Anointing the Sick

​"The sacrament of Anointing of the Sick is given to those who are seriously ill by anointing them on the forehead and hands with duly blessed oil."

—Catechism of the Catholic Church, #1513

The Sacrament of Anointing of the Sick

The Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick gives strength and support and can be administered to anyone struggling with an illness.

All of us are subject to suffering, illness, and death. Illness can be experienced either as an invitation to a deeper union with the suffering of Christ which leads to greater spiritual maturity or as a path to self-absorption and even to revolt against God. In illness, we experience our powerlessness and limitations, and serious illness can make us glimpse death.

The Lord Jesus had great compassion on the sick, and His many healings are a resplendent sign that the Kingdom of God is among us. Christ even identified Himself with everyone who is sick: "I was sick and you visited me," (Mt 25:36). But the Lord did not heal all the sick. His healings were signs of the coming of the Kingdom, and they announced a more radical healing: the victory over sin and death through His Passover. On the Cross, the Lord Jesus took away the "sin of the world," of which physical illness is only a consequence. By his passion and death on the Cross, Christ has given a new meaning to all human suffering: it can henceforth configure us to Him and unite us with His redemptive suffering.

"Is any among you sick? Let him call for 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 will save the sick man, and the Lord will raise him up; and if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven."

—James 5:14-15

This New Testament passage describes one of the seven sacraments: the Anointing of the Sick. This sacred anointing of the sick was instituted by Christ our Lord as a true and proper sacrament of the New Testament. The Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick is given to all those (after the age of 7) who are seriously ill by anointing them with oil blessed by the Bishop, and it is not reserved only for those who are at the point of death. This sacred anointing can be repeated for each serious illness or for a relapse of the same illness.

The grace of this sacrament unites the sick disciple more closely to the suffering of Christ, strengthens the disciple to endure his own suffering with peace and courage, and forgives any sins that were not previously forgiven in the Sacrament of Penance. The Catechism describes the Anointing of the Sick in sections 1499-1532 - please study those pages carefully to understand more fully when this sacrament should be requested and what the effects of such Anointing are.