Is anyone among you sick? He should summon the presbyters of the church, and they should pray over him and anoint [him] with oil in the name of the Lord, and the prayer of faith will save the sick person, and the Lord will raise him up. If he has committed any sins, he will be forgiven.    (James 5:14-15)

One of the many mysteries in our Christian life is illness, hurt, and pain; how to combine God’s love towards his creatures and the fact that many times we fall sick, sometimes gravelly, is, to say the least, a challenge to our faith. In our Catholic Tradition one of the seven sacraments deals with that reality: the Sacrament of Anointing of the sick. From the very beginning, as we read in James 5:14-15, the Church has approached that reality from the point of view of faith and community, as Church approaches everything in our Christian life.
The Sacrament of Anointing is for any Catholic who is seriously ill or facing serious surgery or treatment; it can be received as many times as one is seriously ill –a serious illness is not the influenza or a tooth ache! - and what we ask God is to heal the sick and for them to be comforted with God’s presence though the Sacrament. Many people consider this the “last rites” when someone is dying, and even though dying people may receive this Sacrament, or even better find solace in the Viaticum (Holy Communion being brought to the dying as help for their journey to the Father´s Home) the subject of this Sacrament is the sick person, not the dying.

Do not wait until the last minute! Celebrate the Sacrament in a communal setting, with family, friends, the same way we do celebrate the other Sacraments; and of course, keep always in mind that there are many, many, many faithful and fewer, fewer, and fewer priests to confer this Sacrament –Deacons cannot anoint. This situation may be a thinking opportunity for us to ponder about the disproportion between the large Catholic population and the dwindling number of priests.

So if someone in your family is seriously ill do not wait until the last minute and call the Parish office so that the sick person may be comforted with the presence of the Community and the help of the Sacrament. It is desirable that the sick person is the one requesting the sacrament.

Ministry of the sick contact:  Juan Rivas - 817-371-3001.