last rites

[rrobin]

I am not Catholic and the subject came up in my Bible study about last rites. Could someone please explain and is there now a change in last rites in that they are also for healing. Thank you for your help.

rrobin

 

[ralphinal]

What was once commonly called Last Rights had a name change, but not a change in what occured or what it was for. Last Rights is now properly called Annointing of the Sick. It has also been known as Extreme Unction, but that is not germain.

Anyway, it has always contained prayers and anointing for illness. You can think of the sacrament has having two parts: for the sick and for those in danger of death. The latter, what people think of as Last Rights, adds confession and Viaticum (Communion) to the prayers for the illness.

I hope this helps.

 

[puzzleannie]

not exactly, the sacrament of anointing of the sick used to be called extreme unction, or last anointing (not last rites) as it was commonly delayed until the person was near death, and has always had the power to forgive sins. Last rites comprises only the anointing of the sacrament of extreme unction, but also the sacramental confession which preceded it (if the person was able to confess) and the administration of viaticum (food for the journey), that is, holy communion.

This is still what should be available to all Catholics on the point of death, but the sacrament of anointing of the sick is also intended for those who have recently been diagnosed with a serious illness, or are facing a surgery or other procedure which has a risk of death, or if an existing illness takes a turn for the worse, or someone whose advanced age or fragile condition means death is not far away. Catholics are further urged to make sure a priest is called as soon as the person becomes ill or enters the hospital or is diagnosed, since it is not always possible to find a priest at the point of death.

the sacrament of anointing has always had a dimension of healing attached to it, but the Lord heals what needs to be healed in that person, which is not necessarily the physical ailment. the basis for the sacrament is the frequent practice of Jesus who invariably healed the person’s sin before addressing the physical disability, and in the letter of James where priests are urged to anoint the sick and pray for their healing, also in the context of forgiveness of sins.

we have a liturgy and sacraments forum for these questions, current forum is about other religions, not Catholic practice

 

[1ke]

I am not Catholic and the subject came up in my Bible study about last rites. Could someone please explain and is there now a change in last rites in that they are also for healing. Thank you for your help.

rrobin

Extreme Unction/Anointing of the Sick is often called “last rites” when it is administered to someone who is dying-- since it’s the “last” time they will receive it if they actually die.

“Last rites” is not a term of the Church, I suppose it is a term originated by ‘Joe Catholic’ somewhere to describe Unction.

Also, the idea and pracice of “last rites” has been vastly distorted by Hollywood. I saw an episode on TV of some show where the priest performed “last rites” on a dead body-- one that had been dead for more than a day. That is fiction, not reality. Only live people receive Anointing of the Sick or someone who you aren’t sure is really dead.

 

[Mannyfit75]

It’s Last Rites not Last Rights. It is commonly called, Annointing of the Sick.

Anointing of the Sick is distinguished from other forms of religious anointing or “unction” (an older term with the same meaning) in that it is intended, as its name indicates, for the benefit of a sick person. Other religious anointings occur in relation to other sacraments, in particular baptism, confirmation and ordination, and also in the coronation of a monarch.

Furthermore,

**The term “last rites” refers to administration to a dying person not only of this sacrament but also of Penance and Holy Communion, the last of which, when administered in such circumstances, is known as “Viaticum”, a word whose original meaning in Latin was “provision for the journey”. The normal order of administration is: first Penance (if the dying person is physically unable to confess, absolution, conditional on the existence of contrition, is given), then Anointing, then Viaticum (if the person can receive it).

**

 

[John_Hiner]

I am not Catholic and the subject came up in my Bible study about last rites. Could someone please explain and is there now a change in last rites in that they are also for healing. Thank you for your help.

rrobin

Laudatur Iesus Christus.

Dear rrobin:

The Anointing of the Sick is a Sacrament; it is an act of Jesus Christ continuing His ministry on earth through His Church. It conveys grace, that is it causes the person worthily receiving the Sacrament to participate in the life of the Most Holy Trinity.

One helpful way of understanding the Sacrament is this: by undergoing the Sacrament of Anointing of the Sick, the ill or dying person is allowing Jesus Christ, through His priest, to consecrate the person’s illness or death to the praise and glory of God the Father. Thus, the person and his very suffering and even his death are offered as gifts to God the Father – not only by the sick person, but through the Sacrament they are offered by Christ Himself to the Father. Thus, the mortal reality of the person’s life, its passibility and mortality, are offered by the person to Christ, taken up by Christ, and in turn offered as gifts expressing Christ’s love for God the Father. Thus, as in each of the seven Sacraments, the person and his actions become an actual and personal expression of Christ’s love and praise for the Father. *Being manifested, that you are the epistle of Christ, ministered by us, and written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in the fleshly tables of the heart. * (2 Corinthians 3:3.) The person enters into, becomes a conduit of, the love between the Persons of the Holy Trinity, which is the everlasting life of God.

This offering to God cures all spiritual ills, since by implication the person repents of all choices which have been made previously to do anything other than commit himself to God’s love. Is any man sick among you? Let him bring in the priests of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith shall save the sick man: and the Lord shall raise him up: and if he be in sins, they shall be forgiven him. (James 5:14-15.) Sometimes, God responds to this submission with physical healing, to allow the person more opportunity for service to the Kingdom and greater opportunity for sanctification and repentance. Often, the gift is accepted directly and the person dies as an expression of Christ’s love.

In this sense, in this Sacrament, a person is able to conform his own suffering and death to that of Christ, joining Christ in suffering and even dying as an expression of Christ’s love for His Father. This Sacrament is an adjunct to the Holy Mass; in the Mass one offers one’s life and works to Christ, to be taken up by Him and offered to the Father in Christ’s own Body and Blood. As the Mass offers oneself and one’s works in life, the Sacrament of Extreme Unction offers one’s suffering and even one’s death in the service of the Son’s everlasting love for the Father.

Christ died for us, for love of God the Father. Extreme Unction is Christ’s gift to us, allowing us to join Him, by offering our sicknesses and death as acts of love, to die for Christ, for love of God the Father, and thus to love as Christ has loved. Indeed, to enter into Christ’s love.

I hope this is helpful.

Pax Christi nobiscum.

John Hiner

 

[Joe_Kelley]

Note that the Anointing of the Sick derives from James 5:14-15

Is any among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord; 15 and the prayer of faith will save the sick man, and the Lord will raise him up; and if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.