Many people are afraid of the sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick and think that a priest’s visit to a sick person is a “bad omen,” because they believe the sacrament is given to someone dying on their deathbed just before they die. Yet this sacrament often brings healing; and if it is not physical healing, it certainly brings spiritual and inner healing and peace to the sick person…
Here is the best example of this, a testimony shared with us by Father Joseph Abi Aoun: “My mobile rang. ‘Hello…’ ‘Abouna, do you recognize me? It’s so-and-so…’ ‘Of course I recognize you.’ ‘My mother has been in hospital for ten days, and she would really love you to visit her and give her Communion.’ ‘I hope she gets well soon; I didn’t know. Of course I’ll visit her tomorrow, God willing…’ ‘Her condition has become a bit difficult, Abouna, and she really wants to see the priest.’ I was moved by the decline in her health, but at the same time I was glad of her request, made with such trust and faith in the priest’s visit, without fear or hesitation. The next day I prayed, then prepared the host, the oil of anointing, the prayer book and the stole, and set off for the hospital, heading with great affection to that sick and virtuous lady who was eagerly waiting for the priest so she could receive Jesus in Holy Communion and be ready for whatever might come… When I arrived, how great was her joy, with a tear in her eye at the state she was in.
‘Abouna, Father, welcome… you’ve gone to so much trouble… we missed you… I asked my son if it would be possible for the priest to come and see me.’ ‘Here I am. We missed you too… I didn’t know you were in hospital… Now we’ll pray together and receive Jesus, and surely, God willing, we’ll see you home again soon.'”
“How beautiful she was! Despite her pain and suffering, her face showed the security of faith, surrender to the Lord’s will and the tenderness of Mary, Our Lady of the Hill. She began telling me about her condition and why she had come to hospital. Complete peace on her face. For her, the priest was Jesus himself visiting her, visiting the sick.
Shortly afterwards I began the prayer of the Anointing of the Sick. When I reached the moment of anointing her face with the holy oil, her eyes filled with tears again; she pleaded with the Lord from her heart and surrendered to him everything that was happening to her… In that moment I made a quick comparison within myself between her and those who are afraid of the priest coming to pray with them and for them, or the attitude of some families: ‘Don’t frighten him with the priest’… Wonderful moments of spiritual and human presence in which I felt as if heaven were here, present among us, close by… looking at us with kindness and tenderness… It is the act of love and faith that turns pain, sickness and last moments into a surge of consolation and life… When I finished and got ready to leave, she turned to me and, with the pleading of a good believer, said: ‘Abouna Joseph, don’t forget me in your prayers. I’ll be waiting for you to come back and visit me, even if I have to trouble you…'”
“Words that go deep and touch the soul. ‘Of course I’ll pray for you, and you pray for me too. Jesus is very close to you. And I promise I’ll come back. And Monday, God willing, I’ll drop by…’ I went back to the parish house, going over in my mind what had passed between me and that good and virtuous woman. For me she was like a gospel, a testimony to Jesus’ love in sickness and hardship. This love is only seen in good, faithful people… I was the pupil and she was the teacher… Thank you for this free lesson in how to love Jesus, especially in such difficult circumstances…”
My brothers and sisters, the sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick is one of the sacraments instituted by the Lord Jesus himself, and many verses of the Gospel bear witness to it, including: “They will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover” (Mark 16:18). And Saint James the Apostle urged the faithful to call the priests, the elders of the Church, when one of them is ill: “Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the Church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven” (James 5:14-15).
Prepared by Rita of the Sawt El Rab team
