MASS OF ANOINTING OF THE SICK
Fr. Leo Thomas was a Dominican priest who had a gift of healing the sick. In a book he writes of how he ministered to a fellow Dominican, called only “Fr. Anthony,” who had cancer. When Fr. Anthony eventually died, his superior asked Fr. Leo if he wanted to preach at the funeral mass. Fr. Leo writes that he had the distinct impression that the superior was asking Fr. Leo to bury one of his “failures” because he had prayed for Fr. Anthony’s healing for six months. No, Fr. Leo concluded, he hadn’t failed. During the time of ministry, Fr. Anthony experienced a transformation. He went from having an intellectual idea of God’s love to a feeling of God’s compassion and an experiential knowledge of God’s care. He became ready for, indeed he had a glimpse of, eternal life. This kind of transformation is what the Sacrament of Anointing proposes.
The principal purpose of the Sacrament of the Sick is to take away sins. For this reason it is grouped with the Sacrament of Reconciliation as the “sacraments of healing.” This does not mean, of course, that sickness is caused by personal sin as was commonly thought in Biblical times and is sometimes held today. Disease is a manifestation of evil in the world which God sent His son Jesus Christ to overcome. We remember Jesus telling his disciples when he is about to cure the man born blind, “Neither he nor his parents sinned; it is so that the works of God might be made visible through him” (Jn 9:3).
The second benefit of the Sacrament of the Sick is that it strengthens the soul’s conviction that God can and will save us. With increased confidence in God’s mercy, the sick person can “more easily bear the trials and hardships of his sickness and resist the temptations of the devil.” “What temptations?” we may ask. The truth is the sick and aged may commit many kinds of sins. Burdened by sickness, they might curse God! This serious sin is exactly what tempted Job, but didn’t succeed in bringing him down. More typically the sick can become cranky and inconsiderate of those around them and even forget to thank God for their lives.
We should not expect physical recovery with sacramental anointing, but we should not exclude the possibility either. We certainly can hope that it takes place and we have all heard stories of it doing precisely that. But like Fr. Thomas, we do not have to think that the sacrament has failed if after its administration there is no physical change or if the patient’s physical condition becomes worse. The primary purpose of the sacrament is to strengthen our faith, not our body.
So let’s come forward – any who are seriously sick or weakened with age – to receive the Sacrament of the Sick. Believe that Jesus is bringing you salvation. Perhaps you will not be healed of the infirmity but your faith shall increase in Jesus. He will deliver you from death. He will give an eternal home. Be at peace.
