EDITED: Sacraments--Anointing of the Sick

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How important is the presence of a community of the faithful in the celebration of the Anointing of the Sick?

Thanks and God-Bless
Paul
 
How can a parish community raise its consciousness to the communal dimension of the Anointing of the Sick?
 
We do it as part of a Mass during the week, so there are people there who are not getting anointed. We also do it once a month folllowing a SUnday mass and invite people to stay and pray with the sick. Good catechesis in the bulletin also helps. Many people still think it is only for the dying.
 
paul_tran said:
How important is the presence of a community of the faithful in the celebration of the Anointing of the Sick?

Thanks and God-Bless
Paul
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Not very. It certainly makes no difference to the efficacy of the sacrament. On the other hand, doing it in the presence of a congregation can serve to express the support and focus the prayer of the entire body of the faithful, and can remind and educate people about the sacrament and its importance. Many Catholics have never seen the sacrament performed since it is so often given privately, and they just have a vague notion that if you’re dying you “call for a priest.” It’s good for people to gain some familiarity with the sacrament.
 
MarkThompson said:
Not very. It certainly makes no difference to the efficacy of the sacrament. On the other hand, doing it in the presence of a congregation can serve to express the support and focus the prayer of the entire body of the faithful, and can remind and educate people about the sacrament and its importance. Many Catholics have never seen the sacrament performed since it is so often given privately, and they just have a vague notion that if you’re dying you “call for a priest.” It’s good for people to gain some familiarity with the sacrament.
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I see you point Mark. I’ve never seen Anointing done in a Roman Catholic parish, but have seen it in a Ukrainian Byzantine parish in my short time there. When it was done we were even asked to come forward and stand near the person being anointed (she was going for surgery). I wonder if people are just “shy” of telling other people their illness, or people are unaware that the Church as much as possible wants public celebration of Sacraments.
 
MarkThompson said:
Not very. It certainly makes no difference to the efficacy of the sacrament. On the other hand, doing it in the presence of a congregation can serve to express the support and focus the prayer of the entire body of the faithful, and can remind and educate people about the sacrament and its importance. Many Catholics have never seen the sacrament performed since it is so often given privately, and they just have a vague notion that if you’re dying you “call for a priest.” It’s good for people to gain some familiarity with the sacrament.
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I had never been at a Mass where the sacrament of the Annointing of the Sick was bestowed until this past Friday [which was the World Day of the Sick as well as the Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes], It was an evening Mass and the church was packed. Having read many opinions on this forum about this Sacrament, I was curious so I decided to stay after Mass was finished and see what it was all about. It was a real eye-opener for me. I am relatively new to this particular parish, having just moved to this area a year ago. From the first, the friendliness, caring, self-giving and commitment of everyone I have met has made a huge impression on me.
I would guess that a little over half the congregation actually went up for the annointing, everyone else stayed in their pews. There were people of all ages . . . from a 7 month old baby to a 91 year old woman. I saw people that I have come to know fairly well and others whose faces I recognize from various parish commitees and events and from Mass and of course many who were total strangers. I wondered why almost all those I recognized were going up for the annointing, after all, they looked perfectly healthy to me. Thankfully, one of the parish secretaries was sitting beside me and disabused me of my cynical thoughts. For instance, the baby was suffering from a congenital heart problem: a 4year old boy has leukemia; a teenage girl was bulemic: a teenage boy has lupus; a young man has chronic depression; several women with breast cancer; men with prostate cancer; a few men and women with altzheimer’s and numerous other ailments. The secretary knew them all and seemed to be a bit surprised that I wasn’t aware of the illnesses of at least some of those people. She told me that it wasn’t any secret in the parish and don’t I listen when Father talks about the crosses that many people in the parish have to bear. It was another wake-up lesson for me. And I’ve had several since I joined that parish!
Anyway Mark, your statement that doing the Sacrament in the presence of a congegation can serve to give support and focus the prayers of the faithful is right on the money. The support of the community there was very evident and in my opinion the prayers were completely focused on the matter at hand. Once the annointing was over, Father said a few more words then led us all in reciting the Rosary. [No one left til it was all over] It was a fitting end to a beautiful liturgy and sacrament. As time goes on, I can understand better why the Church encourages all the sacraments to be done publicly. It does foster the sense of community that we all should be willing to embrace.
 
Our parish celebrates this Sacrament publicy twice a year. It is well-attended.
I have received the Sacrament twice, once at Church in a service and once at home with a few friends and family present along with the priest when I was to have a major surgery the next day. Both times were very prayerful, brought me a lot of peace, and I am grateful we have this Sacrament. And, by the way, I recovered nicely from both illnesses.🙂
 
Would you give a brief description of how you would catechize on the Sacrament of Anointing of the Sick.

Thanks and Godbless
Paul
 
Would you describe the significant shift in understanding of the Sacrament of Anointing since the Second Vatican Council?

Thanks and Godbless
Paul
 
paul_tran said:
Would you describe the significant shift in understanding of the Sacrament of Anointing since the Second Vatican Council?

Thanks and Godbless
Paul
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The only difference is that before the Council, the sacrament was almost exclusively reserved to the dying. After the Council, the Church has a broader understanding that one need not be dying as such, but still it’s only for the “seriously ill.”

The ritual was changed, somewhat and the number of anointings was reduced.
 
The Anointing of the Sick is a sacrament of healing. It is administered to those who may be in danger of death or to those who are seeking a healing of mind and/or body. This sacrament may be repeated as needed. The person is anointed with oil and they can have their confession heard. The viaticum (eucharist) is also received during this sacrament. That is a brief description. A scriptural reference is found in the 5th chapter of the letter of James.(vs. 13-15) A more complete explaination can be found in the Catechism of the Catholic Church starting at paragraph 1499… God bless…teachccd 🙂
 
teachccd said:
It was known as Extreme Unction… seemed a bit scary!😉
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We still have Extreme Unction, also known as the Last Rites, it consistes of Confession, Eucharist, and the Annointing of the Sick.

What we have realized after Vatican II is that Annointing of the Sick can be done outside of the Last Rites for those with a serious illness or those who are to undergo a serious surgery.
 
teachccd said:
It was known as Extreme Unction… seemed a bit scary!😉
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If I’m not mistaken, the term “Extreme Unction” applied only to the Anointing of the Sick (the word “unction” means “anointing”), and not to the other components of the Last Rites. A priest explained to me once the reason for deprecating the name “Extreme Unction”: too many people were getting sick and dying without the sacrament, because they thought it could only be received once when your condition was at the most “extreme.” A person would be on his deathbed, and they still wouldn’t call for a priest, because “well, it’s pretty bad, but it is extreme yet? It could still get worse; we’d better hold off for now.”
 
I’ve seen anointing of the sick to who ever wanted it at the time. No mention of being sick or anything.
 
The biggest shift, IMO, is that the Church doesn’t want you to wait until you’re almost dead before you receive it. (Purely from a lay perspective).
 
It is desirable, but not essential, to have a community for any sacrament except Confession. Some years back I had a problem during Holy Week and asked one of the priests for the Anointing after the Holy Thursday mass. The Youth Choir were just on their way; so he grabbed them to join us. They were quite agreeable.

More recently I asked for the Anointing after a weekday mass. The priest told me to go into the Adoration Chapel by the Tabernacle and wait for him. There were several Vietnamese ladies praying in the Chapel. When I left after he anointed me one followed me out and asked if he had anointed me. I told her yes and she promised that she and the others would pray for me. A few minutes later I felt considerably improved; so the prayers of the community supplement the sacrament I think.
 
FrDavid96 said:
Then it wasn’t Anointing of the Sick. It was anointing of the healthy.
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Right, because if people don’t publicly disclose their illnesses to people whose business it isn’t, they must obviously be totally healthy. :rolleyes:
 
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