Among the seven sacraments given us as a help on our way to salvation is the sacrament we call the anointing of the sick.
Together with the sacrament of Confession, this sacrament is counted among the sacraments of healing. By it the Church shows her care for those of her members who suffer, showing them that she does not forget them but thinks of them, helps them and prays for them, commending them to the Lord Jesus Christ that he may save them — to him who takes our troubles upon himself and himself bears the suffering. “He took our infirmities and bore our diseases.” (Matthew 8,17) Jesus always had understanding for the sick and the infirm. He has compassion on them, and the many healings bear witness to his divine power. He is “God who leads his people”, and that is a sign that the Kingdom of God had drawn near.
In the Gospel according to Mark we read how Jesus, the divine physician of soul and body, sent his disciples, the apostles, out into the world with this clear commission: “Heal the sick!” ( Matthew 10,8 ) What they received from God is commended and proclaimed to the faithful through the apostle James: “Is any among you sick? Let him call for the priests 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 sick man, and the Lord will raise him up; and if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.” (James 5, 14-15). The apostolic Church, then, has the rite of anointing in which Tradition recognised one of the sacraments, given in order to bestow grace on a Christian who is enduring the suffering that comes with grave illness or old age.
It is recommended that the anointing of the sick be given to a person who is conscious. Before receiving this sacrament a person should make his confession. For those who cannot — because they are unconscious, for example — this sacrament forgives their sins. It is fitting for it to be given during the Eucharist, but it may also be given on its own, to a single sick person or to several who are infirm.
The celebration of the sacrament has these principal parts: the laying on of hands, the prayer offered in the faith of the Church, and the anointing with the holy oil blessed by the bishop on Holy Thursday. The sick person is anointed with the oil on the forehead and the hands (in the Roman rite) or on other parts of the body (in the East), while these words are said once over him: “Through this holy anointing and his own tender mercy may the Lord bless you; may he help you with the grace of the Holy Spirit; and may he who frees you from sin save you and in his mercy raise you up.”
The fruits of the particular grace of the sacrament of the anointing of the sick are these:
the sick person is united with the passion of Christ, for his own good and for that of the Church;
he is given support, peace and courage to bear the hardships of illness or old age in a Christian way;
he is given the forgiveness of his sins, if he was unable to receive it in the sacrament of Confession;
he is given health, if that serves his spiritual salvation;
it prepares the sick person for the passage to eternal life.