O Antiphons

On Holy Unction

From Christian and Catholic (1905)

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by The Right Rev. Charles Chapman Gore

Bishop, Fond du Lac, Wisconsin

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As penitence is concerned with the healing of the soul, unction is concerned primarily with the healing of the body. Our blessed Lord redeemed our whole nature, body and soul, and it was but fitting that He should provide sacramentally for the needs of each.

 

The body is the tabernacle of the soul, the house which it inhabits. It is the garden in which the soul dwells. It is intrusted to man as the fair garden of Eden was to Adam. We are placed in it to take care of it, to rule over it, and keep it in subjection. It is to be our servant, not our master. By the discipline thus imposed our souls are trained in Christian knighthood. Our bodies being the temples of the Holy Ghost, we stand guard over His honor who trusts Himself to our care. We are to stand on guard, like the cherubim at the gates of Paradise, whose eyes were like a flame, and whose hand held a blazing sword. But the body is not only to be kept under the sceptre of the will. It must be cared for in its weakness, disorder, and pain. “A merciful man,” said S. Francis, speaking of the body, “must be merciful to his beast.” The body and its soul must, however, temporarily, at least, cease to be companions. We all have to pass through the dark valley and bear its sorrow.

 

But He who knows our necessities has provided for us with a mother's care a sacrament testifying to His protection, conveying its own restorative aid, and blessing the means used for our body's recovery. So we read that, having received authority from Jesus Christ, they “anointed with oil many that were sick, and healed them.” They provided for the continuance of this blessing. “Is any sick among you? Let him call for the elders of the Church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord; and the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up.”

 

The occasion of its official promulgation by S. James is not given, but we may well surmise it. There were many after Pentecost who were possessed of special gifts, among them that of healing. The ill and the sick person's friends would naturally seek out those who possessed, or who were supposed to possess, this special gift. It was probably to check a tendency not unaccompanied with spiritual dangers both to the persons interested and to the Church's good order that S. James gave his directions. The sick were not to seek out those accounted possessed of miraculous powers, but to send for the elders or priests. So far as the care of the body was concerned no specially gifted person was necessary. Let the faithful trust themselves to the prayers of the ordained priesthood. The ordained elder was a righteous man whom God would hear just as He did His prophet Elijah. The order taken by the Apostles was to do away with the excitement of miracle or faith healing, and substitute a regular method promulgated by the Church.

 

There was also a further reason. The priest could deal with the soul as a faith-healing or miracle-working layman could not. If the body was to be cured, the first and most important thing for its recovery was to bring the soul into harmony with God. So the sick was to make his confession, and prayer was to be made over him, and then he was to be anointed. The peace and healing of the soul would aid in the healing of the body.

 

S. James uses the plural form; “Call,” he says, “for the elders of the Church.” Not as excluding the ministrations of a single priest, but as teaching us the efficacy that comes from united prayer.

 

The anointing is not to be used when illness is but trifling, or merely when the person is in extremis, but when any illness is serious we may resort to it, and it may be repeated.

 

The “matter” of this mystery is the anointing of the sick person. The “form” is the prayer. By the anointing God is recognized as the giver of health. A blessing is invoked on the means used for recovery, and through this instrumentality also, if God so wills, restorative aid is given. For the comfort of our souls, grace is also bestowed to meet the trials and temptations of illness. Moreover, the soul, when passing, is fortified for its final passage.

 

Thus by unction a blessing comes for the healing of our bodies; and our souls are calmed, gladdened, refreshed, and fortified by a special gift of grace.

 

In death's dark vale I fear no ill

With Thee, dear Lord, beside me;

Thy rod and staff my comfort still,

Thy cross before to guide me.

Thou spread'st a table in my sight;

Thy unction grace bestoweth;

And oh, what transport of delight

From Thy pure chalice floweth.