Anointing of the Sick Catechesis
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The Anointing of the Sick Adapted Bulletin Letters from Fr. Ed Fr. Edward L. Buelt Pastor Notre Dame Parish January 10 - February 1, 2021 My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, Anointing of the Sick is revealed in the Letter It is hard for me to believe that in June I of St. James. “Is anyone sick among you? He will be celebrate five years as the pastor of Notre should summon the presbyters of the church, Dame Parish. These years have been filled with and they should pray over him and anoint [him] many joys, but also challenges. with oil in the name of the Lord” (James 5:14). One of those challenges, actually, I have Over one thousand years later, in the borne for all 38 years of my priesthood, 1100s, the Bishop of Paris, Peter Lombard, although it is heightened in this pandemic. It became the first (it is believed) to use the term has to do with the celebration of the sacrament “extreme unction” to refer to this sacrament. of the Anointing of the Sick, specifically, the In the 1200s, St. Thomas Aquinas lack of knowledge regarding this sacrament. I explained that the term “extreme” referred to am frustrated that so many persons do not even those sicknesses “that bring man to the know there is a sacrament of the Anointing of extremity of his life” (Supplementum, Question the Sick, even though it has been around since 32, Article 3). He taught that “[the sacrament] Christ founded it almost 2,000 years ago. ought to be given to those only, who are so sick I am frustrated that so many believe as to be in a state of departure from this life, mistakenly that there is a sacrament called the through their sickness being of such a nature “last rites.” There has never been, nor is there as to cause death, the danger of which is to be now, a sacrament of the last rites. Yet, for feared” (Ibid). example, I receive calls day and night from Note that St. Thomas did not teach that persons asking that I come at the moment of a the sacrament is to be given only to those who loved one’s dying to give that person the “last are dying. He taught, rather, that the sacrament rites.” Secular media refers to the calling of a was to be administered to those whose illness is priest to the bedside of a dying person “the last of such a nature as to cause death. rites.” Then, in 1551, the Council of Trent, which I am frustrated, too, that there are still was convened to answer the attacks of the priests and deacons who refer to the Protestant Reformers and which is official sacraments to be administered at the moment church teaching, decreed, “It is also declared of dying as the last rites. that this anointing is to be administered to the Finally, I am frustrated that so many sick [emphasis added], especially to those who persons who do know of the sacrament believe are so dangerously ill that they seem near to they can receive it only once in their lifetime. death; hence it is also called the sacrament of So, I want to spend some time teaching the dying.” about the sacrament of the Anointing of the Note that the council did not say only to Sick. I invite you to copy this, send it on, and the dying, but to all the sick, especially to the distribute it to your own loved ones so that you dying. It continued, “If, however, the sick recover can teach them about this wonderful sacrament after receiving this anointing, they can again and direct them as to your own wishes receive the help and assistance of this sac- regarding your own illnesses or dying. rament if they fall into another similar critical condition” (#1698). Why “Last Rites?” In summary, since 1551, the teaching of A History of the Anointing of the Sick the church is that the sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick may be administered to Before I can address the sacrament of the those who are sick, particularly those Anointing of the Sick, though, I must first “dangerously ill,” and that it can be administered address the question of why so many think more than once. Even though St. Thomas there is a sacrament of “last rites.” To do that, I Aquinas used the word “extreme” simply in need to review a bit of the sacrament’s history, reference to the end of one’s life, somehow the beginning with Jesus. notion of extremity came to mean that a person Jesus’ founding of the sacrament of the could receive this sacrament only at the end of life. Then, for some reason, it became the The council picks up on what St. Thomas practice of the faithful to request the sacrament Aquinas taught: that the sacrament is to be and the practice of priests to administer it only administered when one contracts an illness that at the last moment of life. Since it was believed can end in death and not simply at the end of that one could receive it only once, it was best to one’s life. So, for example, any one of the reserve its reception until the very end. With that, following illnesses can lead to death: COVID-19, the faithful came to believe that extreme cancer, ALS, a stroke, congenital heart failure, unction was a sort of pass to “stay out of hell” among many others. One who contracts such an and a golden ticket to “get into heaven.” You illness should ask for the Anointing of the Sick would be surprised how many people I as soon as he/she has contracted it. encounter who do believe that unless their loved In 1972, Pope St. Paul VI issued an one “gets the last rites,” they will not go to Apostolic Constitution by which he promulgated heaven. In this way, regrettably, the anointing of the rite for the Anointing of the Sick, decreeing the sick has practically disappeared and that “[g]reat care and concern should be taken become the sacrament of the near-dead. to see that those of the faithful whose health is With that as background, what is the seriously impaired by sickness or old age church’s teaching regarding this important receive this sacrament” (8). sacrament? The General Introduction of that same constitution, commenting on the nature of “He should summon the priest:” “seriously impaired” stated: “[O]n one hand, the Church Teaching on the Anointing of the Sick sacrament may and should be given to anyone whose health is seriously impaired; on the other In the foundational teaching of the hand, it may not be given indiscriminately or to Second Vatican Council, also called Vatican II any person whose health is not seriously (1963-1965), the church teaches: “By the sacred impaired.” anointing of the sick and the prayer of her The pope added that “a sick person may priests, the whole Church commends the sick to be anointed before surgery whenever a serious the suffering and glorified Lord, asking that He illness is the reason for the surgery” (10), and may lighten their suffering and save them; she that “elderly people may be anointed if they exhorts them, moreover, to contribute to the have become notably weakened even though welfare of the whole people of God by no serious illness is present” (11). associating themselves freely with the passion If a person has lost consciousness or the and death of Christ” (Lumen Gentium 11). use of reason, they may be anointed if they “at Elsewhere, the council teaches: “’Extreme least implicitly asked for it when they were in unction,’ which may also and more fittingly be control of their faculties.” This is an important called ‘Anointing of the Sick,’ is not a sacrament point. If someone were to ask for the for those only who are at the point of death. sacrament on behalf of a loved one, there is to Hence, as soon as any one of the faithful begins be at least an understanding that the sick to be in danger of death from sickness or old person had implicitly asked for it when able to age, the fitting time for him to receive this do so. I have often been called to anoint sacrament has certainly already arrived” someone when he/she was in complete (Sacrosanctum Concilium 73). possession of his/her faculties but had no idea Note well what the church teaches, that I was coming nor any desire for me to be namely, that this sacrament should more there. Their family, believing their loved one to fittingly be called the “Anointing of the Sick,” not be dying and under the mistaken belief that “extreme unction,” and certainly not “last rites.” he/she had to be anointed if he/she were to Further, the church teaches that it is fitting that go to heaven, asked for the sacrament on their this sacrament be administered as soon as one behalf. Deceased persons are not anointed. “begins to be in danger of death from sickness Finally, in 1983, Pope St. John Paul II or old age.” promulgated the Code of Canon Law. In the code, he decreed that the sacrament is intended present tense. Too, that what we receive is not for those who are “dangerously sick” (Canon just the action, for example, healing, but even 988), that is, “to [one] who, after having reached more so the actor the use of reason, begins to be in danger due to acting, that is, Jesus who, for example, is healing.