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INTENTION : |
FOR THE PASTORAL CARE OF THE SICK - Let us pray that the Sacrament of the nointing of the Sick grant the Lord's strength to those who receive it and to their loved ones, and that it may become for everyone an ever more visible sign of compassion and hope.
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The Sick Draw God's Attention
Far from excluding the infirm from God's people, the Church brings the sick to the centre of the Lord's attention, for He is our Father and does not want to lose even one of His children along the way. The Church becomes a field hospital of care-giving.
Jesus always showed special concern for sick people. He not only sent out His disciples to tend their wounds (cf. Mt 10:8; Lk 9:2; 10:9) but also instituted for them a specific sacrament: the Anointing of the Sick. The Letter of James attests to the presence of this sacramental act already in the first Christian community (cf. 5:14-16): by the Anointing of the Sick, accompanied by the prayer of the elders, the whole of the Church commends the sick to the suffering and glorified Lord so that He may alleviate their sufferings and save them; indeed she exhorts them to unite themselves spiritually to the passion and death of Christ so as to contribute thereby to the good of the People of God.
This sacrament leads us to contemplate the double mystery of the Mount of Olives, where Jesus found Himself dramatically confronted by the path indicated to Him by the Father, that of His Passion, the supreme act of love; and He accepted it. In that hour of tribulation, He is the mediator, "bearing in Himself, taking upon Himself the sufferings and passion of the world, transforming it into a cry to God, bringing it before the eyes and into the hands of God and thus truly bringing it to the moment of redemption." But "the Garden of Olives is also the place from which He ascended to the Father, and is therefore the place of redemption... This double mystery of the Mount of Olives is also always 'at work' within the Church's sacramental oil ... the sign of God's goodness reaching out to touch us." In the Anointing of the Sick, the sacramental matter of the oil is offered to us, so to speak, "as God's medicine ... which now assures us of His goodness, offering us strength and consolation, yet at the same time points beyond the moment of the illness towards the definitive healing, the resurrection (Jas 5:14)".
This sacrament deserves greater consideration today, both in theological reflection and in pastoral ministry among the sick. Through a proper appreciation of the content of the liturgical prayers that are adapted to the various human situations connected with illness, and not only when a person is at the end of his or her life (CCC # 1514), the Anointing of the Sick should not be held to be almost "a minor sacrament" when compared to the others. Attention to, and pastoral care for, sick people, while, on the one hand, a sign of God's tenderness towards those who are suffering, on the other, brings spiritual advantage to priests and the whole Christian community as well, in the awareness that what is done to the least, is done to Jesus Himself (Mt 25:40).
As regards the "sacrament of healing", St. Augustine affirms: "God heals all your infirmities. Do not be afraid, therefore, all your infirmities will be healed... You must only allow Him to cure you and you must not reject His hands" (Exposition on Psalm 102, 5; PL 36, 1319-1320). These are precious instruments of God's grace which help a sick person to conform himself or herself, ever more fully to the mystery of the death and resurrection of Christ. Together with these two sacraments, the importance of the Eucharist is emphasized. Received at a time of illness, it contributes in a singular way to working this transformation, associating the person who partakes of the Body and Blood of Christ to the offering that He made of Himself to the Father for the salvation of all. The whole ecclesial community, and parish communities in particular, should pay attention to guaranteeing the possibility of frequently receiving Holy Communion to those people who, for reasons of health or age, cannot go to a place of worship. In this way, these brothers and sisters are offered the possibility of strengthening their relationship with Christ, crucified and risen, participating, through their lives offered up for love of Christ, in the very mission of the Church. From this point of view, it is important that priests who offer their discreet work in hospitals, in nursing homes and in the homes of sick people, feel they are truly "'ministers of the sick', signs and instruments of Christ's compassion who must reach out to every person marked by suffering".
Becoming conformed to the Paschal Mystery of Christ, which can also be achieved through the practice of spiritual Communion, takes on a very particular meaning when the Eucharist is administered and received as Viaticum. At that stage in life, these words of the Lord are even more telling: "Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise Him on the last day" (Jn 6:54). The Eucharist, especially as Viaticum, is - according to the definition of St. Ignatius of Antioch - "medicine of immortality, the antidote for death" (Letter to the Ephesians, 20: PG 5, 661); the sacrament of the passage from death to life, from this world to the Father, Who awaits everyone in the celestial realm.
Following Christ, the pastoral care of the sick is profoundly linked to the life of the Church. We are dispensers of God's attentive care to the sick and needy among us.
Adapted from: Message of the Holy Father, World Day of the Sick (Feb 11, 2012)
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