Sacrament of Anointing the Sick
by Prof O. M. Mathew Oruvattithara
Sacrament of Anointing the Sick - Jesus went about healing
"He came, He consoled and He cured". This was concisely the healing ministry of Christ. Jesus was neither apathetic not indifferent to human sufferings, like the stoics of Greece or the philosophers of the Orient. Christ's ministry was virtually one of healing. Even a cursory glance of the synoptic gospels would convince, that one third of their narratives deals with the healing ministry of the Nazerene. Mt. 4:23-4 tells how Jesus went about all Galilee, healing every disease and every infirmity among the people. Chap. 9:6 of the same Gospel speaks of the assuredness and the authority with which Christ cured the lame. In fact, healing was part of His mission of the remission of sins. On many occasion, Jesus made use of healing as a sign and symbol of salvation from the scourge of sin. This was mainly due to the influence of then prevailing philosophy of Judaism, that sickness was the 'wage' of sin. Jn. 9:2 is an epitome of this thinking. In His eagerness to work out wholeness to the whole of humanity, Jesus gave the Apostles the power to cure diseases, before He sent them to the ends of the world on the errand of evangelisation. This is narrated in Lk 9:1-2. Mt. 10:1 and Mk 6:7, also describe that Jesus enjoined the ministry of healing on the Apostles. The last words of Jesus, as recorded in Mk 16:17-18, are classic commentaries of this mission. "....... they will lay their hands on the sick who will recover". Of course, Christ here specifies only the effect of the rite as a result of 'grace'. The mode of administering the rite, Jesus must have left to the Apostles and the Ecclesia. The Catholic Encyclopaedia comments: 'Since anointing with oil had a recognized therapeutic value among the jews, it is entirely plausible that the Apostles called this as the sign'.
The Church is fulfilling the mission of the Master
The healing ministry was a common feature during the Apostolic period. Acts 3, 8 and 28, give accounts of the healings, performed by Peter, Philip and Paul. What the Church performs through the anointing of the sick, is nothing but the fulfilment of the mission of the Master and the deeds of the disciples. James 5:14-15 picturesquely describe the ritual of 'anointing the sick with oil' and its effects of curing sickness and forgiving sins. It is probable that St. James might have expounded this doctrine, due to the influence of the passage in Lev. 14:10-31, wherein anointing of lepers with oil is related to the forgiveness of sins. The passage of James cited above, is the key text for the Ecclesia to call this rite, a Sacrament. On analysis, the following deductions can be drawn from these words of James. Firstly, the remark that the elders have to 'pray over and anoint the sick in the name of the Lord', established the fact that this is very much a 'religious act and not a medical one', as Rev. Liam Kelly opines in his article on the 'Anointment of the Sick'. Secondly, there is absolutely no mention at all that this Sacrament can be administered only to a sick person whose end is drawing near. The final conclusion is that sins are absolved by anointment. On the evidence of the various passages cited, it can be surmised safely that this Sacrament has its basis in the NT. The 8th century hagiographer Bade the Venerable, who is the author of the earliest extant commentary on James, affirms that, what the Apostle had presented regarding anointment was followed by the Church since then. No wonder, the Council of Trent stated, "this holy anointing of the sick was instituted by Christ".
'Anointing', 'Extreme Unction' and 'Care of the Sick'
There are mainly three sources for gathering the 'growth and evolution' of this Sacrament. They may be enumerated as Patristic Literature, the Biographies of Saints and Liturgical Texts. It is to be admitted that there are only scanty references about the Sacrament in the writings of early Fathers like Aphrahat the Wise, Tertullian, Origen, Athanasius, John Chrysostom and Cyril of Alexandria. However, a letter written in 416 by Pope Innocent I to Decentius, Bishop of Gubbio in Italy, is an important document. Relying on the preachings of Christ and St.James he argues, that the 'oil' consecrated by a bishop can be administered both by the clergy and the laity as a Sacrament, as it has the 'grace' of the Holy Spirit. The practice of the lay people anointing the sick, however, came to a close by the 8th century. Biographical sketches, of certain holymen and women, mention that they used to anoint the sick with oil. Possidius, the first biographer of St. Augustine, informs that the saint used to visit the sick, laid his hands upon them and probably anointed them with oil. Aquinas tells the story of Saint Genevieve of Paris, who in the 4th century used to visit and anoint the sick with the oil blessed by the bishop, and in this way she healed many people. Important Liturgical texts of the early period provide the prayers, invocations and the rituals in consecrating the oil. Reference must be made to the 'Apostolic Tradition' of Hippolytus and the 'Euchalogian' of the 4th century Serapion. It is surely surprising that although centuries have elapsed, little change has been made in the formula of Serapion as found in the Roman Pontifical. Certain significant changes came in, by the 9th century. This Sacrament began to be treated as one for forgiveness rather than healing. A logical sequence was that it was clericalised, as remission of sins was the prerogative of the clergy. With the dominance of Scholasticism in the 12th century, yet another thinking also influenced the concept of this Sacrament. It began to be called the Sacrament for the dying or 'Extreme Unction'. It was Peter Lombard of France, who called it so for the first time. St. Albert the great, Aquinas, Bonaventure and Duns Scots, developed this doctrine. Prayers of healing were dropped from the rituals. Certain practical considerations also prompted the people to put this off to the dying state, and so to refer it as the 'Extreme Unction'. One such reason was the burdensome penance prescribed by the Church after confession, which was necessary before receiving unction. Yet another was, the popular view that, the one who recovered after the unction, could not marry again. The Council of Trent did not demand 'danger of death' as a condition for the validity of the Sacrament. In the early decades of the 20th century, challenges arose in the Roman Church, in calling the Sacrament 'Extreme Unction'. Biblical scholars argued that the narratives with which the NT depicts death, are positive ones as against the sombre and saddening Litanies of the funeral rites of the Church. As a result Vat II ushered in a salutary view on this Sacrament. The Council declared that the Sacrament may 'more fittingly be called Anointing of the sick'. In 1972 Pope Paul VI caused core changes in the nomenclature and concept of the Sacrament. He decreed that the ministry is to be called the 'care of the sick'. Therefore, it should be administered at the beginning of the illness. And the ministry should provide an assurance to the sick that he or she is not abandoned to fate, but cared for as a member of the Ecclesia, not only in this life, but in the life to come, if the inevitable happened.
Greater appreciation by protestants
Eastern Orthodox Churches, except the Nestorians, recognise this as a Sacrament. For the Orthodox, the principal effect of the Sacrament is regaining of physical and mental health. Among the Coptic Church, the practice of assembling the sick in churches on Monday of the Holy Week, to receive the Sacrament still survives. Luther's view is quite interesting. In his 'Babylonian Captivity', he 'allows the anointing' of one who desired it, subject to the condition that the recipient should not assert that the peace and forgiveness that it may bring, did not come from its sacramental nature. But his thesis seems to acknowledge that 'anointing' stimulates the sick. The convocations of Canterbury and York in England in 1925, approved a 'form of unction and laying of hands'. The revised Scotish and American Prayer Book, published in 1929, provides for the option to receive the rite. It is not presumptuous to proclaim that, with the increasing recognition that many diseases have psycho-somatic causes and characters, the significance of this ancient Sacrament of 'anointing the sick' is gaining greater appreciation even by the Protestant brethren.
Physical disability, no impediment
In this Sacrament the 'matter' is the 'laying on of the hands' or as
an alternative, the 'anointed oil'. The 'form' is the 'prayer for healing'.
Regarding the effect of the Sacrament, the following is the summary. The
Ecclesial stand is that sickness is the loss of integrity of the spiritual
and the corporal aspects in human beings. The Sacrament invokes for the
regaining of the lost disharmony between the two, primarily by instilling
confidence in the healing power of Christ. This Sacrament imprints such
'grace' on the sick that he or she does not deem physical debility as an
impediment for the union with Christ. The sick is conditioned to conform to
and draw comfort from the dying Christ, who subdued the body by the power of
the spirit, if the inevitable is to befall. Emphatically this Sacrament
reminds, that death is not the end but the gateway for a life to eternity,
in the eternal loving care of the Creator.
From the cradle to the grave and beyond
The spectrum of the Sacramental structure of the Ecclesia spans the
life of the individual, from the cradle to the grave and beyond. Every child
of the 'Holy Mother Church' can aver therefore that the Ecclesia has been
'the consolation of my life and she would be the consolation of my death
too'. At every situation or station of life, the specific 'Sacrament' aims
at emulating Christ and effecting union with the Father, Son and the Holy
Spirit through the grace of the Triune God. This truly is a marvellous
mystery of the dominical design of the Most Blessed Trinity.
CONCLUSION
"Quo Vadis?" or to be more exact, "Domine, quo vadis?" asked Simon
Peter to his Master Christ. The meaning of the question is "Lord, where are
you going?" This narrative is from the apocryphal 'Acts of Peter' composed
around A.D. 190 probably in Palestine or Syria. On this anecdote, a legend
developed during the patristic period and is referred to by Origen and St.
Ambrose of Milan.
The legend may be summarised as follows. Peter was fleeing from Rome
to escape the persecution of Nero, the Emperor. Seized with fear he was
running along the path known "Via Appia Antica' or the Old Way. Peter
chances to meet a person, carrying a cross on his shoulder, coming towards
him. Simon stared at him. The man with the cross also cast a piercing look
in exchange. Their eyes met. Peter instantaneously recognized the 'man' and
accosted him "Lord! whither goest thou?" Jesus answered: 'I go to Rome to be
crucified'. The perplexed Peter probed. 'What! Master art thou being
crucified again'? Christ replied: 'Yes Peter, I am being crucified again'!
Words surcharged with emotion. A shudder passed through Simon Peter. Remorse
filled him as he realised that the Master spoke those words to admonish him
for his cowardice if not disloyalty. Tradition goes that when Peter came to
himself, he returned to Rome and joyfully courted martyrdom. According to
the Catholic Encyclopaedia, 'Ambrose used the anecdote to show that as Peter
stood firmly with the Church, Ambrose would stand with the Church of Milan
against Arianism'.
The plight of many a modern Christian is not much different from
that of Peter who took to flight in fright. Christ, the Bridegroom and His
Bride the Church, our 'Mother' are guiding each one of us through the
following advice. 'Dear Child does it meet you to be like the seeds, which
though springs up soon, are scorched within a short time as they have no
roots. Your mind shall not be vexed. Believe our words and have faith'. It
is imperative that we pay heed to this counsel as expatiated by St. Paul in
Heb. 12:1. "Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of
witness... let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us".
Never shall any child of the Sacred Ecclesia disregard, disrespect
or disobey the commands of Christ the Lord and the tenets of the 'Mother
Church'. There must not be any occasion for Christ and the Church to ask any
one of their sons or daughters the piercing but paining question "Quo
Vadis?"
source: http://www.socdigest.org/articles/02dec06.html
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