For the week of Sunday, July 25, 2021

Dear Friends:

Among the many sacramental events that have been interrupted by COVID-19 over the past many months is the sacrament of Anointing of the Sick.  As many of you know, we have a custom here at Pax Christi of offering this sacrament in a communal setting a couple of times each year, both in church and in several of our senior care residences around town.  Finally, we are at a moment in which we can look to restore those celebrations, and plans are underway to do just that within the next few weeks.  This prayer is not only comforting to those who are themselves feeling weakened or endangered in health, but also for their loved ones and for our whole community.  It is especially consoling for families to know that if death or disability should come quickly or unexpectedly, there has been an experience of God's grace relatively recently for those who are stricken.  Our Pastoral Care and Support team keeps a log here at Pax Christi for every single person who has received this sacrament, and so we can assure people that their dear ones have been prayed with and cared for with the blessing of the Church (i.e. all of us!).  I have been out and about for many weeks now visiting people in their homes and in hospitals in order to offer this sacrament.

It has been almost sixty years now since we Catholics quit referring to this sacrament as "extreme unction," and stopped teaching the idea that it was something appropriate only for people who are on their last breath.  We never officially called it "last rites."  Hollywood movies and popular misconception did that.  And yet I am continually surprised at the frequency with which people wait to summon the priest for anointing until someone's death is imminent.  As with all sacraments, this one is for people who are living, even when they are diminished in health or vitality.  Priests are not allowed by Church law to anoint dead people, and there's a theological reason for that.  As the Book of Wisdom tells us, "The souls of the just are in the hand of God, and no torment shall touch them."  One could add, "And no priest is capable of saving them through a religious ritual at that point."

To be sure, this sacrament is not for everyone at all times.  While we always want to be generous in offering sacraments to people who feel the need for them, the Anointing of the Sick is not for those who are hale, hearty, and in the prime of life.  It is for those who are experiencing the effects of chronic illness, anticipating surgery, battling with spiritual or emotional illness, living in very advanced age or physical diminishment. It is not simply a "booster shot" for those who are otherwise in good health.  To "use" this sacrament otherwise is to cheapen its meaning.  But it is most certainly appropriate for those who are threatened with being overwhelmed with worry, despair, or physical danger.  And it is a sacrament that can be received multiple times as conditions dictate, and not merely when death is at the door.

Keep an eye out for information on our upcoming liturgy of anointing here at Pax Christi.  And let us be grateful that we can gather again for such a blessing after so long being apart.

Fr. Mike

                                                                     

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