The Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick
Please contact either Father John or Father Linh at the parish office.
Any one of you who is ill should send for the elders of the church, and they must anoint the sick person with oil in the name of the Lord and pray over him. The prayer of faith will save the sick person and the Lord will raise him up again; and if he has committed any sins, he will be forgiven. (James 5: 14-15).
Associated with the Sacrament of Reconciliation is the other great Sacrament of healing, the Anointing of the Sick. In both of these Sacraments the Church carries on the healing ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ who came to heal the sick of mind, body and spirit. The Anointing of the Sick is not only a Sacrament of the dying, but a Sacrament of the living. It is intended to strengthen those who are suffering from or being tried by grave illness, who may be going into hospital for surgery or for the elderly who are becoming increasingly frail with old age (Catechism 1515). The effects of this Sacrament are the grace of strengthening, peace and courage to overcome the difficulties that go with serious illness or the frailty of old age. Through this Sacrament the sick person receives the strength and the gift of uniting himself or herself more closely with the Passion of the Lord Jesus Christ. By celebrating this Sacrament the Church, in the communion of saints, intercedes on the behalf of the sick person, who, on their part, through the grace of this Sacrament, contributes to the sanctification of the whole Church and for the good of all humanity for whom the Church suffers and offers herself through the Lord Jesus Christ to God the Father (1520-1522).