Living the Sacramental Life - Anointing of the Sick

PRIEST ANOINTING A SICK PERSON.
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The second Sacrament of Healing is the Anointing of the Sick. Regarding this, the Catechism of the Catholic Church states,

"By the sacred anointing of the sick and the prayer of the priests the whole Church commends those who are ill to the suffering and glorified Lord, that he may raise them up and save them. And indeed she exhorts them to contribute to the good of the People of God by freely uniting themselves to the Passion and death of Christ. [CCC 1499]"

This Sacrament is founded upon the reality of illness in humans [1500-1502], the Lord's action Himself of healing the sick [1503 - 1505] and of sending His Apostles and disciples to do the same [1506 - 1510]. This Sacrament has the following effects [1532]:

- uniting the sick person to the passion of Christ, for his own good and that of the whole Church;

- strengthening, peace, and courage to endure in a Christian manner the sufferings of illness or old age;

- forgiveness of sins, if the sick person was not able to obtain it through the sacrament of Penance;

- restoration of health, if it is conducive to the salvation of his soul; and

- preparation for passing over to eternal life.

As Christians, we manifest this Sacrament in our lives by taking care of the sick members of our Community and praying for and with them; considering all sufferings and pains as part of trials and challenges to our Christian life and as our participation in the passion and death of the Lord Jesus Christ; being forgiving; taking ordinary care of our lives and bodies; and readiness to face the certainty of death at all times.

The Lord said that we should wash each other's feet [see John 13:14], and commanded that we should love one another [see John 15: 12-17], while the Apostle Paul said we must carry one another's burden as the fulfillment of this command [see Galatians 6:2]. We belong to one Body of Christ [see 1 Corinthians 12] and as members or parts of that one Body, we ought to take care of each other, and when a member or part of the Body is sick, we must do our best to provide him or her the necessary healing so that the whole Body may not suffer.  

The Anointing of the Sick is one true Sacrament and by living it out in our lives, we could truly live our lives liturgically and sacramentally.