Anointing of the Sick
Part 4 The Ritual:  Pastoral Care of the Sick

Chapter 44 Anointing of the Sick

Preliminary Questions

Have you ever been seriously ill? Have you ever been anointed? How many times? How would you describe the experience? Who was present at the anointing? How did you feel during and after the celebration?

Have you witnessed the sacramental anointing of a sick person? What did you experience? What did the sick person, in your opinion, experience? Have you had the experience of a communal anointing?

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Bibliography

Bishops’ Committee on the Liturgy. Liturgy Document Series 3: Pastoral Care of the Sick: Introduction and Pastoral Notes. Washington DC: Publications Office USCC. 1983. $4.50.  USCC publication number 878-9.

Fink, Peter E. (editor). Anointing of the Sick. Volume 7 of Alternative Futures for Worship. Collegeville: The Liturgical Press, 1987. [Partial Contents: The Human Sciences and the Experiences of Diminishment and Dissolution; Pastoral Reflections on Healing; History of Healing in the Church; Alternative rituals, e.g. "Ritual of Healing for Families of the Terminally Ill," "Ritual of Healing for Persons in Mid-Life," "Liturgy of Healing to Replace the Blessing of Throats for the Feast of St. Blase."]

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Anointing Outside the Mass

1. Structure and elements of the rite

   1. Gathering

      1. Hello. [Health assessment.]

      2. Baptism (water: not sin but vows). Prayer.

   2. Story Telling

      1. Depending on health assessment, as Sunday Eucharist,including General Intercessions.

   3. Healing

      1. Imposition of hands.

      2. Berakah: Blessing God over the oil.

      3. Anointing.

      4. Prayer

   4. Meal Sharing

      1. (Thanksgiving Prayer)

      2. The Lord’s Prayer

      3. Meal Sharing (Communion) [match their Sunday experience.]

      4. Prayer after Communion

   5. Commissioning

      1. Blessing.

      2. Announcements (Contact with parish).

      3. Touch. (Kiss of Peace) Good-by.

   Touch is perhaps the most important part of the sacrament, historically, theologically, pastorally, experiential: TOUCH.

   1. Imposition of hands

   2. Touch during the anointing

   3. Touch (Imposition of Hands) essential to every sacrament

      1. Baptism - imposition at the beginning

      2. Confirmation - imposition during the chrismation

      3. Eucharist - epiclesis (St. Augustine: "There you are on the altar.")

      4. Reconciliation - imposition during absolution

      5. Ordination - imposition in silence

      6. Marriage - epiclesis, Nuptial Blessing.

      7. Anointing - Imposition, touch

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Anointing Within Mass

1. Structure and elements of the rite

   1. Gathering

      1. Baptism (water: not sin but vows). Prayer.

   2. Story Telling

      1. as Sunday Eucharist

   3. Healing

      1. Imposition of hands.

      2. Berakah: Blessing God over the oil.

      3. Anointing.

      4. Prayer

   4. Meal Sharing

      1. Thanksgiving Prayer

      2. The Lord’s Prayer

      3. Touch. (Kiss of Peace)

      4. Communion

      5. Prayer after Communion

   5. Commissioning

      1. Blessing.

      2. Announcements (Contact with parish).

Course Assignment:  Plan a communal celebration of the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick. (Course Outcome 2) 

The purpose of this assignment is to 1) to help you become familiar with the Rite of Anointing celebrated during a Sunday parish Mass; 2) to encourage you to sort through what you have learned about the history of the sacrament and in order to select those issues about which you feel your parishioners are most in need of catechesis; 3) to help you to begin to develop a "Theology of Suffering" and preach this in homilies; and 4) to help you begin to practice the skills of drawling these issues from the Word of God and helping today's Catholics see the mystery of suffering in their lives. 

The rite to be used on this occasion is given in Chapter 4 of the ritual "Anointing of the Sick, Part 2 Anointing Within Mass"  (Ritual #133-148; The Rites, pp 831-839).   For the purposes of this assignment you are to pretend you are to: 1)  Select a specific parish and date -- a parish with which you are familiar or one you make up.  Describe this context in the introduction to your ritual.  2)  Imagine that you are the priest presiding at this liturgy and indicate in your script the Scripture Readings, Ritual Prayers and Ritual Actions which you will use on this occasion.  3) Include the full text of the homily you will preach; and 4) also include any instructions or directions written or oral that will be give to the participating congregation. 

1. Gathering    Ritual  #135-136   Use the options given in #135-136 or (preferably) begin the Eucharist with a water rite which emphasizes the relation between Anointing of the Sick is and the commitment we make at Baptism. 

2. Storytelling   Ritual #137     I suggest that you pick a specific Sunday outside of the seasons of Lent/Easter and Advent/Christmas. The lectionary readings can be found on the website of the USCCB (click "readings" and a calendar will appear, click on the day and the reading for that day will appear).  If the parish you have chosen this exercise is not familiar with the communal celebration of the Anointing of the Sick, you may want to select readings that treat more explicitly the healing nature of the ministry of Jesus. This selection is to be made in accordance to the rules given in the Table of Liturgical Days.   In your homily apply the readings to the situation (sacrament of anointing) and integrate a catechesis on the sacrament.  Give whatever practical information that you think would be necessary and useful for this particular congregation. 

3. Healing   Ritual #138-144   Do not duplicate the "General Intercessions" with the "Litany."   Bless the oil using "option A" Ritual #140, The Rites, p 824:  "God of all consolation, you chose and sent your Son..."  Regarding the anointing with oil, I suggest the following: 

4. Meal Sharing   Ritual # 143-146  You do not need to type out the text of the Ordinary of the Mass or the Eucharistic Prayer or the prayers of the Communion Rite.  Indicate only those options you have chosen especially for this occasion.   Note that the Ritual gives several options for this Mass that are not printed in most editions of the Sacramentary.

5. Commissioning  Ritual #147-148   You may wish to include additional options,  such as a reception in the parish hall for those who were anointed.

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Anointing in a Hospital or Institution

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To Think About

1. What ministerial skills would you like to possess in order to help your parishioners celebrate this sacrament fruitfully? What are you going to do in your parish to encourage the more frequent celebration of the sacrament? If you were to preach on the sacrament, what would be the major points of your homily?

2. List the major changes that the Second Vatican Council wished to effect in the sacrament of Extreme Unction.

3. Memorize the prayer which accompanies the anointing in the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick ("Through this holy anointing . . .")

4. Know the structure and elements of the rite. Which elements are primary and which are secondary?

5. What is the petition (in your own words) of the BRK over the oil?

6. How sick does a person have to be to be anointed?

7. What is the Latin name of the "Sacrament for the Dying"?

8. Explain the role The Lord’s Prayer plays in each of the seven sacraments.

9. Act out the following: __________, a special minister of the Eucharist, brings Holly Communion to __________ who is ill at home.

10. Act out the following: A priest, Rev. __________ comes to the home of __________, who cannot leave the house because of old age and feeble health, and celebrates the sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick.

11. Prepare an instruction on the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick for an insert for your parish bulletin (one 8 1/2 by 11 typed page, single spaced, both sides). Before typing this page, try to determine what your parish currently thinks about the sacrament and what their attitudes are toward the sacrament. Decide what are the things that you most need to say to your parish to bring them to a better understanding of the sacrament.

12. Study the prayers for the blessing of the oil. What is the Church believing about the Sacrament of the Sick?

13. Write down the biblical uses of oil (the times God has used oil as an instrument of healing), and a list of contemporary (and personal) experiences of the use of oil. Compose a Berakah using these elements blessing God over the oil and asking for healing.

14. Make a video of the rite. In making the tapes, experiment a bit. How are you going to use water at the beginning of the rite? How does it say baptism? Plastic squeeze bottle? Are you going to celebrate Penance? Is Penance necessary? Or is it better to concentrate on one rite at a time? How are you going to apply the General Principle "Less is more"? Are you going to celebrate Holy Communion? How much should the rite look like Mass? How are you going to do the blessing and indulgence?

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© Copyright: Tom Richstatter, Franciscan Province of St. John the Baptist, Cincinnati Ohio, Order of Friars Minor. All Rights Reserved.  This page was created by Fr. Thomas Richstatter, O.F.M.  Every effort has been, and is being made, to acknowledge sources when the ideas are not my own.  Any failure to comply with the United States Copyright Act (Title 17, United States Code) will be corrected immediately should I become aware of it.  This site was updated on 09/21/07 .  Your comments on this site are welcome at webmaster2@tomrichstatter.org.