Liturgical Symbols: Oil of the Sick and Oil of Catechumens
These oils are blessed, along with Sacred Chrism, at the Chrism Mass on or around Holy Thursday. My most recent blog discusses the liturgical symbol of oil. Oils were used by ancient peoples in a number of ways for energy, light, healing, and anointing someone for a particular role in the community, namely priest, prophet, or king.
The Oil of the Sick has its origins in the New Testament letter of St. James.
Is anyone among you sick? He should summon the presbyters of the church, and they should pray over him and anoint [him] with oil in the name of the Lord, and the prayer of faith will save the sick person, and the Lord will raise him up. If he has committed any sins, he will be forgiven. James 5:14-15
The blessing prayer over this oil asks that the oil be used “as a safeguard for body, soul, and spirit [that the person] may be freed from all pain, all infirmity, and all sickness.” The oil is used in the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick. In Church history, the anointing was called Extreme Unction and was usually administered when someone was dying. As such, it was sometimes called “Last Rites.”
The Second Vatican Council changed the emphasis in 1963: "Extreme unction," which may also and more fittingly be called "anointing of the sick," is not a sacrament for those only who are at the point of death. Hence, as soon as any one of the faithful begins to be in danger of death from sickness or old age, the fitting time for him to receive this sacrament has certainly already arrived. Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, #73
Being anointed with the Oil of the Sick may bring physical healing, but the “first grace of this sacrament is one of strengthening, peace, and courage to overcome the difficulties that go with the condition of serious illness or the frailty of old age.” Catechism of the Catholic Church, #1520
The Oil of Catechumens is used with people who are preparing for initiation into the Catholic Church. The purpose is expressed in the Order of Christian Initiation of Adults: This anointing “is intended to signify the need for divine strength, so that the one to be baptized, unhindered by the bonds of his or her past life and having overcome the opposition of the Devil, may steadfastly take the steps of professing faith and hold it unfailingly throughout his or her life” OCIA, #99
This oil is also used in the celebration of baptism for a child or children, but the anointing may be omitted at the discretion of the priest or deacon administering the sacrament.