6th Sunday of Lent

Next Sunday is Easter!!! Please plan to join us for the whole of the Holy Triduum.

Holy Thursday @ 7p + Good Friday @ 3p + Easter Vigil @ 8:40p

Easter Sunday @ 8a & 10:30a

[Note – No 6p Mass on Easter Sunday]

     Not only does next Sunday mark the remembrance of the most profound moment in our Catholic Christian Faith – the Resurrection of the Lord, it reminds us of the new Life of Grace that flows forth from His Saving Paschal Mystery. Our lives can now be informed by the Word of God in the Scriptures and transformed by the Word of God manifested in the Sacraments of Grace.

     Over the course of the last two decades, the Church has been slowly revising the first English texts of the Sacrament Rituals issued after the Second Vatican Council. In 2011, we received the revised order of the Mass with the 3rd edition, which among other changes (re)introduced such words as consubstantial and with your spirit. Since then, the Order of Celebrating Matrimony, the Order of Baptism of Children, the Order of Celebrating the Initiation of Adults, the Order of Penance, and the Order of Christian Funerals have all been revised & reissued.

     Beginning next Sunday with Easter, a new translation of The Order of the Anointing of the Sick and their Pastoral Care must be used. We have been able to use the new Order since the start of Lent. I have been doing so. It is a little different. Anytime there is a change in the translations and procedures for something you’ve been doing for years, it takes a little time to get used to it. The new Order removes the simple rite for Anointing in hospitals or institutions that most of us priests had used. The intention is to present a fuller expression of the Suffering Christ’s closeness to His people and the ability of the people to unite their sufferings with His for salvation and sanctity. The fuller rite now includes a sprinkling with Holy Water, penitential rite, reading from Scripture, litany, and prayer of thanksgiving for the oil. These were not included in the previous simple Rite.

     Of particular note is the clarification of who is eligible to receive the Anointing of the Sick,  “the faithful who because of sickness, mental illness, or age are seriously ill”:

a. The inclusion of mental illness is still connected to serious illness. IF a mental illness is making someone seriously ill, they can be anointed. This is not intended to open the anointing of the sick to any instance of mental illness.

b. Before a surgical procedure, as long as serious illness is the reason for the procedure.

c. People of advanced age, even if no serious illness is present.

d. Children who have reached the use of reason may be anointed in the case of serious illness (Age 7 per Canon Law). In doubt of whether the child has reached the use of reason, the text encourages to err on the side of anointing. 

e. Anointing should not be conferred to a dead person, but in doubt about whether a person is truly dead, a provisional text is provided to the priest to be used before the anointing.

      The Order also reminds priests that before the celebration of Anointing, the opportunity for the Sacrament of Confession should be offered. It is important to remember that Anointing confers the forgiveness of sins only when necessary, which is to say, when a person has the inability to confess. All the faithful are to be reminded of the great importance of confession in danger of death. After confession, the apostolic pardon is given.

      The Church also emphasizes anew with this Rite the importance of Viaticum (last reception of Holy Eucharist) accompanied beforehand by confession as the central Sacrament for the dying. So often, we priests are called to the hospital or to the bedside of the dying only after the sick person can no longer confess or receive Holy Communion as Viaticum. Please be attentive to the needs of your sick loved ones and contact us well before your sick loved one’s death is imminent, i.e., they are still conscious and able to partake in all three Sacraments of Last Rites: Confession, Anointing, & Holy Communion.

Nothing Less than saints for the Holy Family of God.

Holy Family, Embracing Suffering for Salvation, Pray for us.

~ Fr Jeremy M. Gries