Anointing of the Sick

The  Sacrament of Anointing of the Sick was instituted by Christ as a true and proper sacrament of the New Testament and is a Sacrament of Healing.  Over the centuries, the Anointing of the Sick was conferred more exclusively on those at the point of death.  Because of this, it received the name "Extreme Unction." 

Today, the sacrament Anointing of the Sick is given to those who are seriously ill, or are in danger of death from sickness or old age.  It is also fitting to receive the Anointing of the Sick just prior to an operation.  Receiving this sacrament begs the Lord that the sick person may recover his/her health, if it would be conducive to his/her salvation. Those of chronic illness may receive this sacrament as often as it is needed.  Only bishops and priests are ministers of the Anointing of the Sick.

The Anointing of the Sick also prepares the soul to receive Our Lord Jesus, if Jesus chooses to call that person from this life. It strengthens their faith in Him and they receive the grace of forgiveness of sins right before their death.

If you would like to receive the Sacrament of Anointing of the Sick, or if you would like to make arrangements for a member of your family to be anointed, please contact the Parish Office (815-589-3542). Let the priest know of they have the ability to receive communion after receiving God's mercy. Consciousness, surgery or other conditions may affect their ability to receive Jesus in the Eucharist.

Biblical Background for this Sacrament:

Most people know about how Jesus healed many people of His day while here on earth. But I will explain these foundations for those who have not been told of this gospel message. They are a testament of His authority to heal.

Nearly everybody who came to Him was healed. This has never been heard of anybody else in all of time. It is a statement of not just an authority to heal, but and absolute authority to heal. In Luke 6:17-19 Jesus "healed them all" (Lk 6:19). In the gospel of Matthew chapter four states, "So his fame spread throughout all Syria, and they brought him all the sick, those afflicted with various disease and pains, demoniacs, epileptics and paralytics and he healed them" (v24). Here it seems the word was s[read as far as Syria. Today, we might thing that as being very far. But in Jesus' time, most of the travel was by foot. Jesus did not go to Syria, He was in Galilee as verse 23 notes. They brought all the sick there and they kept coming. If they kept coming, this means He healed with an absolute power. Friends and family back home in Syria would have seen the healing and gone themselves for healing for themselves or to bring a loved one with for healing. Verse 25 says, "and great crowds followed him from Galilee and the Decap'olis and Jerusalem and Judea and from beyond the Jordan." Jerusalem is an eighty mile trek down the Jordan River and some twenty miles back west to get to the city. This is an awful lot of effort to be healed with people who need the help just to move. I think we can all appreciate that there was something different with the healing Jesus gave.

Jesus also sent his disciples to go out  to do the same as He did. In Matthew 10 He tells them, "Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons..." (v8). So Jesus gives the disciples the authority to heal in His name. Jesus wants them to bring healing. He sends them out in Luke 9:1-6. So these were the actions Jesus wanted for the disciples to do while He was living with them. After the resurrection, many people were healed by the Apostles. Acts of the Apostles recognizes the "wonders and signs [that] were done through the apostles." (Acts 2:43). In Chapter three, Peter heals the lame beggar saying, "I have no silver or gold, but I give you what I have, in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise and walk" (v6). In Acts 5, Peter would walk by those who were sick or filed with demons and, "...they were all healed" (v16). When Paul was in Ephesus, people would bring, "handkerchiefs and aprons [that] were carried away from his body to the sick, and diseases left them and evil spirits came out of them" (Acts 19:11). There are many examples of healing from the Apostles and the early Church. It is obviously an authority the Church was given by Jesus.

Great, that's healing. But how does anointing make us ready to see Jesus face to face? This goes back to Matthew 16:19. Jesus gavce the authority of the Church to forgive sins. "whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven and whatever you loosed on earth shal be loosed in heaven" (My 16:19). Just as in Baptism and confession, anointing has the power to forgive sins. This forgiveness of sins prepares us to meet Our Lord. If we, "die in [our] sins", we are not ready (Jn 8:24). But to avoid dying in ones sins, you need more than faith. when we have lived a life of sin, we need to be forgiven. The idea of being forgiven is that we have some sort of sorrow for our sins. This is a form of repentance. Jesus says, "unless you repent you will all likewise perish" (Luke 13:3).

A little comfort: Anointing offers the Sacrament of Confession. If a person does not have the ability to confess sins, the Sacrament of Anointing does offer forgiveness. There are many times when a person is unconscious or on modern technology that may prevent the ability to speak. The asking of anointing is a form of repentance itself. However; If one is truly repentant, it is assumed that if they get healed, they would go to confession afterwords.

In the eyes of the Church, God's mercy is to reign. Any baptized person can be anointed, so long as there is a desire for it. If there is a person who is not Catholic that wants to be anointed, they can become Catholic as they wait for our Lord's calling and be anointed. 

Today we can partake of this sacrament as is rendered in James 5:14-15. This is the nutshell of the rite of Anointing of the sick. It states, "Is any among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the Church, and let him pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord; and the prayer of faith will save the sick man, and the Lord will raise him up; and if he has committed any sins, he will be forgiven." These verses says it all. The "elder" is also known to be a Presbyter of the time of this writing. Some translations reflect this reality. A presbyter is a priest. So the priest goes out and prays over the sick person and then anoints them.It states that the prayer of faith that the anointing is in the priest will save that person. So salvation is promised by God for those who get anointed in faith. The last part is an important part of this salvation. You cannot enter heaven without being forgiven. Anointing can be our last experience. How important it is to have this last experience of mercy while here on earth.