What We Need to Know: Anointing of the Sick and Confirmation - Explaining the Faith

well hello everybody thank you again for being with us going back to seminary class this is our saturday session i'm father chris aylar from the national shrine of the divine mercy beautiful sunny day today a little cooler but warming up and we're glad that you are here as my seminary priest teacher used to say when you know in seminary we had a class on each of the sacraments and he said i remember him saying now this isn't the most riveting class you will ever have but it is probably the most important and today we're going to learn about these other sacraments we've already done a class on baptism a few weeks ago two classes on confession two classes on holy communion again you can find all these back in our youtube channel we did a class on the priesthood ordination holy orders and we did a class on matrimony and marriage and divorce so the only two remaining in our seminary training for the sacraments are the forgotten sacraments as you saw in your slide the sacrament of confirmation and anointing of the sick very few people understand what's involved what you need to know how you handle it and when you can receive these sacraments and when you can't so this is what you saw on the slide and praise be to god this is a great opportunity for us to learn more about our faith and if brother mark can show the next slide this is part a continuing part of our explaining the faith series again that's the first 13 talks you see on your screen that you can get at shopmercy.org or call 1-800-462-7426 or even stream it live on the website that you see there so god bless all of you for being here let us now let us begin with a prayer asking god for the grace to be with all of us today through the holy spirit in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit amen heavenly father we ask like in the grace of the sacraments you send us the holy spirit today to open our minds and hearts to receive the knowledge to know you better and therefore the grace to love you better we know that through knowing you we can love you better and even more than we have and we ask for the grace to cooperate with all the graces you are giving here today and we ask all this through christ our lord amen in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit amen okay so i was reading some of the online comments the other day on one of the videos and we have many videos up online and someone had said father the sacraments are not in the bible this is a catholic creation and i listed all the places the sacraments are found in the bible instituted by christ right and saying that the church made them up no jesus gave us the sacraments and so taking you back to seminary which again it's awesome because you don't have to pay tuition and you could do this on your own time you have to come back later and watch the rest that's okay but we know this is one of the most important things of our faith the sacraments even if they're the not the most thrilling they are the most important and so we all know that the sacraments give us grace to heal we know about the healing power and the confessional and the grace of the eucharist right real real grace but we forget that the sacraments also strengthen us for this battle that we are in and i did a talk a long time ago on spiritual warfare you can find that on youtube and this is where you need the help the help comes father i'm being attacked by the devil i'm being attacked by the evil are you going to the sacraments are you receiving this grace or at least if you can't because the churches are open doing acts of contrition spiritual communion these types of things all right now grace is not just about receiving knowledge of god but it's joining with god himself uniting with him himself this is what grace is now it is an eternal communion of life and love grace is everything and that is a glorious gift obviously now the highest good in all of the universe in the entire universe the greatest good that's given to us of course the greatest good is god god is good as himself but the greatest good in the entire universe is grace and the only place you are guaranteed grace yeah god can give grace as he wills when he wills but the only place that is guaranteed that he has to give it to you if you're properly disposed is the sacraments and so this is what's going on it is the grace of divine sonship we become adopted sons and daughters of god we become members of his family through the sacraments and this is the meaning and purpose to start with baptism as i said i did a talk on baptism which is being strengthened okay by confirmation so as powerful as baptism is you guys always hear about baptism we talk about baptism you hear it said by priest you you you hear it on television the importance about baptism but do you know that baptism is incomplete few people know that baptism is completed and strengthened by confirmation and so this is what we want to talk about it gives us a greater conformity to christ that expands on baptism and so the glory of our sonship with god might be lived out morally better at a time when we are most facing temptations and a crazy culture that's why we're baptized as we try to get a little bit older to enter into the fight of spiritual warfare and especially now we need this grace because of the temptations of the world now the temptations and occasions to sin in our culture today are unprecedented so this is the medicine of our times the sacraments and especially confirmation so we're going to start today remember the definition of a sacrament a sacrament is not just a symbol a sacrament is real grace it actually does something you've heard me say this before but this is what my instructors and priests and seminary drilled in our heads a sacrament is an efficacious sign meaning it does something it's not just a symbol of god's grace instituted by christ and in the bible and entrusted to the church that's how she dispenses it by which divine life is instilled in us all right now i want to go back and give a quick summary of the sacraments again just going to spend a minute here and so let's show our next slide these are the sacraments of initiation all right initiation our baptism all right holy eucharist and confirmation all right usually these three are known or they should be known as the sacraments of initiation they initiate us into the christian life life is a christian so today we're going to talk about confirmation and then the next group are the sacraments of healing we're going to talk about one of these today so the sacraments of healing are reconciliation that's confession and the anointing of the sick totally misunderstood totally not grasped we're going to help you understand that today and then finally the sacraments of service your true vocation is either a priest or usually in matrimony another vocation is the single life but not necessarily a sacrament but a great sacrifice and a true great vocation now the of those seven sacraments three are primary and they're what we call indelible means you can't repeat them they're only done once in your life because a mark is put on your soul and these are the three that you don't repeat baptism it puts a mark indelible mark on your soul confirmation which we're going to talk about today is not repeated it's put a mark on your soul and holy orders ordination to the priesthood put a mark on my soul now none of the others do that the others can be repeated wait a minute father marriage can't repeat it jesus says it's forever yes but don't forget if a spouse dies you can remarry totally valid within the church so there is a situation where marriage can be repeated all right now let's start with the big topic today two of them first next slide confirmation this is the sacrament that ends the sacraments of initiation it is very much needed it completes as i said the sacrament of baptism people don't realize that it brings a deepening of baptismal grace being baptized is absolutely necessary to begin your life but it's not enough to complete it this is powerful stuff baptism is the sacrament of our new birth where we become babies in christ confirmation is the sacrament of battle where you become adults with christ soldiers with christ soldiers of christ so that's why i personally believe confirmation is really the most underrated of all the seven sacraments and forgotten it increases the seven gifts of the holy spirit found in isaiah that allow us to fight this battle we don't have a prayer to win this battle and save our souls if we are not armed with the spiritual weapons those come in the form of the gifts of the holy spirit you remember this from the bible wisdom understanding counsel fortitude knowledge godliness and fear of the lord these are strengthened at confirmation given to us at confirmation increased a confirmation so these gifts of the holy spirit are infused into the soul and it gives that person the power to overcome temptations and occasions of sin to rise to a new level of holiness if you're wondering why can't i be holy why can't i be holy are you calling upon the gifts of your confirmation are you calling upon the gifts of the holy spirit are you calling upon the gifts of the grace of confession and holy communion or if you can't act a contrition spiritual communion we face hard times right now and we need the gifts of the holy spirit because we can't get by ourselves natural virtues just being nice those are good but they're not gonna make it this is why people say to me well father he doesn't believe in god but he's a good person my own aunt said that she says oh well you know this person he's living you know he's living with his boyfriend and you know he doesn't ever go to church but he's really a good person god bless him and we pray for him but it's not enough it's not enough to just be a good person you need the great supernatural grace natural grace means you're surviving in this world you're doing fine but you need the supernatural grace from heaven if you think you're going to make it and if we don't if we know somebody who's not we pray for them that they be given that grace even if it's not to the moment of their death all right now that is what the sacrament of confirmation is all about it gives a special strength of the holy spirit to spread and defend the faith like the apostles did this is what happened to them confirmation could be described as our own personal pentecost because at pentecost 50 days after easter the holy spirit came down upon marrying the apostles he does the same thing to you at confirmation that's your personal pentecost then they were emboldened they were fearless they went out they preached about the lord instead of hiding in their rooms we're still hiding in our rooms and i don't mean physically necessarily but we're afraid to mention jesus in you know in public we're afraid to mention jesus to our friends that means you haven't accepted the grace of your pentecost so the pentecost gives us the strength and the encouragement and in in lessens the fear so that we can preach and teach and live it doesn't mean you have to stand on a soapbox and preach scripture but it means that you're not afraid to defend god if called upon all right it's where the holy spirit received at baptism all of a sudden bursts into your life that's confirmation all right you know jesus christ christ is not jesus's last name christ as a title is greek christos which means anointed and that is what anointing is it's what baptism and confirmation both involve an anointing with a chrism chrism oil and we'll talk about that so it's the sacrament of fortitude courage this is why we have now to arm ourselves in the fight to fight the good fight this is the strength this is your weapons this is the grace that if you use the spiritual weapons of mary and divine mercy you've you've been given the the bullet but you got the you have to have the gun to fire it and i don't mean literally a gun please don't write me letters i mean our spiritual weapons and this is the grace of the holy spirit to fight the good fight so basically we are now being drafted into god's army or you could say we enlist in world war ii men more men enlisted to fight the good fight against the tyranny of germany and japan rather than being drafted they enlisted i want to fight that good fight that's why they were the greatest generation this is christ's armies and we become soldiers of christ fighting the evil and that's what confirmation does it makes a person a full member of the church which is the army that we're talking about is the church well father how do i enlist in this army you're here with us the miriam helpers being a mirian helper that is a special forces group of mary's army god's army is the church that's the like like the united states army in world war ii within it our segments the army the navy the air force the marines and within it the miriam helpers are a special forces we're not even we're not even a branch of military we're a special forces group and so this is what's powerful and this is the army we're talking about now you've been given if you're special forces you better have your parachute when you jump off the plane you better have your boots on when you hit the ground you better have the gun on your back when you're ready to fight and i don't mean a physical gun but a rosary and the weapons that god gives us in mary and divine mercy it gives you all the grace is necessary to be an adult in the faith even though you can receive the grace of confirmation long before you're physically an adult you become growth in the faith in the eastern catholic church infants are confirmed at the time they're baptized as babies so they know this is important we could confirm in the west we're western catholics right latin right under the pope the sea of rome we could do confirmation at the time of baptism and first communion this could be done and there is a connection so let's look at our next slide here's a confirmation some diocese now as you see they're bringing the confirmation of different age groups so these different age groups are you know it doesn't necessarily have to be a physical adult in the church because some young children i've seen them homeschooled are more adults in the faith than 50 60 70 year olds that i know including myself when i was in my 20s there were some 10 year olds that knew their faith better than me when i was 30. and so adult in the church doesn't mean that you're an adult physically in the church it means you're growing into that rule all right some diocese now have encouraged returning to an older tradition of not even picking a name at confirmation remember used to have those when i got confirmed i had those that um you look like the the the pretty young ladies look like um beauty contestant pageants where they would wear the the the name across and in in in it would say their confirmation name like elizabeth or catherine and now some dioceses are saying we're going to go back to an older tradition of not picking a name at confirmation people were very upset writing me letters that their diocese didn't let them pick names saying this is tragedy they're losing tradition actually the older tradition is not to pick a name it's kind of surprising because the continuing the use of the name given at baptism is the intent it will serve as a link between the sacraments of baptism and confirmation using the same name you were given at baptism kind of interesting all right let's keep going now let's go to our next slide is confirmation in the bible here we see what's going on with the apostles and the ancient first christians all right the sacrament of confirmation what is it well first of all it's in the bible we'll get to that in a minute as you can see it's the reception of the holy spirit by laying on of hands so we all know how important baptism is right and we said the confirmation completes baptism father you're crazy that's a catholic made up thing it's in the bible how do we know let's look at our next slide now when the apostles now when the apostles in jerusalem heard that samaria had accepted the word of god they sent them peter and john well i'll talk about two heavy hitters who went down and prayed for them that they might receive the holy spirit now listen to this for it had not yet fallen upon any of them this is fascinating but you've not heard this they had only been baptized in the name of the lord jesus so he's saying they've been baptized but they haven't received the holy spirit yet this is scripture then they laid hands on them and then they received the holy spirit this is acts 8 14. this is fascinating this shows to fully get the holy spirit we need confirmation or what about acts 19 verse 5 and 6 when they heard this they were baptized in the name of the lord jesus reading from acts 19 and when paul laid his hands on them the holy spirit came upon them so basically it's saying right there they were baptized already but it wasn't until paul laid his hands on them that the holy spirit came unto them i bet you didn't know that so this is important this is what i learned in seminary i didn't know that till i went to seminary and now that's why i'm taking you with me you guys are my students this is awesome all right now so these new believers in christ evidently still needed to be sealed with the holy spirit now non-catholics will point yeah i bet you've all heard this before once saved always saved i've already been saved i was saved on april the 11th 1998 the day i professed jesus christ as my personal lord and savior the day the holy spirit came upon me the day i was sealed in the holy spirit i bet you've heard that right that comes from ephesians 4 30. quote and do not grieve the holy spirit of god by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption beautiful passage and many evangelicals and fundamental protestants not only wrongly interpret ephesians 4 30 when it comes to just when christians receive the holy spirit because it says they were sealed for the day of redemption they also interpret it to mean that they receive the seal which it does say you receive the seal that it's a guarantee of heaven no it's not there is a heresy in once saved always saved that's not church teaching nor is it biblical okay we have to work out our conversion daily our salvation daily now this is known as the heresy of one saved always saved it's very popular amongst calvinists now the seal of ephesians 4 30 is indelible it says we're given the seal of the holy spirit for the day of redemption and it helps us to cooperate with grace you want to know how you're saved and people i'm sorry i've been confusing because i've been talking a lot about works lately in my homilies and my videos and people are correcting me father it's only grace well okay we're both right it starts with grace nothing happens without grace and you are saved through god's grace the grace given by jesus christ in the sacraments but you got to cooperate with that grace through your good works so both are needed and you are right and i guess i should have stressed this more thank you to you who wrote the letters god bless you because you made me think about this and you were right if i mention good works without mentioning grace i've made a mistake but if the non-catholics mention grace and that's all it is without good works they've made a mistake you want to get saved you're only saved through god's grace where is god's grace only found guaranteed in the sacraments but you then got to cooperate with that grace in good works and love and charity if you want to be saved how do we know this easy i'm about to tell you right now all right the truth is there is nothing in ephesians 4 30 that guarantees heaven all right the fact is to seal in the holy spirit means it gives us the grace to cooperate with god's grace all right this is always mistaken there is nothing that guarantees heaven except grace cooperated with the truth is we do not cooperate with the grace of the sacrament especially if we do not cooperate with the grace of the sacrament and we reject those graces we will be lost god can give you grace that's why catholics who receive the sacraments can go to hell father i get these letters father you're telling me that all i have to do is receive a sacrament i'm guaranteed grace that means i get to heaven yeah you're guaranteed the grace but if you don't cooperate with it you're going nowhere it's kind of like putting gas in your tank but not starting the car the car's not going to go anywhere even though it's got all the gas in the tank all right the truth is if we don't cooperate with the grace of the sacrament and we reject those graces we will be lost and this is true of all gifts of grace we receive we must work out our conversion or our salvation daily conversion is daily with fear and trembling jesus teaches in luke 12 48 to whom much is given much is required don't be afraid don't say well then i don't want the sacraments because then i'm responsible well if you don't want the sacrifice then you don't even get to the starting line because it's grace and good works and so if you want to start with grace excuse me if you want to get saved and you say well i don't want to be responsible to whom much has given much is expected well when you're given grace that's much now much is expected well then don't give it to me well then you don't even get to the finish line of salvation in order to get to the finish line you need the grace to even start the race then you got to cooperate with that grace to finish the race man this is all just coming to me i i this is actually not in my script but this is where i feel the holy spirit saying this is what we have to realize now let's get back to what jesus said in john 15 1 6 this i had in the script he adds that unless the faithful continue to abide in him they will be cast forth as a branch thrown into the fire and burned there is nothing even close to once saved always saved it's false it's grace and then cooperation with the grace and again thank you for the letters because i need to re-clarify this in my future videos lumengenzium vatican 2 document paragraph 14 addresses this it says that we are bound to the church through the sacraments this is where we get the grace but that doesn't guarantee we are saved even if we're in the church we may not be saved without charity it says good works we are just a bodily member of the church and not in the heart of the church we're in the pew of the church we need to get to the heart it says if they fail quote this is lumen gentium if they fail to respond to that grace in thought word and deed not only shall they not be saved but they will be the more severely judged holy mackerel i don't want that you don't want that this is important don't again say well then don't give me this grace because i don't want the responsibility you don't get the grace and you're not saved anyway we get the grace we cooperate with the grace then we're saved and it is necessary for salvation in the sense that it is an essential aid for christians to be faithful unto death so that jesus can justly quote give them the crown of life revelation 2 10. so ephesians 4 30 refers to what marks and equips us but it is not a guarantee of final salvation so you get that with all the sacraments guaranteed grace just simply give your fiat like mary did yesterday or on thursday yes yes lord so it requires our cooperation in order to bear fruit wow i went too long on that but i think that was worth it you just got a whole set of semester on seminary right there god bless you for hanging with me now when should you get confirmed all right the church teaches between 7 years old and 16 years old is pretty much the standard but confirmation could be denied please don't get mad at the pastor he has the right to deny it legitimately if he sees some issues like the disposition of someone who fails to ever come to mass these are people get mad at the priest because they want to have their child baptized well you got to make the promise you're going to raise your child in the faith if you baptize them but they've never once been to church so don't get mad at your priest so he fails to regularly attend mass is a question he who denies the faith or expresses desire not to be confirmed or displays an exaggerated ignorance of the faith these or similar actions can have the priest say you're not ready a pastor can't deny it though cannot deny confirmation solely based on a lack of maybe the duties that they were assigned weren't fulfilled because maybe they were working long hours they had family problems you know attendance at parish programs or activities or a little bit of lack of the faith based on their age the priest can't deny him for that or even missing mass occasionally which go to confession but preparation doesn't necessarily have to be at the church you have the right to educate your children at home on confirmation in order to be confirmed done by you as the parents so when is it normally done between easter sunday and pentecost that's usually when confirmation is done so we're getting ready for this now should i force my teen father to be confirmed okay great question i'm sure all of you have been in this the faithful here's what the canon law says the faithful are bound to receive the sacrament at the proper time parents and parish priests are to see that the faithful are properly instructed to receive the sacrament and come to it at the opportune time now that's the key it states basically that parents are to see that their children are properly instructed that's your job but leaves it open as to when right the sacrament should be conferred on the children but it has to be done before marriage you're baptized catholic you need to be married in the catholic church and in order to get married in the catholic church you have to have been confirmed so we have to have that now if your teen doesn't want to be confirmed no mom i don't want to do this you can say that the church wants you more fully initiated into the faith junior and this is good it's not me even though it should be you you say it's the church junior that wants you god wants you he wants you part of his family you know if our parents said that more to the children i think more would probably say okay rather than just looking at it as some mindless or meaningless ceremony that they'd rather play video games no we have to tell them what's going on here it means that they are importantly a part of god's family so then they are baptized confirmed and receive holy communion and that is what the latin church says is very important the latin church though gives leeway as to when we are confirmed all right you may want to consider waiting possibly because if your teen doesn't want to be confirmed here's the catch here's the problem if your teen doesn't want to be confirmed he likely won't be open to that grace in other words he won't cooperate with that grace we just talked about and preparation that is needed all right for a fruitful reception of that sacrament where the grace can fully work they have to be open to it now you probably could force your child to be confirmed and some of you probably have but you can't force them to have the proper proper disposition or openness to receiving those graces of confirmation and letting them flow into their life into their their heart so what do you do all right you have the right and obligation as a parent to see that your child is educated in the christian religion just in the same way you have the right and obligation to see that they are educated at school secular school would you say to your child it says mom i don't want to get confirmed when he's a sophomore would you say to that same child who the software says mom i don't want to go to school i don't want to be educated would you say well it's your choice honey no you wouldn't you would say junior i want to work with you we'll figure this out but you got to it's for your own good you'll never get a job you won't be able to be employed you won't be able to make ends meet you won't be able to raise a family you got to go to school well it's the same way with confirmation junior you want to be in the family of god you want to be fully receiving the graces god wants to give you this is the way to do it and we want to get to heaven this is a way to do it all right but if he is resistant to fostering this disposition within himself it may be better for your child to wait for a more opportune time because remember the catechism can law said when the time the opportune time so this is the catechism 890 i think not canon law or catechism 890. now if they were confirmed let's suppose you're saying oh no father two years ago i forced my child to be confirmed but it's too late now they've been confirmed what do i do should i redo it okay here's the thing confirmation is not redone twice unless it was invalid now if your child totally despised it totally was an atheist totally didn't believe anything in of it and rejected it yes as they get older they may have to redo confirmation now don't please go tell your bishop the father chris said to redo my confirmation confirmation isn't redone it's only done once but validly so if it was done invalidly because they rejected the grace you may have to have it redone now it's never too late for confirmation you can be confirmed at any time right but you run the risk of them getting older and never coming back so pray on this all right now who should confirm and who should be confirmed all right let's watch this next video i've only got two short videos today they're just a minute each but they give you a real good little summary on confirmation let's let's watch confirmation is the second sacrament of initiation it is meant to perfect the graces we receive at our baptism at baptism we receive the gifts of the holy spirit for the first time these gifts are virtues given to help us fight temptation and live holy lives at confirmation these gifts are striking within us confirmation also fully initiates us into the catholic church if we were baptized as infants our parents decided to have us enter the church at confirmation we proclaim our belief in the catholic faith and reaffirm our parents decisions to bring us into the church in doing this we become adults in the faith confirmation was initiated at pentecost when the holy spirit descended upon the apostles giving them courage and strength to proclaim the gospel to all nations the matter of confirmation is the sacred chrism which the bishop places on the recipient's forehead in the shape of a cross the form is the words of the bishop be sealed with the gift of the holy spirit the minister of this confirmation is typically a bishop however on special occasions when a bishop is not available a priest may administer confirmation in spite of all this confirmation is not actually necessary to gain eternal life since we received all the grace we need to do so from baptism but confirmation greatly helps us along our way to heaven strengthening us and giving us grace thus it is highly recommended that we should receive it so that's confirmation okay that was a good little short video that gives you kind of a basic understanding of what i've been saying and will continue to say on confirmation now who is it that confirms it is the ordinary when you hear the word ordinary that's the bishop he's the ordinary person who usually does confessions now he can delegate it to a priest so don't worry if you go and take your child to confirmation and a priest shows up that is valid if the bishop delegated it to him now sometimes a priest can still confirm even if the bishop didn't delegate to him and that's in the case of an emergency right like near death okay now catechism 1306 says every baptist baptized person not yet confirmed can and should receive the sacrament of confirmation now thomas aquinas says age of the body does not determine age of the soul that's interesting even in childhood man contain can attain spiritual maturity what does that mean thomas aquinas is saying don't worry so much about the age look at the spiritual maturity to see if they are ready to be confirmed so it depends on when they are ready material maturity wise not age-wise if not pray that it will be done in god's good time all right now let's look at our next slide why do we use oil you've probably seen the oils at church up behind the altar in the sanctuary somewhere they'd be in a little glass case oh i what is that that is oil of the infirmed that is for the anointing of the sick i will talk about that next shortly os what is that that's oleum sanctorum that means oil of the catechumens it's the first part that we use for instance in baptism the baby is first given that oil now sc is the sacred chrism um it's latin but it's basically the sacred chrism we use the chrism in the oil in baptism and in confirmation now this is important because it follows the tradition of being anointed in the scriptures in the bible someone who was anointed was anointed with oil remember reading about this it's a symbol that they have a spirit-led mission as i said the name christ is not jesus's last name it means the messiah or greek anointed one christos which means the anointed one jesus is anointed for a mission what was his mission that he was anointed with the oil remember when mary put the oil and anointed him why his mission is to save humanity from their sins christos christ the anointed one when you're anointed you're given a mission so a christian is literally an anointed one given a spiritual-led mission what's your mission get you and your family to heaven that's why you're anointed that's why you're christian and every day when you get up ask for the grace to do it remember cooperate with that grace and when you go to bed reflect on where i missed it so i can help correct it tomorrow you do this you're on your way all right man this is great stuff i'm bringing seminary to you i was just like i think every christian should go to seminary i know they can't but if every catholic went to seminary area good seminary none of this crazy stuff that we hear in some seminaries teaching this yo-yo stuff junk but good stuff like i was fortunate to have now if you seal why oil if you seal something with oil like an object it makes it stronger it's less likely to leak for instance if it's like a container if you seal a wound with oil it heals athletes used to be given oil to soothe their muscles to help them compete better some still do oil is a strengthening element in the ancient world and we've carried that tradition that's why oil is used as a matter as the matter in confirmation remember the form is the words that are said and the matter is the material what's the matter of the eucharist bread and wine what's the form the eucharistic prayer of consecration so in confirmation it's the same the matter is the oil because it is through this material substance that it is known to strengthen we are strengthened by the holy spirit in a similar way water is used in baptism what's the matter i love that term what's the matter what's the matter in baptism water because water gives life and for instance you ever wonder why they talk about baptism being a death i always wondered that until i got to seminary why is baptism called a death because water can give life but it also can kill if you drown and water at baptism drowns your sins it kills your old life dying you destroyed our death rising you restored our life so the holy spirit kills sin within us in baptism it drowns out the sin and gives us life in christ so the holy spirit strengthens us through this matter of the oil and is known for its strengthening properties that's what oil was used for as i just said so it's not that the oil strengthens us but the holy spirit through the oil the oil may strengthen our body but the holy spirit uses the oil to strengthen our soul all right we're doing all right i'm trying to catch back up here so we can get you out on time now let's go through a couple more things it's the holy spirit as i said that is working through the oil that gives you the strength just like it's not the water that saves us from sin and baptism but the holy spirit using the water through the medium of water so the seal at confirmation shows that we belong to god it's a mark put on our soul you've heard me say like making the sign of the cross it's like branding yourself in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit it's like branding yourself so that at the end when souls are separated and the wheat in the chief which are together now in the world are separated when the angels are separating the good from the bad and they're throwing the good over here and the bad over here if they see that mark on you you're going to go to the good pile that mark is any indelible mark confirmation baptism those are indelible marks on our soul like being branded like a cowboy brands his belonged cattle that belong to him we're like the cattle that belong to god and he brands us with his id so that when the angels separate us at the end of time they know that we belong to him man good stuff all right we think about kings they used to seal documents remember how a king used to seal the document they would pour hot wax seal a letter or they'd fold a letter they would pour hot wax on the document then they would press the ring into it as a way to seal it that it was authentic so that it couldn't be broken if it was red it means it was open and broken so we have that kind of seal on us now just a little side note when the priest has sealed you in the oil he's got some oil on his hands did he just wipe it on his shirt no during the sacrament of confirmation when the bishop is there they wash their hands with lemon and bread there's just a little side note in a bowl filled with water why the lemon cuts the oil quite effectively and the bread dries the hands just a little side note but something i thought was interesting all right what about confirmation in canon law all right canon law let's look at this 881 says it is desirable to celebrate the sacrament of conference confirmation in a church do you have to be confirmed in a church you should be confirmed into church during mass but for a great cause it can be celebrated outside of mass canon 892 and i'm just picking the best summaries for you here i'm not giving you the full complete description i'm giving you the basics canon 892 says as far as possible you should have a sponsor my confirmation sponsor was tommy eby out of monroe michigan his dad carl my dad were best lifelong friends those two men were the ultimate example of christians he was a star athlete three sport athlete at monroe catholic central i just looked up to him like an idol he was my confirmation sponsor confirmation sponsor should take you under their wing teach you the faith walk with you in your faith so don't take it lightly the sponsor is to take care of the confirmed person behaving as a true witness of christ boy tommy eby sure was fulfilling the obligations of the sacrament don't take it lightly canon 266 says why is the sacrament called confirmation or in the east chrismation you've probably heard that this is also in catechism 1289 it is called chrismation because the essential rite of the sacrament is anointed with chrism that's the chrism oil sc that you saw in those bottles sacred chrism it's also called confirmation here in the west because it confirms the grace of the holy spirit you've been confirmed now you got the holy spirit at baptism but now i'm confirming it in you in the west this anointing is done usually on the forehead so the bishop will put the oil on the forehead and say be sealed with the gift of the holy spirit my goodness those simple one two three four five six seven eight nine words you can find very few more powerful nine words be sealed with the gift of the holy spirit when we are there at the confirmation do we have any idea what that is that is huge so don't forget to receive confirmation efficaciously so that you understand it as best you can and certainly be in a state of grace because you can't receive it efficaciously if you're not in a state of grace so go to confession to make sure even teenagers boy they're some of the ones that really need to be in a state of grace so make sure that happens all right sacraments keep in mind though are not magic spells where words and objects have the power no god has the power he uses the words and the objects just like the old testament moments in which god grants the privilege allowing us to be part of his plan to deliver grace is incredible god is allowing you to be part of his plan to deliver grace are you kidding me and we just blow this off i don't get it the grace received in confirmation is so vital that baptism is incomplete without it this is why the eastern church i mentioned gives confirmation immediately after baptism they don't want you wasting any time now baptism in confirmation initiate the individual into christianity but the eucharist let's never forget that completes all this it it's connecting the individual to the rest of the church at the wedding feast of the lamb whole another topic very important all right sorry i took too much time there but i feel that was worth it let's go on our our uh and it's less than half the time uh maybe much much shorter let's talk about our next slide anointing of the sick okay here's the point that i wanted with these two sacraments confirmation every one of us should have already done if you haven't please do it but anointing of the sick is everything i'm sorry is something everyone eventually will need praise god that we have the opportunity to get it hopefully we'll die in a chance to get the sacrament of anointing of the sick and not maybe lost tragically or suddenly unprepared now this is why i'm talking about these two sacraments because confirmation one is one that we should all have already done and two anointing of the sick is one that we all will probably have or we pray that we will have so don't think that this doesn't apply to you it does all right let's look at our next slide let's read from mark 6 13 as we look at this picture the twelve who are the twelve the apostles of course drove out many demons and anointed with oil many who were sick and they cured them did you hear that they drove up many demons and anointed many with oil who were sick and cured them this is biblical the anointing of the sick one of the most powerful passages let's go to our next slide i love the book of james this is james 5 14 if no no i'm sorry is anyone among you sick oh yeah he should summon the presbyters that's priests that's what that means of the church and they should pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the lord now earlier we were talking about anointing in the with oil in confirmation now we're talking about anointing with oil in anointing of the sick okay this is a different kind of oil this is o i the oil of the infirmed earlier it was oil sc the sacred chrism oil so now he should summon the priests of the church and they should pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the lord and the prayer of faith will save the sick person and the lord will raise him up now listen to this if he has committed any sins he will be forgiven this is what the church teaches about the sacrament of anointing and non-catholics say how dare you make such a claim there it is james 5 14 15. there it is so the anointing of the sick is administered to bring spiritual healing and even physical strength during illness especially near the time of death now this is not the last rites though stay with me on this even though it is especially to be used near the time of death the catechism says in 1514 quote the anointing of the sick is not a sacrament for those only who are at the point of death oh wow father i didn't know that it's especially for those who are at the point of the death but not only for those who are at the point of death hence as soon as any one of the faithful begins to be in danger of death from sickness or old age it is fitting that they now receive this sacrament and remember too it could also be going under anesthesia where you have the danger of not waking up that's why people can get anointed before going into surgery if they go under anesthesia remember again i keep talking about anointing with oil this beginning of the talk was anointing of oil in the sacred chrism in confirmation now i am talking about anointing with the oil of the infirmed in the sickness so different here so stay with me all right the anointing of sick conveys several graces and imparts gifts of strengthening in the holy spirit against listen to this anxiety discouragement temptations and gives peace and fortitude who of us here has not faced some form of anxiety depression discouragement or temptation some people face all of those every day and so this is powerful a powerful healing so like confirmation there is a ceiling with holy oil that brings protection so while the anointing of the sick brings healing to the soul it also gives us trust in the ability of god to heal the body that's why it's not last rites just by itself it's part of last rites and i'll explain that but don't let people get scared this is for healing but only again if god wills it so what is anointing let's watch another one minute video that gives you a good little summary of what anointing is anointing of the sick is a second sacrament of healing it is given to the very sick the elderly and those near death in order to give them peace and strengthen their pain as well as unite their suffering to christ's suffering on the cross sometimes if it is the will of god this sacrament may also bring physical healing the matter of anointing of the sick is the physical anointing of the person with the oil of the sick the form is the words of the priest through this holy anointing may the lord in his love and mercy help you with the grace of the holy spirit may the lord who frees you from sin save you and raise you up the minister is a bishop or priest a deacon cannot perform the sacrament jesus instituted the anointing of the sick during his public ministry the bible says jesus sent out his apostles and they cast out many demons and anointed with oil many that were sick and healed them anointing of the sick is one of the three sacraments along with penance in the eucharist that make up the last rites these are the sacraments given to a person on their deathbed to prepare them to meet god at the gates of heaven okay so who can receive anointing and when this is hugely confusing to people and i want to help um explain it now the fact is that anyone who is baptized and at the age where they can go to confession so basically the age of reason is able to receive the sacrament of anointing of the sick validly now that that doesn't mean though that you should always run to the sacrament there's kind of conditions here but the church restricts it so they say that you should only receive it on account of age or infirmity your sickness or in some moment of grave danger it's not to be used like like tylenol okay so let's look at our next slide as i mentioned they do not have to be dying but their condition should be serious this is a priest then giving anointing at the bedside all right that's a perfect example the fact is that the effect of the anointing of the sick is the removal of sin and marie romagnano a great friend of our community she texted me before she said father don't forget to mention that not only does it forgive the sin it or i should say don't forget that it forgives all the sins so even if somebody is unconscious we can anoint conditionally that they would accept this grace so don't forget to call for a priest very important the fact is the effect of the anointing of the sick is removal of sins and punishment remember when we go to confession our sin is forgiven but sometimes the punishment remains this is in my other videos on confession in the soul in view of death or judgment that could be near we want them to have this grace so it kind of completes the sacrament of confession so remember how i said confirmation completes baptism anointing of the sick completes confession that's incredible it removes sin and the punishment in the confessional you're removed of the sin not necessarily the punishment anointing removes the sin like confession but also the punishment if you're properly disposed this is amazing so like confirmation completes baptism and strengthens you even deeper in the holy spirit anointing of the sick completes confession in a way and strengthens you not only by forgiving you of sin but punishment wow so anointing is very very powerful in the same way the confirmation is all right the celebration of this sacrament should be first done with confession so we should proceed or it should be preceded by confession if possible this is a powerful powerful thing to remember the celebration if you're going to do this sacrament again should include confession beforehand now it gives a forgiveness of sin even if a person wasn't able to first do confession you try but if you can't it's still valid that's catechism 15 32. remember please when you send me these letters know that i've done my homework and i've chucked in church teaching and verified i have theologians that i discuss things with trust me these are all i'm giving you within church teaching now it gives comfort peace courage and forgiveness of sins if the person isn't able to get to the confessional now this sacrament can be repeated unlike the other ones i talked about holy orders baptism confirmation is not repeated but confession holy communion matrimony if your spouse dies and anointing can be repeated now when can it be repeated if the sick person recovers then becomes sick again you can repeat it or if you got anointed and then you get worse with the same sickness so maybe you have cancer you get anointed but then the cancer goes to a new stage worst stage then you can be anointed again canon loft 10 uh 1004. or as i said prior to an operation if you're going under anesthesia because there you're not near death but you're in the danger of death there's always a chance that you might not wake up from anesthesia now now please don't let me scare you if you've got surgery coming up i've been under anesthesia these people are wonderful it's one in a million problems but it's something to be aware of all right if you have been anointed and are no longer ill then you should not be anointed again however however though if you were anointed and there's ongoing suffering and you have issues then you may be anointed again periodically not all the time god is using our suffering sometimes to help others we don't always want to absolutely try to deny that remember galatians 4 13 what saint paul said let me remind you saint paul had not if saint paul okay think about this had saint paul not become ill while on his first missionary journey and had been forced to stop traveling he would have never been able to preach to the galatians and he told them quote you know it was because of a bodily ailment that i was able to preach the gospel to you first wow man all right let's go through a couple cannons and canon law i don't want to spend much time on this but really i picked out the best ones to summarize for you canon law 1004 says one must begin to be in danger of death or at the point of death again danger of death could be sick now somebody said well father what about severe depression well if that could lead to suicide or extreme anxiety that you're fearing for your life yes you can be anointed canon 1005 says 1005 1005 the sacrament is to be administered in a case of doubt whether the sick person has either actually died or has attained the use of reason they can be anointed if the priest isn't sure like a little child child might be six technically the age of reason in the church is seven can they be anointed yes if the priest thinks well there's some doubt i'm not sure if they're out of the age of reason or not or perhaps they're eight technically over the age of reason but they're immature the parent might say well they're not of the age of reason the priest says well i'm not sure you can anoint canon 1006 the sacrament is to be conferred on the sick who at least implicitly showed that they would have an interest in requesting it when they were in control of their faculties so if you heard somebody saying i don't believe in that sacrament garbage heaven forbid i'd be terrible but we do know people like that all right canon 1007 the anointing of the sick is not to be conferred upon those who peer severe persevere obstinately in manifest grave sin unless they show some form of repentance i know people who live their whole life in sin but on their deathbed realized oh man i made a mistake i'm sorry lord all right in the knee case the anointing prepares the sick person for their journey home to god the father remember all comes from god the father all will return to god the father extuse ready to now let's look at our next slide what is this all right we marian fathers used to do this a lot it's called a healing mass now in the healing mass people would drive now look at this what's going on the priest is putting oil right on the head and a lot of people call it anointing this is very important and people would drive for hundreds of miles to come here to our healing mass but wouldn't even bother going to their church down the street for sunday mass uh you don't do that now a healing masses is important because most of them not all are not sacramental anointings the word anointing means to bless so when we would have people come here father bob veneti was excellent at explaining please understand this is not the sacrament of anointing people would line up and want to have the oil put on their forehead and the priest would put the oil on the forehead that was just a blessing it wasn't even the uh the oil of the infirmed it was like st faustina blessed oil that's not sacramental oil don't think when you buy blessed oil or i'm sorry when you buy oil and then it's blessed or donate and then get it that that oil is sacramental anointing it's not so we have to be sure that these healing masses are not necessarily misunderstood now there is a thing in the church called communal anointing of the sacrament we used to do it father bob told me here once a year on our lady of lords for healing now that is where the actual sacrament is given oil of the infirmed is used that where you got to now use your best judgment because everybody the problem with that is everybody comes up i would see teenagers coming up giggling and laughing they probably shouldn't now for the blessing that's okay but we're talking this sacrament of anointing so if you go to a service you might want to ask the priest is this a blessing with oil or is this the sacrament of anointing because the sacrament of anointing should be for serious cases not because you got a sliver or that you had an argument with your spouse even those are good things to pray for all right so use your judgment to attend the general anointing mass for the communal anointing of the sick but limit the times you go to the actual sacrament because it should be again for serious illness not just for anything now in the byzantine right father seraphim remember i told you he was dual right the byzantines are catholics they're eastern catholics everyone is allowed to receive the sacrament once a year on holy wednesday of holy week that interesting so very interesting all right let's wrap it up now i told you before don't let people get scared when you when you call the priest for anointing many times i've seen the patient freak out that they think the priest is the angel of death they think the priest is coming in and giving them last frights it means you're gonna die grandma grandma we really we're convinced we're convinced you're dying so we called the priest to come to give you last rites and poor grandma freaks out i don't want to die yet all right what do we need to know about this by itself anointing of the sick is not last right since it is just for those okay this is i i i want to really stress this now since it is not just for those who are dying it shouldn't scare people like the last rites last rites are a bigger thing they include not just anointing but confession confirmation if it's lacking anointing of the sick and viaticum which is your final receiving of holy communion different from just anointing anointing used to be called extreme unction here we're praying for healing no grandma it's okay the priest is coming because we're praying for your healing not to send you away well if god you know if god decides to take them but please try to get them at ease the most important part of the last rites is the reception of the lord and holy communion this is viaticum latin which means take on the road like you hear some priests say food for the journey that's the last rites all of those things together confession confirmation if it's needed anointing of the sick and the atticum anointing of the sick by itself is extreme function it's for healing the sacrament of anointing is to help bring people healing if god wills it all right last page now what about anointing of the sick when somebody dies if the priest arrives right after the person has died what happens all right if a priest is not sure if the person is dead he can anoint sacramentally on condition or conditionally the church teaches that the moment of death is when the soul leaves the body but that's catechism 10 22 but we don't know exactly when that occurs so if the body is still warm and there's no evidence of stiffening like rigor mortis the priest has reasonable doubt that the person may be still partly alive and he can administer a conditional anointing with the words if you are still alive we pray through this holy anointing and the rest of the right so when the priest has been called to come see someone who's already dead if he knows for a fact they're dead they stiff rigor mortis is set in they pray for the dead person asking god to forgive their sins and receive them into his kingdom if the priest is not sure that they're dead they can give anointing but if they are sure that they are dead they should not do an anointing but if the priest is doubtful they can do it as i said sorry conditionally all right last couple of quick things who may do the anointing all right jesus gave the healing power to priests his apostles the first priests so the priest may anoint but not the deacon the deacon cannot our lord entrusted the healing ministry to his apostles who began the line of priests he instructed the apostles and sent them out on a mission y'all remember mark 6 verse 12 they expelled many demons anointed the sick with oil and worked many cures at the ascension jesus reiterated this and declared that the sick upon whom you lay your hands will recover mark 16 18 interesting the administration of the sacrament of anointing of the sick is restricted to a priest because the major effect is tied to the ministry of the priest which is mainly forgiveness of sins again the priest doesn't deserve this he's not better he's not more holy necessarily it's just how jesus did it so given this a layperson if you have a healing service or let's say an actual anointing within mass and you go to your church and the priest says we will do the sacrament of anointing and me and father bob will be over here and mr and mrs smith will be over there and you can go to either one not for the sacrament if it's anointing it has to be done by a priest so anointings are also to be done by the hand only in extreme cases and i just saw one because of coronavirus they gave the priest the ability to use a cotton swab please don't get upset that is allowed through the authority of the church not preferred but allowed all right my last section can non-catholics receive anointing of the sick all right if they asked yes they can people got very angry at me because i explained this was the same with the communion if people asked for it yes there are many conditions now if they asked then they would have to be baptized first and they weren't baptized validly in the name of the father son and the holy spirit they cannot receive anointing nor confession without being baptized so they would first be baptized then confirmed then given the eucharist then anointed all at the same time that's how children used to be done in fact in the east too but they got to be open to baptism to start but they must must be open to confessing faith and belief of christ in the sacraments if you don't believe christ is in the sacraments this doesn't count so baptism is a gateway to all the other sacraments so we don't anoint someone who hasn't been baptized now my last slide of the presentation and i got some other wrap up things form and matter we talked about this before that's what makes a sacrament of sacrament the form of the words used the matter is the material so what about anointing of the sick what is the form the words that are used the priest says as he is placing the oil on the forehead and on the palms if you're at your bedside of your loved one and they don't do the forehead and the palms they need to and the priest says through this holy anointing may the lord and his love and mercy help you with the grace of the holy spirit you're being sealed in the holy spirit may the lord who frees you from sin save you and raise you up while anointing as i said the hands and the forehead now the matter of the sacrament is the holy oil in confirmation it's holy oil and laying on of the hands same with holy orders now the sacraments touch all important moments of christian life so the topic of this was what about non-catholics the first thing is get them to be catholic it's the way to salvation don't be afraid of the responsibility that comes with the grace because you don't get anywhere without the grace in the first place so you might as well take the grace and then try to cooperate get them to be catholic remember all of the sacraments all that i've been talking about today anointing confirmation baptism they're all ordered to the eucharist saint thomas aquinas tells us they're all ordered to the eucharist that is the source in summit of our faith but man do they help you get there the other sacraments will help you get to eternal life amen amen god bless all of you for sticking with us that's the presentation i have a few announcements if you can bear with me for just a few more minutes that i think are super important that i want to talk about all of this is based on god's mercy and god's mercy is so powerful and it's hard for me to always try to explain everything and maybe you've heard one of my talks or two of my talks but not this talk not that talk if you can the next slide is my book my new book called understanding divine mercy you can get this at shopmercy.org or call 1-800-462-7426 get a copy this is very very very important that we know about god's mercy and that book summarizes all of it what you need to do that god teaches through his mercy and what you need to know to get these incredible graces all right next slide please if you haven't already become a marian helper there is no cost it takes 10 seconds to sign up just visit mic prayers.org we're bringing you some great teachings we want your prayers we want to pray for you that's what this is all about join up power and prayer we pray for you you pray for us man many more graces you share in the graces of all our rosaries prayers penances masses just as if you were a member of the marian fathers of the immaculate conception without having to be a priest that's a great deal of grace so consider that and also help us spread and evangelize by subscribing to our youtube channel that you're watching right now hitting the notifications we're on facebook like us because on youtube the more that we have watching the more they make us as suggested videos to other people on youtube so you can actually help evangelize simply by subscribing because then we become more put on the on the side on the right hand side of people who are watching youtube as suggested videos this is beautiful it was so funny this one guy some of you probably saw this comment this was hilarious this one guy says you keep your videos keep popping up on my suggested videos and i can't get rid of it and i wrote back i said dear so and so god bless you but maybe god's trying to tell you something so you can help us do that all right now the last couple things i mentioned before and i apologize i gave the wrong date but it would be great to have you guys with us i'm doing two pilgrimages in the next couple years uh and in the next year god bless you i would love to meet as many of you as i can spend time with you have dinner with you talk with you if you join us look at the first slide this is a pilgrimage that i will be doing with steve and ray and if you haven't known steven race pilgrimages they're the best in the business this one's a little bit more expensive but my gosh it's a pilgrimage of a lifetime the trip of a lifetime it's called the footsteps of saint paul this is from october 14 to the 24th later this year it is through greece the mediterranean if you're interested call 413-298-1303 talk to peter or visit us at marion.org pilgrimages to learn more information if you just call that phone number peter can send it to your email now if you're more cost conscious the next slide is a cheaper pilgrimage that is in france in july june 20th to july 2nd of 2022 so next year and this is with deacon harold silvers if you don't know deacon harold fun loving jolly guy we're gonna just love to be together these are the only two guys i do pilgrimages with outstanding that is the same thing call peter at 413-298-1303 or visit marion.org pilgrimages god bless you all you've been fabulous students coming back to seminary with us there is so many in these two sacraments that 95 of catholics have never learned have never heard about now you have share this video share this knowledge share the beauty of our faith this is what it's all about you know i was up putting this together working for several days on this went to bed super late last night got up super early and yeah it gets tiring but you know what when i see your comments when i see people say father this is making a huge difference it's all worth it that's what a marian helper is all about we have a god this loving that can help us through with the grace we just gotta cooperate with it god bless you and in the many many many trials of life this is the answer and may almighty god bless you the father the son and the holy spirit amen why be a marian helper because we mary and father celebrate a mass for you and all our members each and every day you can share in all the prayers good works and merits of all the miriam priests and brothers around the world and now you can share the graces just as if you were a marian priest or brother every all souls day we see a mass for all the deceased members of the association of marian helpers again there's no way that after we die we can help ourselves but we have to rely on the prayers of those here on earth and we members of the marian fathers will be praying for you as a deceased member of our association you can share in the graces of the perpetual novena to the divine mercy remember jesus told saint faustina that the chaplet of divine mercy is one of the most powerful prayers we can make and every day here at the shrine of divine mercy we pray it and you can share in those graces so if you have any questions or you want to learn more how to be a marian helper please visit micprayers.com or call 1-800-462-7426 and let me personally pray for you and your loved ones thank you and may almighty god bless you the father the son and the holy spirit amen you

Channel: Divine Mercy

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Keywords: the importance of Anointing of the Sick, why Confirmation, why the Anointing of the Sick, Catholic teaching on Confirmation, Catholic teaching on the Anointing of the Sick, Church teaching on Confirmation, Church teaching on the Anointing of the Sick, what is Confirmation, what is the Anointing of the Sick, Explaining the Faith, fr. Chris Alar, Chris Alar, Catholic Teaching, Catholic, Catholic Sacraments, meaning of Anointing of the Sick, Confirmation, Anointing of the Sick

Id: ekgzGp4vrbc

Length: 85min 6sec (5106 seconds)

Published: Sat Mar 27 2021