Anointing of the Sick

Please call the Parish Office immediately in case of a serious illness and /or when admitted to a hospital or Hospice.  Shut-ins are asked to call to be placed on our Home-Communion list.

First, the Rite of Anointing is celebrated along with a liturgy of the Word so that those gathered for the sacrament may be instructed on the new deeper Christian meaning of sickness and celebrate the sacrament in renewed faith.
Second, there is the laying on of the hands, an ancient Christian gesture.  In silence, the priest-celebrant imposes hands on the heads of those to be anointed.  In both the Old and New Testaments, the laying on of hands symbolizes and confers the giving of the special grace of the Holy Spirit.  Here the sick are singled out for the Spirit's special care.
Third, the blessing of, or thanksgiving over the oil is given.   Oil is a powerful biblical symbol.  In the ancient world, it was used by athletes before competition; oil provided light for the home at night; and oil lamps burned continually in the Jerusalem Temple.
Oil, as a symbol of the penetrating presence of the Holy Spirit, is particularly apt for the anointing of the sick.  As the oil is rubbed and absorbed into the skin, so does the Holy Spirit "enter" the sick person, claiming, empowering, enlivening, rejuvenating in the name of Christ.  Just as oil can make an old piece of leather supple and flexible, so does the Holy Spirit make the sick responsive to the touch of God.¹

¹C6, Catechumenate:  The Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick:   Journey of Faith