The Sacrament of Anointing.
Some have been asking me to clarify the
Church’s teachings on the Sacrament of Anointing of the Sick. Like all the Sacraments, it is an
opportunity for the person to encounter Jesus Christ, the Divine Physician and healer. While we are fully aware that the body may not get any better after the Sacrament of Anointing, but through the Sacrament, the person is given strength and healing for the soul. Ill health of the body can also take a toll on the soul, and for it we need prayer, strength and healing for the soul.
The Sacrament of Anointing has gone through
some reform so as to clarify to the faithful and address some misunderstandings. One such misunderstanding is that only people who are near death can receive the Sacrament.
Through its reform the Sacrament, the Church was able to recover a
simpler and older tradition. In
addition, the Sacrament of Anointing is not meant to be trivialized and
discriminatory. In other words, it
allows room for the person who is with a serious illness, to be able to receive
it more times before their final breath.
Although the Sacrament is not discriminatory when it comes to the amount of reception, it is discriminatory to the candidate who should receive it. The Church's guidelines is that the person who wishes to receive the Sacrament must be of the age
of reason which is normally 7 years of age.
The Sacrament is not for everyone, otherwise it can become trivialized
or superstitious. It is for those who
are advanced in their age, those who are preparing for surgery, those with
recurring physical ailments, and those who are near death.
If you would like to receive the
Sacrament, please come forward at this time.
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