Introducing the Anointing of the Sick

Read the Catechism in a Year

Catechism in a Year: Day 196

Part Two: How We Celebrate the Christian Mysteries
- Section Two: The Seven Sacraments of the Church
-- Chapter Two: The Sacraments of Healing -- Anointing of the Sick

Question 240: How was “sickness” interpreted in the Old Testament?

In the Old Testament sickness was often experienced as a severe trial, against which one could protest but in which one could also see God’s hand. In the prophets the thought appears that sufferings are not just a curse and not always the consequence of personal sin, that by patiently bearing sufferings one can also be there for others. 

---

Question 241: Why did Jesus show so much interest in the sick?

Jesus came in order to show God’s love. He often did this in places where we feel especially threatened: in the weakening of our life through sickness. God wants us to become well in body and soul and, therefore, to believe and to acknowledge the coming of God’s kingdom.

Sometimes a person has to become sick in order to recognize what we all—healthy or sick—need more than anything else: God. We have no life except in him. That is why sick people and sinners can have a special instinct for the essential things. Already in the New Testament it was precisely the sick people who sought the presence of Jesus; they tried “to touch him, for power came forth from him and healed them all” (Lk 6:19). 

Dig Deeper: Corresponding CCC section (1499-1505) and other references here.

Recommended Listening: Making Sense Out of Suffering by Dr. Scott Hahn