“My daughter is at the point of death.
Please, come lay your hands on her
that she may get well and live.”
This past week I was blessed to anoint a beautiful 100-year-old woman who is nearing the final and most glorious chapter in her life of faith. In the 47 years of my priesthood, this poignant scene has been repeated a thousand graced times. Despite its ministerial familiarity, it never ceases to both amaze and humble me. Using the timeless gesture of Jesus himself, I lay my hands on the sick and dying, pray for healing and then surrender this moment and this vulnerable life to the unfailing love and mercy of the Lord of unending life.
I remember as if it was yesterday the first person I ever anointed with the sacrament of healing and mercy. It was an elderly gentleman who lived across the street from the rectory. I had been a priest for all of a couple of weeks. When the call came in, I got my Holy Oils, stole and ran across the street. Ever so peaceful, the man was surrounded by his loved ones as I nervously opened the ritual book to pray the prayers of anointing. As I traced the cross on his forehead and hands and prayed the ancient sacramental prayers of healing, a wonderful sense of grace suffused this moment. The Lord was undoubtedly present, as ‘two or three gathered in his name…’ to do what he did so often in his earthly ministry.
My friends, whether we are sick in body or sick in our soul, all of us are in need of the healing presence of the Lord of life. All of us yearn for the human touch that so often mediates the life-giving presence of the Holy in our lives. All of us thirst for the waters that will never leave us thirsty again or the food that will satisfy our deepest hangars.
To these multiple vulnerabilities in life, it is the same Jesus who healed the synagogue official’s daughter, who touched and healed the woman with the hemorrhage, that is present still in our world, our society, our church and in our lives, who stands ready to make all things new. For that incomparable grace, let us humbly give thanks.