Rev José Mario O Mandía
jmom.honlam.org
Illness and suffering are part of our earthly existence. They “have always been among the gravest problems confronted in human life. In illness, man experiences his powerlessness, his limitations, and his finitude. Every illness can make us glimpse death” (CCC 1500).
The CCC (1501) points out: “Illness can lead to anguish, self-absorption, sometimes even despair and revolt against God.”
But that is only one side of the coin. The same point continues: “It can also make a person more mature, helping him discern in his life what is not essential so that he can turn toward that which is. Very often illness provokes a search for God and a return to him.”
When Jesus took on human flesh, he transformed every human thing into something holy. That includes pain and sickness. Illness can make saints of us.
Saint Josemaría Escrivá writes in his homily “Finding Peace in the Heart of Christ” (Christ is Passing By 168): “The scene of Calvary proclaims to everyone that afflictions have to be sanctified, that we are to live united to the cross.”
This is confirmed by Lumen gentium, which reminds us that “even the hardships of life, if patiently borne … become ‘spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ’(I Peter 2:5). Together with the offering of the Lord’s body, they are most fittingly offered in the celebration of the Eucharist. Thus, as those everywhere who adore in holy activity, the laity consecrate the world itself to God” (LG 34).
It does not mean, however, that Jesus Christ did not do anything when he saw someone suffer. We find many instances in the Gospels when He healed sick people.
The CCCC (314) explains: “The compassion of Jesus toward the sick and his many healings of the infirm were a clear sign that with him had come the Kingdom of God and therefore victory over sin, over suffering, and over death.”
It adds, however, that Christ brought suffering to a higher level: “By his own passion and death he gave new meaning to our suffering which, when united with his own, can become a means of purification and of salvation for us and for others.”
The Church – Christ’s Mystical Body – faithfully follows her Master in His care for those who suffer and are ill. The CCCC (315) explains: “Having received from the Lord the charge to heal the sick, the Church strives to carry it out by taking care of the sick and accompanying them with her prayer of intercession. Above all, the Church possesses a sacrament specifically intended for the benefit of the sick. This sacrament was instituted by Christ and is attested by Saint James: ‘Is anyone among you sick? Let him call in the presbyters of the Church and let them pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord’ (James 5:14-15).”
The Church takes care of us at all stages of our life on earth. That is why she “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” (CCC 1511).
Point 1511 quotes the Council of Trent: “‘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 indeed by Mark, but is recommended to the faithful and promulgated by James the apostle and brother of the Lord’ (Council Of Trent 1551; cf Mark 6:13; James 5:14-15).”
The purpose, therefore, of this sacrament (according to CCC 1527) is “the conferral of a special grace on the Christian experiencing the difficulties inherent in the condition of grave illness or old age.”
There is no direct mention of the institution by Jesus Christ, but as mentioned above, Saint Mark (6:13) alludes to it in his Gospel: “And they cast out many demons, and anointed with oil many that were sick and healed them.”“From ancient times in the liturgical traditions of both East and West, we have testimonies to the practice of anointings 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 (cf Council Of Trent, 1551)” (CCC 1512).
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