Hear O Lord, Holy Father, Almighty and Eternal God, and vouchsafe to send Thy holy angel from heaven to watch over, to cherish, protect, visit and guard all them that dwell in this house, through Christ, Our Lord. These first prayers haven t even touched on sickness and death yet. They pray for the peace and happiness of all who dwell in the house.
Only then is the said and then the priest turns to those present in the sick room and asks them to pray for the sick person during the administration of the sacrament. Then he says, In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Let there be extinguished in thee all power of the devil by the imposition of our hands and by the invocation of all holy Angels, Archangels, Patriarchs, Prophets, Apostles, Martyrs, Confessors, virgins and of all the Saints together.
After this the sacrament proper is administered — Holy Unction. The Fathers of the Church tell us that, by this Holy Unction, not only all sins of our whole life, even the ones we might have forgotten to mention in Confession, are forgiven, but also the remission of temporal punishment is obtained. Now the priest takes the holy oil and anoints the sick person on the closed eyes, the ears, the nose, the mouth, hands and feet, while he says, By this holy unction and His own most gracious mercy may the Lord forgive thee whatever sin thou hast committed by sight, hearing, smell, taste, speech, touch.
repeating this holy formula each time as he touches the respective part of the person s body. We never fail to read the most consoling prayer to be said after death: Come to his assistance all ye Saints of God, meet him all ye Angels of God, receiving his soul, offering it in the sight of the Most High. May Christ receive thee Who has called thee and may the angels conduct thee to Abraham s bosom, receiving thy soul and offering it in the sight of the Most High.
This prayer is followed by the first recital of Eternal rest give unto him, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him. Let him rest in peace. Later, the Church, this true mother, turns to those who are present, knowing that this is a heartrending moment for them, and she prays: Grant, O God, that while we lament the departure of this, Thy servant, we may always remember that we are most certainly to follow him, and give us grace to prepare for that last hour by a good life, that we may not be surprised by a sudden and unprovided death, but be ever watching that, when Thou shalt call, we may with the Bridegroom enter into eternal glory, through Christ, Our Lord.
If death is approached in this spirit, we can only exclaim with the Church at Easter O Death, where is thy victory? O Death, where is thy sting? It is very important that we should make our family aware of the festive character surrounding the administration of Holy Unction.
In a way it is a farewell gathering in honor of a beloved on the point of leaving for a faraway country. We know we shall see him again, but we do not know the hour, and we wish him Godspeed with all our hearts. Here we come to realize the true reason why the Church takes so much pains to teach us how to celebrate, how to live life as one long, uninterrupted solemn feast.
She does this so that, on the crucial day, we should be able to apply the wisdom gathered over a long time and to celebrate as the greatest feast of all our departure for the heavenly Jerusalem. If we show our children in time the festive side of this great sacrament, we may be sure that, when the day comes, they will not kneel around our bed sobbing and crying, but all of us together will be able to answer the priest with a peaceful heart. If you love me, we should say to our dear ones in the words of Our Lord, you should rejoice with me because I am going to the Father.
This is the spirit in which we should talk about death in our families. In my life, rich in sickness and operations, I have received the sacrament of Holy Unction more than once. Each time I experienced the same profound peace — like homecoming after a stormy journey, and — each time I recovered!
I am absolutely sure that these recoveries were due to a great extent to this very peace brought about by complete relaxation and abandonment to the will of God, which freed all mental energy for healing rather than wasting it in worry and anxiety. And if one gets up from a sickbed after holy anointing — what a wonderful feeling! It is a new beginning.
All sins were forgiven more thoroughly than ever in the sacrament of Penance; even the temporal punishment accumulated throughout one s life — that also is gone. Now, after having passed so closely by this last door, one appreciates more fully another chance to do better and to start with a clean slate. Hear O Lord, Holy Father, Almighty and Eternal God, and vouchsafe to send Thy holy angel from heaven to watch over, to cherish, protect, visit and guard all them that dwell in this house, through Christ, Our Lord.
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