The Sacrament of the Sick

Introduction

The spiritual highlight and focal point of the annual Lourdes Pilgrimage is the Mass with the anointing of the sick. It is during this celebration when all of our prayers and the whole purpose of our Pilgrimage are given their fullest expression.
Each year we are asked to assist Bishop John in taking great care to see that the Sacrament of the Sick, a central part of the liturgy, is celebrated correctly. That everyone who should be anointed has the opportunity and at the same time ensure that the sacrament is not devalued.
Please make sure that any young person that is to be anointed is accompanied by a responsible adult

Here is what the Church teaches us:

From the Catechism of the Catholic Church

1511 The Church believes and confesses that among the seven sacraments there is one especially intended to strengthen those who are being tried by illness, The Anointing of the Sick:

This sacred anointing of the sick was instituted by Christ our Lord as a true and proper sacrament of the New Testament. It is alluded to by Mark, but is recommended to the faithful and promulgated by James the apostle and brother of the Lord.

1512 From ancient times in the liturgical traditions of both East and West, we have testimonies to the practice of the anointing of the sick with blessed oil. Over the centuries the Anointing of the Sick was conferred more and more exclusively on those at the point of death. Because of this it received the name ‘Extreme Unction’. Notwithstanding this evolution the liturgy has never failed to beg the Lord that the sick person may recover his health
if it would be conducive to his salvation.

1513 The Apostolic Constitution Sacram unctionem infirmorum, following upon the Second Vatican Council, established that henceforth, in the Roman Rite, the following be observed:

The sacrament of Anointing of the Sick is given to those who are seriously ill by anointing them on the forehead and hands with duly blessed oil – pressed from olives or from other plants – saying, only once: “Through this holy anointing may the Lord in his love and mercy help you with the grace of the Holy Spirit. May the Lord who frees you from sin save you and raise you up.”

1514 The Anointing of the Sick is not a sacrament for those only who are at the point of death. Hence, as soon as anyone of the faithful begins to be in danger of death from sickness or old age, the fitting time for him to receive the sacrament has certainly arrived.

1515 If a sick person who received this anointing recovers his health, he can in the case of another grave illness receive the sacrament again. If during the same illness the person’s condition becomes more serious, the sacrament may be repeated. It is fitting to receive the Anointing of the Sick just prior to a serious operation. The same holds for the elderly whose frailty becomes more pronounced.

1532 The special grace of the sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick has as its effects:

    • The uniting of the sick person to the Passion of Christ, for his own good and the good of the whole Church
    • The strengthening, peace and courage to endure in a Christian manner the sufferings of illness or old age
    • The forgiveness of sins, if the sick person was not able to obtain it through the sacrament of Penance
    • The restoration of health, if it is conducive to the salvation of his soul
    • The preparation for passing over to eternal life