or a bedside, with a few close members of the family gathered to support their loved one, witnessing the prayers of the church and the anointing of their loved one by the priest. This sacrament is also celebrated communally, where members of the faith community who seek to receive the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick are gathered with others in the community, known and unknown to them, who hold them with their prayerful support and presence. The community witnesses to the strength that comes from sharing concern, love, and the prayers of faith that enfold us in the truth that we are all united in Christ who “humbled himself to share in our humanity.”

The ministry of healing, shown to us by Jesus through the many times and ways he healed others, is a sacramental ministry shared by many within a faith community, both professionally and through our Christian commitment. This imperative is shown clearly in the introduction of the Pastoral Care of the Sick: Read at Pax Christi
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39 And so they could not believe, because Isaiah also said,
40 “He has blinded, their eyes and hardened their heart, so that they might not look with their eyes, and understand with their heart and turn— and I would heal them. ”John 12:39-40 (NRSVCE)
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Pax Christi
THT
 
  1. Some random website doesn’t overrule canon law, nor the Church’s well established sacramental theology.
  2. That website doesn’t contradict anything I said.
 
As to the Sacrament: I have been diagnosed with three cancers since 2008. This involves two relapses, a mutation into two sub-types, the development of a third treatment-related cancer, and being basically killed as part of a stem cell transplant (20-30% mortality) I have received the Sacrament of Anointing too many times to remember. Last October, a doctor gave me a 0.5% chance of being alive today, so I can certainly attest to the power and validity of the Sacrament. If I ever had any doubt, I no longer do.

As to your situation, general anesthetic is a potentially fatal procedure. As well, the cancer is only believed to be contained to the prostate. Based on the unknowns, I think the Sacrament would be appropriate.

A total plug: www.cancerforums.net has a huge and very active prostate community. Check it out.
 
@ajcstr My illness started a late last year, I was recently diagnosed with autonomic dysfunction otherwise known as Dysautonomia, along an immunological disorder. Although it affects my daily life, unbeknown to many I still push though. One day at a time.😄

Earlier this year I had been in and out of hospital for cardiac issues. Not long after being discharge I was at Mass and after Communion I got the strong desire to ask the Priest for the Anointing of the Sick. In reflection of that time, I was despairing and focussing on how my health and wellbeing has gone south. I hadn’t thought about asking for the Anointing for the Sick prior to this rather strong desire.

I received the Anointing for the Sick and immediately with no warning tears rolled down my checks. After the priest left, I sat alone for a while and realised that the strain, burden and worry of the illness and my future had gone . There was a strong feeling of love, of being loved (hard to explain fully). The pain that plagued me 24/7 for months (epigastrium) had gone completely. The excessively fast heart rate (253 beats/per/min) stopped completely.

I understand suffering, for me it is invisable to those around me. In reality, we live in a fallen world, full of selfishness and lacking in compassion. Even if others witness some of our suffering, what they see are only the nail marks — not the crushing weight we carry within.

For Christ, who conquered death, knows the full weight of our suffering and he wants to bear it with us. We are little brothers and sisters of the saints, and they want to help us by their love and prayers. The angels, too, want to offer us love and protection. To them, our suffering is real…
 
@FrDavid96: I wonder what percentage of priests agree with you. There’s a lot of strange (and invalid) stuff going on out there in regard to this Sacrament.

Dan
 
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