What is the Anointing of the Sick?
The short answer
The Anointing of the Sick is the sacrament in which a priest anoints a seriously ill, elderly, or dying person with blessed oil and prays for them. It unites their suffering to Christ's, brings grace, peace, and courage, forgives sin, and sometimes restores bodily health — entrusting the person entirely to the Lord.
Full explanation
When someone is gravely sick, the Church does not leave them to face it alone. This sacrament is Christ's own tenderness toward the suffering, continued through the priest. A priest lays his hands on the sick person in silence, then anoints their forehead and hands with the Oil of the Sick — olive oil blessed by the bishop — while praying that the Lord, in his love and mercy, will help and save them. It is a simple, gentle rite, and that simplicity is part of its comfort.
The sacrament does several things at once. First, it joins the person's suffering to the suffering of Jesus, so that an experience that can feel meaningless and isolating is taken up into something redemptive. Second, it strengthens the soul against fear, discouragement, and the temptation to despair — gifts of peace and courage that many sick people testify they actually feel. Third, it forgives sins, including sins the person may no longer be able to confess if they have lost consciousness. And fourth, when it serves the person's salvation, it can restore physical health, though physical healing is always God's free gift and never guaranteed.
A widespread fear is that calling a priest means death is near — that the sacrament is a kind of sentence. The truth is the opposite. This is a sacrament of healing and hope, not a verdict. It can be received more than once, whenever an illness worsens or a new serious sickness begins, and it is rightly given before surgery or in old age. Far from hastening the end, it is meant to lift the whole person — body and soul — toward life.
Think of how an athlete is treated before a hard contest: not abandoned, but prepared, strengthened, and accompanied right up to the moment of struggle. Anointing prepares a Christian for the hardest passage of all. When it is given to someone who is dying — together with confession and a final Eucharist called Viaticum, "food for the journey" — it becomes part of the Church's loving send-off, completing on earth the life of grace that began at baptism.
Because of that, the older name "last rites" is misleading if it suggests the sacrament is only for the final moments. The Church deliberately calls it the Anointing of the Sick to make clear it belongs to anyone whose health is seriously threatened, not only the dying.
Why this matters
Serious illness can make a person feel useless, frightened, and far from God. This sacrament speaks directly into that, insisting that the sick are not a burden to be managed but members of Christ whose suffering has worth. It gives families a concrete way to surround a loved one with prayer and grace rather than helplessness, and it assures the sick person that whatever happens — recovery or not — they are held by God and not facing it alone.
Myth Common misunderstanding
Many people think the Anointing of the Sick is only for the dying, so they wait until the last breath to call a priest, sometimes too late. But the sacrament is for anyone seriously ill, frail with age, or facing major surgery — and it can be repeated as often as health declines. Asking for it early is not giving up; it is reaching for Christ's strength precisely when it is needed most.
Scripture connections
- James 5:14-15 — the clearest scriptural foundation: the sick are told to call the presbyters, who pray over them and anoint them with oil, and the Lord raises them up and forgives their sins.
- Mark 6:13 — the apostles anoint the sick with oil and heal them, showing the gesture goes back to Jesus' own mission.
- Mark 16:18 — Jesus promises that his followers will lay hands on the sick and they will recover.
- 2 Corinthians 4:16-17 — Paul frames bodily affliction as light and passing next to the eternal glory it prepares, the hope the sacrament leans on.
Church teaching references
Reflect
Is there someone you know who is seriously ill or growing frail — and how might you encourage them, or their family, to receive this sacrament as a source of strength rather than a sign of the end?