Father Knows Best—Episode 22: Part 2 of the Sacrament of Anointing of the Sick

Archdioceses, when Jesus knew He would die, lay persons preaching at Mass, and what a Homily is. 

Tune in so we may discover, learn, and engage our hearts, souls, and minds and become illuminated, informed, and inspired. Send in your questions to Fr. Mark via e-mail at fatherknowsbestshow@yahoo.com.  The program is sponsored by St. Augustine Indian Mission in Winnebago, NE. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

I have questions. I don't understand. I'm confused. What's going on? This is not what I learned in school. What does the truth really teach? Welcome to Father Knowledge Consultational Studios of 88.1 FM, KFA C Pancaster City, and K-O-I-A. Storm Mike. Brought to you by the St. Augustine Indian Mission, Winnipeg. We all have questions and curiosity about matters of faith as it is normal for humanity to ask questions and seek answers in the kind of quest for understanding regarding matters of faith in the church. We believe that there is no such thing as a foolish or dumb question. And I say the only dumb question is the one that is not asked. And the reality is that the questions you have are like questions others have, and so it is good to ask. Sometimes an answer leads to more questions. Sometimes the questions and answers will lead us to insights that we never considered. We at Soulan Catholic Radio want to invite our listeners from Jackson, Nebraska, to Elk Point, South Dakota, to Stromlick, Iowa, and everywhere in between and beyond. Send your questions to us at Father Knows Best Show at Yahoo.com. Or mail them to Father Knows Best, Sioux Line Catholic Radio, 701 West Fifth Street, Sioux City, Iowa, 51103. During this time, once a week, I or another guest will do our best to answer some of the questions I received here at the studio so we may discover, learn, and engage our hearts and souls and minds, so we may be illuminated, informed, and inspired. So I thank you for tuning in. We invite you to open your mind, let the questions begin, and let your curiosity find its voice. So this is really interesting. Yes, we're going to continue a conversation we started last week on the anointing of the sick. And just to point out, too, of course, Anna's here on the control board to help us to sound good, make sure we get on the air. And so again, we're going to continue what we started last episode, episode 21, where we're talking about the newly retranslated order of anointing of the sick and their pastoral care that was instituted for the United States. As mandatory since Easter Sunday of 2026. In the last episode, just kind of summarize a few things just to refresh our memories. We talked about the reason for this retranslation was due to the instruction called Liturgium Authenticum, which was issued and approved by Pope John Paul II in 2001, Congregation Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments. And that required, again, authentic translation of all liturgical texts from Latin to the vernacular language. And so, again, for the most part, most uh average people aren't going to see a change in this uh sacrament, but again, it's gonna be kind of affecting the priests that are utilizing the sacrament because again, this some things have changed, and part of it is uh the ritual book has been changed a little bit or re-organized a little bit to uh conform with the original Latin text. But again, um the sick and their families, again, they we are trying to emphasize here again to see the significance of human sickness and the mystery of salvation, and again, through this uh uh sacrament of orrain the sick, again to allow the church through the ministry of the priest to walk through with a certain sick person through their illness and the dying process. And so in the last episode, episode 21, we spoke about the first two rites offered in the revised reads translated English order of oranging the sick and their pastoral care, that is, the visitation of and communion of the sick by the pastor or priest. And then we talked about the anointing of the sick, again for the seriously ill. And I just want to uh kind of expand a little bit on on this, what we kind of left off with last week, is that regarding the anointing of the sick, it's reminder the oil of the sick that is used, also known as the oil of the infirm, is made of olive oil. It is an oil that is blessed by the bishop at a special mass, uh known as the Chris of Mass, which this mass takes place during Holy Week, right before Mass of the Lord's Supper in the evening of Holy Thursday. There's other two other oils that are blessed or consecrated. The other one is of course the oil of catechumen, blessed by the bishop, and then the sacred chrism, which is consecrated by the bishop. All three are made of holy oil, different prayers are prayed over them for the particular use that the oil is going to be used for. And again, you know, why is oil used for the anointing of the sick? Again, anointing on the forehead and the hands. Again, it's all about we go back to St. James's letter in his letter, chapter 15, ver excuse me, chapter 5, verse 14 to 15. It says, Is anyone among you sick? He should summon the presbyters of the church, and they should pray over him and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord, and the prayer of the faith will save the sick person, and the Lord will raise him up. If he has committed any sins, he will forgive him. And so again, we know that you know, in time of Jesus, oil was used for medical purposes in the ancient world. Again, we can look at Isaiah chapter 1, verse 6, and Luke chapter 10, verse 34. There's references again to oil being used to uh for those sick. Also, we see oil being used to anoint prophets and kings in the Old Testament. Um in Mark chapter 6, verse 13, it points out that the twelve went out to anoint the sick with oil on their missionary journey in the name of the Lord, again by the power of Jesus Christ. And so again, we've seen that the results of prayer and the anointing can have do lead to physical health and can is also for forgiveness of sins. And so since the Vatican, excuse me, since the Council of Trent, the Catholic Church has declared that this anointing of the sick is a sacrament instituted by Christ and promulgated by the blessed James the Apostle. And again, anointing of the sick was being done even before then, since the time of Christ. But again, the uh Council of Trent is the one that says, yes, this is an official sacrament of the church. Now, again, sometimes we point out last week that this rite is often called the last rite, and people will call the priest to come in to anoint someone who's either not seriously ill or someone who's really near death. And so, when called, again, as we talked about last week, the priest is to inquire about the condition of the person who's to be anointed, then to prepare and assess how seriously ill the person is and whether anointing is necessary or whether rites are needed, and of course explain the significance of the sacrament, you know, to the sick person or and to the family. And so, again, on anointing the sick can be and may be repeated if the condition of the person worsens. And again, it's important to remember, as I said last week, that the oil is you that is used is not magic. It is to be used on persons who are seriously ill based on the priest's assessment of the seriousness of the illness, and again, even how close to death the person is. And so once we see death is on the horizon, then the priest needs to move to the next ritual, which the next ritual we're going to talk about is often overlooked and often is requested when it's too late. You know, when the person is just moments away from death or has lost consciousness. So that basically wraps up again, Ornoy the Sick again.

SPEAKER_00 7:05

So this movement to the next ritual. Yes. Is it somebody who's on hospice? Is it somebody who Okay, so there really is no defined time frame. Yeah. We think death within X amount of days. Yeah, you never we never know sometimes.

SPEAKER_01 7:19

Again, different circumstances that may arise when the priest gets in. That's why it's so important for the priest to ask questions of the sick person, of the of doctors, nurses, the families, like you know, what condition is the person in. I understand. And they can give a pretty good assessment, hopefully. So the priest has to make a final judgment and then explain what he's gonna do next. And so when we see a person moving into uh into what you call the process of actual uh uh act of dying, then we move into a rite called vaadicum. Vaaticum is for those who have entered the stage of dying. And this is the rite that ought to be called the last rite. Because in fact, the Catechism of the Catholic Church, in paragraph 1524, states that this last sacrament of the Christian, as the dying person receives the seed of eternal life and completes the earthly pilgrimage. So we're going to talk about the seed of eternal life. The word Vatican is Latin for food for the journey. And so, what is food for the journey? Food for the journey is Holy Communion, the body and blood of Christ. And so, for this rite to be used, the person needs to be conscious and able to receive at least a small piece or particle of the host. And so, again, when called, the priest will need to assess the condition of the person. And in looking at someone who's in danger of death, the rite talks about four levels, four degrees of danger of death. A general danger of death, an imminent danger of death, an urgent danger of death, or even immediate danger of death. So there's maybe some fine lines between these, but but again, as we see probably generally, we see some just kind of slowly start fading away. So again, many times we see priests again are called after the person's lost consciousness or unable to receive holy communion. So then it's too late to offer this rite, and then another rite needs to be done, and we'll talk about that later. But if the person is still conscious, still able to respond, even if it's just with a nod of a head or a blink of an eye, then the person is a candidate for this rite. And so this rite begins with sprinkling of holy water, again, reminding us of our baptism. And then if the person is able to speak, again, the person should be offered the opportunity for the sacramentalation. If the person is not able to speak, then we would move to the penitential rite like we hear at the at the beginning of Mass. When that rite concludes, either sacrifice or the penitential act concludes, then the apostolic pardon may be offered. Again, this is a very powerful prayer. This apostolic pardon is only done in this rite, except for there's a few exceptions I'll talk about a little bit later. It's not done anointing the sick, it's done in Vatican, and a couple of the rites come down the road here. Only a priest may do this prayer because he has the role of ministering the sacramentation, ministering the forgiveness of sins, the pardon of all sins. And when this prayer is prayed, apostolic pardon is offered to the person, it gives a plenary indulgence to the sick person at the moment of death. And so I'm going to read to you the two prayers that we could use uh powerful prayers and awesome prayers. And so the most commonly one that we would hear is the following. It says the following By the authority given to me by the Apostolic See, I grant you a plenary indulgence and remission of all your sins in the name of the Father and the Son and of the Holy Spirit. The rite also gives us another option that we can use, and that prayer goes like this Through the sacred mysteries of human redemption, may Almighty God release you from all punishments of the present life and of the life to come. May you open the gates of paradise and lead you to everlasting joys. That those prayers give me shivers. And I've only to be honest, I've only had the opportunity to offer them several times in my priesthood because again, many times we get called too late to offer this prayer. But again, wouldn't it be wonderful if I'm laying in bed and I'm dying, and I hear the priest pray that prayer for me? May you have remission of all your sins, be released from all punishments of the present life and of life to come and be open to the gate and be open the gates of paradise. This awesome words, prayers, to give reassurance to the person who is dying that you'll be okay.

SPEAKER_00 11:51

Let's put this into perspective. Basically, what you're saying is we will bypass any purgatory sentence as well. Yep. That that is a very, very moving piece of a prayer.

SPEAKER_01 12:02

And the saddest thing about this is that so many times we are called in too late to offer this prayer. Yeah. And it's like we cannot offer the prayer when someone is unconscious or basically at the moment of death. We've got to offer it while they're in the process of dying. So again, when somebody gets sick, we're going to set emphasize over and overgrown. When someone becomes seriously ill, call a priest. When they move in the next stage, call a priest. When they go further, call a priest. You know, let them let the priest make an assessment and offer what needs to be done at that moment. And when the person moves into this dying stage, this is time for the apostolic pardon along with Vatican, Holy Communion. We'll talk about it a little bit later. Just a bit. But just if you're just tuning in, you're listening to Father Knows Best here at Sioux Line Catholic Radio as I answer your questions about faith and the Catholic Church. I'm Father Mark Stowe, joined by Tim Sudin as I answer some general questions about the sacrament of anointing of the sick that many priests receive, and we're trying to also address some of the misunderstandings of the sacrament, including some of the changes that have recently occurred with the retranslation order of the anointing of the sick and the pastoral care. That was recently issued by for the United States and has been mandatory to be used since Easter Sunday, 2026. And so right now we're talking about the rite of Vatican. It comes after the person is beyond the time to be anointed. Because when we do anointing the sick, we are praying that they would probably be even be healed.

SPEAKER_00 13:24

Right.

SPEAKER_01 13:25

Or at least given some spiritual healing. If they move into dying, you know, it's possible they could come back, but you know, if they move into a dying stage, it's time for Vatican. It's time for Holy Communion. And so again, it begins with sprinkle of the holy water, massive baptism, the sacramentation, the penitential act, and the apostolic pardon. Once the apostolic pardon is offered, then we're going to move into the scriptures. Do a scripture reading. And again, after that, we're going to do a renewal baptism promises. Okay, and ask the person, do you believe, you know, in God, the Father? Do you believe in Jesus and the Holy Spirit, etc., etc.? Just like we do at Easter Vigil or Easter Sunday or any baptism. And the person again should be able to verbally say, I do, or at least non-verbally, you know, nod or wink or whatever is acknowledged, I do believe. So this is why the person needs to be conscious. A litany is prayed then, and then we pray the Lord's Prayer, and then comes another very important moment, is the offering of Holy Communion, Biaticum. Again, it's if you know, definitely under the form of bread of the host is offered to the dying person. It's also an option that even the precious blood could be offered to the person. Bless you. So then after Holy Communion, then a final blessing is offered, a prayer and blessing, and then the rite is concluded. So we have now given the person the opportunity to renew their baptism promises, to be absolved of their sins, to be remitted of all the sins through the apostolic pardon, and receive Holy Communion. They are now ready to go to God. They are ready to go to eternal life.

SPEAKER_00 15:05

That is a level of peace that none of us will ever be able to experience except through that process.

SPEAKER_01 15:12

Yes. And so, again, only a priest can offer this. Right. And so call. Now there are times, of course, that a uh extra minister of holy communion or deacon could do some of this, but missing they they could not do anything about recollection and apostolic pardon, but offer holy communion. Again, that's what we what that's the last sacrament we want to receive before we die is Jesus Christ in the form of bread and wine, the body of Christ for sure. So again, notice that this rite does not include any anointing of the sick, because again, that holy hopefully has been done before. Right. Um this rite may be repeated with some modifications, such as, you know, if the person is still able to receive the next day, Holy Communion, you know, maybe not do the renewal baptismal promises. Right. Uh, but again, continue to offer Holy Communion until the person is unable to receive Holy Communion. Then we're going to move to the next rite. But again, this sacrament again can be even offered within Mass or outside of Mass. And um I if I remember right back, was it 2004 when Pope John Paul II died? If I remember that's the right year. Um they talked about that, you know, that they offered Mass in his room. And so what were they doing? They were most likely offering him Vatican because they celebrate Mass with him, gave him Holy Communion, and he died, what, early than the next morning? Very short time afterwards. Exactly. Yes, yeah. So, so that's an awesome uh way to go.

SPEAKER_00 16:38

Again, a level of peace that we will never have in this life. That's incredible.

SPEAKER_01 16:42

So the goal of this last sacrament, again, is that a person receive before he or she dies Holy Communion, and this again is a critical right for all dying persons, that they all all are all to should be uh given again food for the journey to go to Jesus. And so once a person has gone into unconsciousness, enters the final stage of life, it's time to move to the next rite. And so the the book, as we go through the ritual book, moves into the next stages. And so now there's rites for what we call sacraments for of to the sick person in imminent danger of death. We now move to the next level. And again, the person's unconscious, probably most likely, but unable to at least unable to receive Holy Communion. And so the priest is called in to offer prayers for someone who's to die soon. Now, this rite includes some options because again, it's kind of all depends on what's all going on there. Again, sprinkling of the sick person's holy water. Maybe if they're able to still speak, they can a sacrifice or the penture act. We can also, at this rite, we could also still offer the apostolic pardon, the renewal of baptism promises. If viadicum is not possible, if we're not able to offer holy communion to the person, then we could anoint the person with holy oil, with oil sick. The goal again would be viadicum if anointing wasn't done. So again, this rite is a little bit shorter, a little briefer than the rite of viadicum. But again, these prayers again are offered again, again, to assist the person as they're in the dying process. Again, some of these prayers can be offered by a priest or by a deacon or lay person, except, of course, for reconciliation, apostolic pardon, and anointing. Then there's a rite provided to provide confirmation and danger of death. And so, if the person has not been confirmed, and sometimes we will experience this, they've been baptized, made first holy community, but were never confirmed, then there's a ritual that allows the priest and only a priest to confirm the person who is dying. And so it looks a little bit like the rite we would see normally when the bishop comes to do confirmation for our young people, but or we see at Easter Vigil, but it's kind of emergency rite to confirm the person shortly before death. As death again draws near, again when Viticum and Sacraments of the Sick and Danger Death, or confirmation, danger death have already been offered or not been able to be offered for a reason. Then we move to another rite called commemoration of the dying. Again, a priest is called to offer prayers, scripture readings, litanies for the person who is just moments away from dying. They're probably going totally unconscious, they're just, you know, breathing their last breath, and so we pray. Again, I think my understanding in medical would say that the brain and even the senses still kind of can hear what's going on. And I've even seen people near death who actually kind of mouth like the Lord's Prayer with their lips, and so you know there's something going on, but they're totally unresponsive other than what otherwise. And so we offer these prayers. Again, these prayers could also be offered by a deacon or lay person. Um, in addition to these these rites, there's also what we call two models for visitation of the sick or sick for a sick adult or sick child. Again, there's some different options we can use here. So, again, there's a greeting, scriptural reading, renewal baptism, promise, litany, the Lord's uh prayer and a blessing. So, again, this would be a visitation without holy communion to a sick person. Then there's also a sh what we call shorter order of adult initiation to be used near danger of death or at the point of death. This is for someone who has not been baptized. Right. Not been first communicated, not been confirmed. It'd be for a non-Catholic, uh someone again never been baptized. And so at this point, uh if the person has this desire to be to join the Catholic Church, to be baptized, confirmed, first communicated, again, there would be a questioning of the sick person, the godparents, and the witnesses, a scripture reading, intercessions for the one to be initiated, celebration of baptism, celebration of confirmation, and then celebration of Adicum, as we've all described before, and of course, sacrament baptism, confirmation, just as we normally would do. Um, again, you very abbreviated because the person is closed in on death. And then after uh we can conclude with all that, a blessing. And again, the person now has joined the church can at the moment of death. And we've heard a number of different saints over the years in the way in the past that they would do that, wait till the last moment to be baptized, confirmed, and and uh receive personal communion at the time of death. But so this offers a wonderful opportunity for someone who would like to join before they you know all of a sudden they feel, hey, I want to I want to be part of this church before it's too late.

SPEAKER_00 21:32

Have you ever experienced this yourself? I've never experienced this myself. But it's very interesting to see how someone feel the imminent danger of their life and realize I need to be Catholic.

SPEAKER_01 21:42

I need to be I need to be baptized. Right. And so then we baptize, confirm, and first communicate them with Vatican. So now we get the point. After the person has died, you know, the they have they have passed away. There are then prayers after death. Again, the priest may be called to offer these prayers to the person. Who is has died. Again, the same thing can be offered by the a deacon or lay person. And so again, some wonderful prayers and collect litanies and things like that. Just kind of more to reassure the family, the friends, those gathered, that the person we're praying for this person for the reposal of the person's soul. There's also finally what we call an emergency rite of penance, viadicum, and anointing. Again, this rite is offered by a priest and only a priest, perhaps maybe at a scene of an accident or an emergency room for a person whose condition is suddenly and unexpectedly turned for the worse. And so, again, if possible, sacrament exolation is offered, apostolic pardon, viadicum, which includes the Lord's Prayers and Holy Communion. Again, we could offer anointing the sick at this point, too, because maybe, yeah, an accident, it looks like this person is going to be, you know, dead in moments, but maybe, maybe seriously ill. And then again, um, after that, if the person is headed for uh dying, then the prayers were commemoration of the dying. So, I'm gonna start summarizing this. In short, if um a person that you know yourself becomes seriously ill, call a priest. Call a priest to come in and offer the appropriate right based on the condition of the person, and those rites would include reconciliation. So many times we forget about that important sacrament of confessing our sins. Obviously, if there's other people in the room, we dismiss them. So it's just the priest and the person there, and then we call the person back in for other the other rituals. Communion to the sick, uh, anointing of the sick, viaticum. Again, really important, if possible. Get the priest there when the person is able to receive Holy Communion. Again, celebration of other sacraments, which may be needed, like we just talked about, baptism, confirmation, eucharist. And again, as you see, most of these rites follow the order of the sacraments of initiation, baptism, which is often represented by uh reconciliation, confirmation, represented by anointing of the sick. Eucharist, of course, is holy communion. And so, as a priest, I would love to hear someone call me and say, My family member, my friend, has become seriously ill, would you come and provide the prayers and pastoral care they need, he, she, your needs? And I would then ask him, is the person still conscious, able to receive Holy Communion? Um, based on the answer, then I would go get my holy water, a consecrated host, or the sick, and go where the person is. When I arrive, I'm gonna do an assessment of the condition of the person based on the status of the person, reports of family and medical personnel, and then proceed to the appropriate right. Again, with some explanation to the family why I'm choosing the right I'm doing. Because so many people want to say, Father, you've got to anoint them. You've got to anoint them. It's like, no, this is not the time to anoint. But that may be the case. So it may include anointing the sick and may not, again, to the surprise of the sick person or the even the family. Again, anointing the sick is not always required or necessary in all circumstances. And so, again, what we're trying to do is address this topic to help provide this catechesis and a better understanding of these very options that the church offers for the seriously ill, to help seriously ill and others to see the significance of human sickness in the ministry of salvation. It allows us to connect ourselves to the suffering of Christ. It allows us through the ministry of the church to offer the priest to be able to walk with the sick person through the illness and dying process. Again, wouldn't it be wonderful if the priest knew the person since the time that they were homebound and brought Holy Communion and went through all the various rituals, including commemoration, dying, and prayers after death, and was there for the funeral? It's like you've walked through the entire journey with this person. And so this these rites are all about helping to save souls in their final months, days, weeks, hours, and even minutes of life. And in short, again, I recommend that if you or you know anyone who becomes seriously ill, call a priest, ask for the pastoral care of the priest, the pastoral care that the priest can offer to someone who's seriously ill, allow the priest to assess the condition, health condition of the person, and then offer the bright that is best suited for that person, especially the opportunity for the sacramentalation and for holy communion or Vatican, depending on the circumstances. So that wraps up the ritual we've been talking about for the last two seconds.

SPEAKER_00 26:18

I'll just tell you how excited I've been to be part of this last two episodes, because it really gives us a capsule of what to hope for as we begin our end of a life event. Or end of a parent's life.

SPEAKER_01 26:30

Exactly. So again, some comes seriously though, call a priest and let him access. And so we have some wonderful prayers. And again, uh, you know, be able to uh in that dying moment to receive holy communion and an apostolic pardon would be such a reward for someone. What a gift we can give someone who is dying. So, Tim, I believe that's gonna basically wrap up this episode. So, for the next show, I'm gonna address some more questions about the liturgy, you know, about and what life was like at the time of Christ, and and even where we find the sacraments, especially in the Bible. Of course, we already mentioned one this evening. So, so again, we really appreciate you tuning in to Sue and Catholic Radio as we offer both national and local programs, including Faith in Action, Draw Near, Life Plan, Catholic Ministry Professionals, and Divine Mercy Chapel, along with Sunday morning mass. Please check out the Facebook pages of Sue and Catholic Radio and Fathers Knows Best for more information about this show, including more information about questions and answers I have addressed or I've not addressed yet. As we wrap up today's questions and answers session, let's extend we extend our heartfelt thanks to all of our listeners for tuning in and sharing your thought-provoking questions. Your curiosity and engagement makes the show possible, and we are always inspired by the incredible range of topics to bring to the table. We hope you found the answers both informative and enlightening, and that you'll carry some insights with you as you go about your week. And if your question was not answered today, you may hear your answer next week. If you missed this episode, would like to re-listen this other episodes, please visit our website, Sudan Catholic Radio, visit the programs drop menu, click on local programs, and find this episode, other episodes of Father Knows Best and other local programs. So if you have any questions, please send your questions to me at father knows best show at yahoo.com or mail them the Father Knows Best, Sudan Catholic Radio, 701 West West Fifth Street, Sioux City, Iowa, 51103. And thank you to our sponsor, St. Augustine Indian Mission, Winnebago. Please join us again next Wednesday, 9 p.m. for another round of questions and answers. Until then, stay curious, stay faithful, keep your lights shining, keep those questions coming. For now, I'm Father Mark Story, your host, signing off. Wishing you a great week ahead. May mighty God bless you, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.