We need priests because we, sinners, need mediators who act in the name and with the power of the one single Mediator and Redeemer who is Christ.
Day: November 24, 2021
BITE-SIZE THEOLOGY (152) What good does Anointing do to us?
St Gregory the Great adds, “Consider well how terrible is the hour of death, and how appalling the remembrance of our sins will be at that time. For the devils will recall all the harm they have done to us, and remind us of the sins which we have committed at their instigation.”
Thus, we should never hesitate to offer to a very ill person or a dying one the possibility of receiving the Anointing of the Sick. And should we ourselves be in that situation, we should not hesitate to ask for it, together with the two other sacraments of Confession and the Viaticum.
BITE-SIZE THEOLOGY (151) What are the essential elements of the anointing of the sick?
The remote matter of this sacrament is olive oil or oil from other plants that has been blessed. The proximate matter is the anointing on the forehead and the hand.
The form, as mentioned above, is the prayer that is recited as the anointing is being done.
Mother Angelica – “media giant”
“You want to do something for the Lord … do it. Whatever you feel needs to be done, even though you’re shaking in your boots, you’re scared to death – take the first step forward. The grace comes with that one step and you get the grace as you step. Being afraid is not a problem; it’s doing nothing when you’re afraid.”
Catholic James Bond – “God has been good to me”
Pierce Brosnan knows he has had a wonderful life and still has, but his faith has been his “constant” support. “God has been good to me. My faith has been good to me in the moments of deepest suffering, doubt and fear. It is a constant, the language of prayer,” he stated in Irish TV RTE’s Late Late Show.