For weeks the faithful waited to hear news of Pope Francis’s well-being. Prayers, novenas, rosaries and Masses were all offered for his health. Several times it seemed like he would not recover. Thanks be to God, Pope Francis left the hospital and is currently recovering back in the Vatican. He even made a surprise appearance in St. Peter’s Square for the Jubilee of the Sick. He spoke of his experience of sickness saying: “It can make us feel like people in exile, [but] the sickbed can become a holy place, where charity burns away indifference and gratitude nourishes hope.” Where did this recovery and fortitude come from? No doubt from the many prayers, but also through receiving the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick.
The main effect of the sacrament is to radically conform the person to Jesus Christ. The person is consecrated to Jesus Christ, particularly in his suffering on the Cross. It is during times of sickness and closeness to death that despair and hopelessness could set in. It is at that moment that the anointing is efficacious; strengthening the person to bear the final trial of life with the same strength that Jesus borne the Passion. In doing so, it prepares the person for death, but it also may give the person more time here on earth. As we pray in the ritual: “we pray that through the skills of surgeons and nurses, God’s healing gifts may be granted.”
The pope’s sickness and recovery reminds us of the power of the Anointing of the Sick.
