Page 9 - The Sacraments

Souls Reaching for Christ | Fr. George “Chip” Hines
hope that I will someday. Yet I have seen miracles — just not the kind you might be thinking about.
I have seen people in great physical distress be calmed from their pain from my touch when offer- ing the prayers and anointing with the oil. From a priest’s perspective, the first time you see that, it changes your life.
As a young priest, I lived in a parish with a large aging population. I was called out to homes and the hospital quite often for the Anointing. I met many elderly people who were dying. But after the sacra- ment, on my way out the door, it was almost always said to me by others that their loved one had become calm when I was administering the sacrament, that the recipient of the Anointing had seemed to find some peace.
I can now attest to this through my experience on both sides of the sacrament.
Don’t wait to call a priest
I love those calls to visit the sick. And here’s my best advice, so please share it widely: Most people will wait till the end of someone’s life to celebrate this sacrament. This is most unfortunate. And if I can change anything by writing this article, I hope it is this: We will always come in an emergency. But if it is at all possible, I encourage family members or friends to call for a priest while the sick person is still able to participate in the sacrament.
The number one priest complaint in the world is that we wish people would call us sooner rather
than later. Having someone who is alert and can un- derstand that the Anointing of the Sick is happen- ing, in my experience, is the optimal way to celebrate this sacrament. When the person can respond to the prayers themselves and truly pray along with us, Anointing of the Sick takes on a completely differ- ent complexion. It becomes a moment of exchange.
For example, I met with a wonderful older wom- an on a monthly basis in the first few years of my priesthood. She was 98 years old when I first met her and still lived at home alone. Every month when we met, I’d anoint her and give her Communion. The thrill of it for her was the grace she so obviously received. I truly believe it was this sacrament that helped her hang on for her 100th birthday — and I was invited to the party, a great honor. This faith- filled woman died shortly after that party, but she had lived a great life and was truly a believer. The Sacrament of Anointing of the Sick was an import- ant part of her life in those last years that brought her peace and strength.
I once had an experience in the hospital that was both beautiful and a little unnerving at first. As I made my rounds, the last patient I saw was unconscious, and despite my best efforts, she would not wake from her rest. So, being an earnest young priest, I began the Anointing. As I reached the part where I use the oil to anoint the palms of her hands, she grabbed my arm. So I stopped — somewhat frozen — and called out her name. She didn’t respond. But after carefully prying my arm away, I completed the ceremony and sat in the chair next to the bed. I sat there for 45 min- utes, wondering and occasionally trying to get her to wake up, but to no avail. I left the room and learned a few days later that she had died. I still believe to this day that the power of Jesus and the grace of the sac- rament somehow allowed that soul to reach out for Christ, in the person of the priest.
As I sit back and ponder that, I cannot help but go happily to every sick call — no matter the time, the weather, or my own physical exhaustion. Those souls are reaching out for Jesus Christ, and so the priest needs to be there. And the beauty of it is, with God’s help and yours, we usually are.
FR. GEORGE “CHIP” HINES was ordained in 2004 by Cardinal Sean O’Malley and has been a pastor in the Archdiocese of Boston, hosted the program Searchlight on CatholicTV and a radio show on WQOM, and has hosted or been a guest on many podcasts. He also serves on the board of SQPN.
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